Milton girl finds internet acclaim, releases original song

When Milton seventh-grader Karina Grace Forman posted her music clips to a popular teen social media app called Musical.ly, they reached "featured" status within days. Her first video scored 40,000 hits within hours and has reached more than 107,000 views, and her second is about to exceed 100,000.

Encouraged by the positive response and public comments about her cover songs, Forman revisited some original songs that she began writing when she was only 11 years old. She chose one of her favorites and composed music from chords she taught herself on guitar and piano by watching YouTube videos.

Last week Forman met with Jason Cummings, an accomplished producer and engineer specializing in the development of unique and memorable sounds for many talented, world-renowned artists. Forman worked with Cummings on a song she composed with her own lyrics and chord progressions at The Cutting Room Studios in New York City, recording her first pop single, "So Much More."

Forman's father David Forman says, "Karina has been writing lyrics since she learned to write and creating videos from the time she learned to use an iPhone. I'd hear music from another room and ask what song she was listening to, and then be amazed it was her singing her own songs."

The 12-year-old writes lyrics sounding like a young adult could have written them. Forman says, "I'm thrilled about her popularity, but among the thousands of positive comments her mom and I read on social media, it's rough on a dad to see so many teenage boys as fans."

Forman will head to Song Builder Studios in Baltimore soon to work with another producer who has worked with world-famous artists, and written and produced music scores for television and film.

She plans to perform her original songs throughout Delaware during school breaks and hopes to tour East Coast venues this summer. For more information and to hear her music, go to @karinaforman on Instagram, or karinagracemusic at youtube.com.