Rap-Up TV got a backstage pass inside Skylar Grey’s rocking rehearsals in Hollywood this week. The singer-songwriter and her band were practicing for her upcoming live shows, leading up to her big gig at Lollapalooza in Chicago next month. She performed new material from her debut as well as some familiar hits, playing the guitar and piano.

Afterwards, she sat down to chat about collaborating with Marilyn Manson. “I feel honored to have him on my album. He is a true artist and a genius, and I’ve looked up to him for many years,” Skylar exclusively told Rap-Up TV. “The song is called ‘Can’t Haunt Me’ and it’s about zombies.” The two struck up a friendship and the shock rocker helped name her album Invinsible.

Manson isn’t the only strange encounter she’s had. Find out what happened when she met His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the World Peace event and how she will remember the late Amy Winehouse.

Holly Brook becomes Skylar Gray in the empowering new photo shoot for her debut album Invinsible, coming this fall. The Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter sheds her insecurities and embodies a “superhero version” of herself in the dark imagery.

“What happened to me over the past few years that inspired all of the songs on this album is best described as this rise from destruction,” explained the 25-year-old. “My growth out of that as a person is kind of depicted through the strength in the photographs.”

Skylar will perform a few intimate shows throughout California this month before hitting the stage at Lollapalooza in Chicago on August 6.

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Skylar Grey helped welcome the Dalai Lama to Washington, D.C. at the Kalachakra for World Peace event on Saturday (July 9). The Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter performed a new version of one of the hits she helped pen, Diddy-Dirty Money’s “Coming Home,” as a tribute to His Holiness. Whoopi Goldberg emceed the ceremony, which was held at the U.S. Capitol.

Skylar, who will release her debut album Invinsible this fall, will be performing three live shows throughout California this month in San Diego (7/27), San Francisco (7/28), and Pomona (7/30), leading up to her set at Lollapalooza in Chicago on August 6.

Hear what Skylar had to say about working with Eminem and Dr. Dre in Part 1 of our exclusive interview.

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Before Skylar Grey there was Holly Brook. In Part 1 of her interview with Rap-Up TV, the “Love the Way You Lie” hitmaker describes how she went from being the auburn-haired Holly to the darker Skylar Grey, who’s written hits for hip-hop megastars including Eminem, Diddy-Dirty Money, and Lupe Fiasco. After her career failed to ignite, the singer-songwriter retreated to the woods of Oregon before she was introduced to beat maestro Alex Da Kid.

“Things kinda fell apart with my career and my personal life, so I just retreated up in the woods in Oregon just to get away from L.A. and the whole music industry,” explains the 25-year-old, who will release her KIDinaKORNER/Interscope debut Invinsible this fall. “I felt like I lost touch with who I was as a person, as an artist.”

She also shares that Lady Gaga was among the artists being considered to sing the hook on Dr. Dre’s Detox single “I Need a Doctor,” and how Eminem fought to keep her on the track. “Eminem was like, ‘We are not taking her vocals off the song!’ So I got kept on there and it changed my life.”

Dre also had her back. “He’s one of the most stand-up guys that I’ve met in the music industry,” says Skylar. “[He's] so nice, made a point to take me aside and tell me privately how grateful he was for my work on his album.”

Skylar Grey battles her former self in the tumultuous video for “Dance Without You,” the buzz single from her forthcoming debut Invinsible. The singer-songwriter, who’s penned hits for Eminem, Dr. Dre, and Diddy-Dirty Money, emerges from the back of Holly Brook, the name she previously recorded under. The auburn-haired Holly struggles to escape from the clutches of the darker Skylar in a doctor’s room. But there’s only room for one star.

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Skylar Grey makes a dark introduction in the video teaser for “‘Dance Without You,” the buzz single from her upcoming debut Invinsible. The singer-songwriter loses her mind in an insane asylum in the visuals, which she conceptualized. The full video premieres July 5 on VEVO and she will help welcome the Dalai Lama to the World Peace Event in Washington on July 9 by performing a new version of Diddy-Dirty Money’s “Coming Home.”

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Drake had every reason to be “on one” as he was recognized for his songwriting talents at the 42nd Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame gala at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York last night. The Canadian star was presented with the Hal David Starlight Award by acclaimed musician Jimmy Jam. He celebrated the big night with his mother, who was beaming with pride.

“Just won the most incredible award and performed for my mother…a year ago today she was being wheeled into a surgery room…I love you,” tweeted Drizzy, who rubbed shoulders with music icons Chaka Khan and Garth Brooks.

Skylar Grey showed off her secret talent, playing the lap dulcimer and singing Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature” and Madonna’s “Crazy for You” in honor of songwriter John Bettis.

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She’s penned hits for megastars such as Eminem, Dr. Dre, and Diddy, but Skylar Grey still feels “Invisible” on the first single from her KIDinaKORNER/Interscope debut Invinsible, coming this fall. Produced by Alex Da Kid and co-written by Skylar and Matchbox 20’s Rob Thomas, the dark midtempo is for anyone who’s ever felt overlooked with lyrics like, “Even when I’m walking on a wire/ Even when I set myself on fire/ Why do I always feel invisible?”

“['Invisible'] is where I started out when I moved up to the woods and I was trying to find out who I was in the world because I felt very lost,” the 25-year-old singer-songwriter tells Ryan Seacrest. “Then I came out of that whole experience with this new found strength and I made me feel invincible, the whole theme of the album tells that story.”

We see you, Skylar.

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