Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-1650307-20180912215750/@comment-25433488-20180915051957

Depends on the person. Grace VanderWaal wouldn't have won if she only did covers, but the fact that she wrote songs as well as she did at 12 years old is what made her special enough to win. Same with Chase Goehring, he just would have been a very average singer if he didn't write his own stuff. I think people get reprimanded for performing originals if their songs are generally mediocre and don't have a unique feel like Grace's and Chase's.