On how she first got into music:
My parents are not musical at all. I think my dad just had this guitar as sort of furniture. He doesn’t know how to play guitar even a little bit. I taught myself how to play one day, being like, “what is this thing?” I think [the first song I played] was Yellow Submarine. I was always very inclined to singing … and playing music is sort of the avenue for singing. And I think singing is maybe the only socially acceptable way of screaming. I had a lot of energy and a lot to express, and singing and playing music was sort of an equally cerebral and physical catharsis.
On being accepted into NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music out of high school, and deciding not to go to college:
I had a sort of intuitive feeling that I didn’t really understand the concept of that sort of financial commitment. I also got offered to open for [the band] SALES that fall before I would have started college. In the pursuit of music, it didn’t seem super relevant to go to school. And I’m a bit contrarian by nature. And so I think it was also a little bit of me wanting to step out and do something else.
On the release of her second full album, Romanticism, and its themes:
I think my favorite song on the album right now is “Love.” At the end of the day, it’s love. I tried to be really intentional and simple with the way that I approached these songs and this record. There’s a central theme of grief and love and whether or not they’re the same thing. And, yeah, I think with this album, [I was] trying to keep it simple and just be honest and maybe not super personal, allowing me to connect with the music in the sense that I know that everybody on some level feels how I do. And that brings me peace.
On the grief of growing older, as heard in the chorus of the song “22” (I’m just growing old / I’m just 22 / I just want to hold on to you”):
It’s just the idea of holding on to a moment in time, or yourself, or ideas of yourself, or ideas of another person, or who you are with another person, what that all means to you. It doesn’t really matter how old you are, you’re always going to feel old. And then you can sometimes dissociate from it, like, “We’re so young. I’m just so young, blah blah, blah.” But I think in one’s heart, this is the oldest you’ve ever been, so how could you not feel old?
On being called an “indie-pop prodigy”:
It made me wonder what a prodigy is. I think by that time I was maybe 21 or 22. I was like, I feel like I’m maybe a little bit too old to be a prodigy. I hear all sorts of hyperbolic things that I try not to get into my sphere of actual thinking, but it’s nice for sure.
On her upcoming North America tour:
I’m probably most excited for the last show, and most nervous for the first show. I’m excited to get out of town and see things, meet new people, play these songs that I haven’t played before. [I’m excited about] completing the process of writing this album with the catharsis of singing it at people and seeing it resonate. I’m excited to play [the song] “Care” in L.A. I mentioned L.A. a lot in some of the songs, and to sing it at the city, in the city, at the L.A. show, will feel like a full circle.
