My music is 100-percent me, so it's just who I developed into as a woman. I feel really grateful that I waited until I did because I feel like I really found who I was by doing that.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I've realized along the way that a lot of things that I do as a performer are about waiting for somebody to write something for me or develop something for me, but music, music was the thing that I don't have to wait for anybody's permission to do.
I was naive in that I thought I could just sing and perform and do what I had always wanted to do all my life. But I wasn't ready for all the added dramas that came along. There were times I fell out of love with music and thought about walking away. I thought I was happier when I was that girl at home in my bedroom singing into my hairbrush.
I don't even know what made me start wanting to do music. It just... happened. Because I sat in my basement all the time, and music was my best friend, and I just wanted to be a part of it.
Music is such a healing thing, no matter who you are.
People weren't even aware that I wrote my own songs. The media just promoted me as a female body. It's like I've had to prove that I'm an artist.
When it's open and honest, that's when the real nature of who you are as a vocalist or as a performer, all of that stuff can finally start to become what it's supposed to be. Like a settling into yourself. It's not even a musical thing, it's a whole mindset, a whole acceptance of who you were supposed to be. Life sounds good.
I think the feelings in my music were suggested to me before I even had the ability to play music.
My music must reflect whatever's going on in my mind, and my life needs to evolve for me to discover who it is I'm becoming.
I think for us up-and-coming artists, once you're out there, once you've put stuff up, once people know who you are, once you discover who you are, we're all in the same boat: it's down to whether people appreciate the music or not.
I'm not a girl who started getting into music and using my femininity to get attention. When I was getting into it, it was all pure skill.