Janet. Tracy Chapman. Amel Larrieux. Aaliyah. How much are you influenced by those artists? [ thinks ] Tracy Chapman made me feel okay with ambiguity, gender-wise. Amel is extremely beautiful but really personal. When you listen to her, when you see her live—her live presentation is like, “Hey, I’m just like you.” The feeling that you are her friend… She’s more committed to connecting than the image. I want people to walk away from my shows feeling that. I don’t want to be distant. I want people to have the feeling when they see me live that they met me. From Janet, it’s definitely the need and the want to feel ever sexy. Like sexy from the beginning to the end. A commitment to sexy. With Aaliyah, there’s beauty, then there’s this…gracefulness. Ease. Making something extremely difficult look extremely easy. Not doing a lot—or the most. Like not doing the dance all the way. Like, give me the choreographer that’s going to teach me the dance, but I’m going to do it like this… [ dances easily ] That feeling of at any time she could go there. She could go there, but she chooses not to. You could do those things. You might catch me doing them. [ laughs ] I’ve been trying to thread and weave the disruption that type of ambiguity can cause in the way we see femininity. I want to be onstage and hear people say, “Why is she wearing so much clothing? Oh, wait.Why is she naked now?”I haven’t done that.But one day I might. I want to create an expression of womanhood that’s multifaceted—more complex. One that says there’s more than one way to be a woman. I think I’ve always wanted to complicate that. “Cherry Coffee” has some pretty introspective lyrics. But then I’ve heard you say you don’t write lyrics.What’s that about? I meant write the phrasing. The phrasing comes to me from, like, nowhere. It’s the one thing that makes me think there’s a God. After I’ve got the phrasing, I’ll sing something that’s in the vibe. [ sings ] “ Catch me, I’ll feel better, say it’s over, baby… ” At that point, it’s the just melody that I’m going off of—the one I’ve created—and I’m literally conjuring up words out of my ass to fit lyrics for the song—for a phrasing that I feel like I didn’t compose. I hear the bits. Fill in the bits with melody.The melody with phrasing. The phrasing with lyrics.
Do you write the best from pain or love? Extreme sadness and pain. Hurt. The songs on the mixtape came at the time I was breaking up with my ex. Specifically, the idea of not letting go of something you don’t want anymore, but letting go of something you actually do want and can’t stop wanting. I like new love too. Basically, I’m a sucker. What are we going to hear on the new album? All new material or cuts from the mixtape? All new. There’s still some residual stuff with my ex. But there’s a hopeful, new- experience kind of energy.There’s so much reason for me to reflect. Like, “Wow, this is really happening. It’s crazy. It’s real.”And also talking about how I can accomplish other things. I really try to express that sentiment, like, you can really do this.You just have to not do anything else. You have to act like whether you get paid, or not, whether you have girls or don’t have girls, guys—whether you have friends or not—you cannot do anything but your passion.You cannot stop. This album is about me constantly thinking of other ways to break down barriers. I feel like the universe really does listen. What are the most important traits for an artist to have? Humility. And drive. Confidence. I feel like the intersection of confidence and humility. An artist who’s situated between the two, that’s the ticket for me. Feeling like you know everything but you also don’t know anything.That humility—I want it to always be there, but I also want to have confidence that’s rooted within. Confidence that isn’t dependent on anything external. And when it’s not there, it’s because I didn’t place it there, not because something didn’t happen on the outside. I’m learning that. .
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