Do you feel like you have control over your own image both when it comes to acting, modeling, music?
I do. I’m sure it depends on what team you're in or what people you surround yourself with. I met Thurston Moore [from Sonic Youth] and his wife [Eva Moore, previously Prinz] at the Cannes Film Festival a few years ago. At that point, I wasn’t looking for anybody in particular, I was set on producing my songs on my own, but then we started hanging out more, going to gigs together in London, and eventually I showed them my music.
I’m guessing they liked it?
They did, they wanted to put it out on their label, which is more than I could have even imagined while I’m starting out; I mean I admire Thurston so much.
Sometimes admiration shy people away, have you always been open with sharing your work to whomever comes along?
That’s definitely something I’ve gotten more confident with. Naturally, I’ve been around music — written songs here and there — since I was a teenager, but until recently I used to keep that for myself. I think my dad plays a role in that on both parts, while being who inspires me it also made me feel like I did not want to go down a similar path, or that I’m not going to be enough. Because of that I hid as a guitar player when I started out, but I realized rather quickly that I didn’t want to be in the background. I mean the mysterious guitarist is always so cool in the darkness behind the singer, but I’m too eager to be in the back.
I see that rebellious kid refusing to break into music because it’s her father's thing.
Definitely, I set my mind on becoming a ballerina initially.
I love a ballerina.
Me too, I did ballet for years. I first picked up the guitar when I was around 14, and felt that I had the knack for this. So I eventually surrendered to music… now I’m 24 and wished I had started out earlier.
14 sounds pretty early to me.
People start when they’re like 5!
Well, then you're not old enough to write your own lyrics. We could hold that against them. Your entry point was the lyrics, saying you wrote as a teenager?
Yes, but in relation to music, lyrics have probably always been the most daunting thing for me. I would constantly make tracks on my computer and then feel like I didn’t know what to say, what words to use, what to talk about; do people even care or is this just stupid?
But once I started finding my own style that pressure easen up. However, it’s still challenging, there are so many things but then nothing at the same time; none of it makes sense.
How did you find your own style? I feel like that’s easier said than done.
It’s not something you can just order, I think it has to do with experience. I’m not talking about experience in the industry but in life in general, you know, as a 14 year old obviously I had no clue of what I wanted to say. Thus words felt scary for I couldn't really pin them to anything, or anchor them somewhere. But as life gets harder, and you get older, you naturally find fragments to write about.
My dad being a rock purist, we only listened to stuff like The Beatles, which I love, but as I got older and I started diving into music history and references of my own — The Breeders, Pavement, Sonic Youth — I found a new narrative which I previously didn’t even know existed. That definitely opened my eyes to more ways of writing.
There’s a line from your new EP, “I’ll help you find your golden gun, because you are a sinner.” When approaching writing from your own experience, do you write for yourself or do you write to be understood?
I write for myself, to get through what I’m going through. It’s all very personal, but by being just so I think that’s what makes it universal as well. Some people like to write quite literally, I don’t. I prefer to skip around, to have something that doesn't necessarily make sense to me make sense to someone else, or vice versa. Those were words that sounded nice together, I’m glad they resonated with you. That’s what's cool about music. It doesn't have to say anything, it just has to feel. Similar to how painting affects us.