What are you drawing from?
Obviously what mental state I’m in, what I’m feeling at the moment, is crucial. I cannot make any kind of song about anything that I’m not feeling in the moment. I can’t make a sad song if I’m in a good ass mood and I just want to get up and dance, and I can’t make a song that makes you want to get up and dance if I’m sad. A lot of times I don’t really write things out beforehand. It’s like speaking in tongues, basically. But then it always ends up being very, very personal. Like, [my song] “Not even lying,” the lyrics low-key sound so drunk but it’s also one of the most personal songs ever.
I wanted to talk about the “Angelina” remix you did. Tommy [Genesis] is underrated.
First of all, I literally just love that song so much. I remember there was a time where it was just stuck in my head 24 hours a day. I love how her delivery sounds so psychotic, but also monotone. And I was thinking about my childhood, how I was always in and out of therapy.
They were just trying to figure out like, what the fuck is wrong with me. Like, why is this child in our class insane? I had to sit in the school counselor’s office during lunch. So I was always on some bullshit. And I really look back on that like, it’s funny. I think it’s so unserious to me. And I wanted to talk about that and show how it makes me feel powerful. Like, I was this crazy psycho child. No one knew what was wrong with me. If they couldn’t figure it out, then that means I clearly am smarter.
One of my favorite songs off Miss Behaves is “I Get Mad.” How did you record that?
That one I recorded when I was living with my mom, so I was recording everything at the kitchen table. I remember that was one of the first songs that really just came to me. I remember making demo after demo and listening to it on the treadmill at the gym and thinking, oh, I like this, this beat is so good.
How are you approaching your music videos?
I’ve only done one, but it was a great experience, because I was with [points to] Stan [Smith] obviously, and then Zach [Sinistermind], who [Stan] didn’t know that well. But we all had such good chemistry, it was such a fun day. We had ideas beforehand obviously — we booked a certain motel, we had the location planned — but the real ideas come once you’re there, once you start doing it. It was probably the perfect example of what kind of teamwork works for me because we were all just into it. It felt like living in the song. You’re all putting your energy into it and it becomes this magical thing.
