Releasing a debut album is such a huge milestone. How did it feel when Big Mouth finally came out into the world—was it excitement, nerves, relief, all of the above? 

I felt a little bit of relief because I had worked on it for over a year. It was a labor of love. There was a lot of stress to get it out, so once it was finally out there in the world I felt relief and I was proud of how it turned out.

What’s something about putting out a full body of work that surprised you—either creatively or emotionally? 

I love creating a world around my music. I think putting out an album let me do that to the fullest extent. I made a short film using my album as the sound track and all the music videos all tied together leading towards the album so I think that was super fun for me. And just creating this chronological story. This album is in order of my life chronologically, it starts with my college break up which is the first song “Super Famous” and then continues into my twenties. I think it was just cool to immortalize my twenties in that way in the album. 

Your songs are known for being clever, catchy, and deeply personal. How do you balance vulnerability with the playful, witty side of your songwriting?

I think I just, especially now, I try to write more and more songs that are all about a topic that is specific and relatable. That way people feel like they haven’t heard that song before. Even when I tell a personal story, the first thing that needs to happen for me to want to write it, is it needs to be a topic that I feel like people haven’t really heard in a song format before. Something that isn’t very common like all “My Exes Moms” or dating younger guys or taking myself too serious, I feel like when you are uber specific it seems to resonate with more people. 

I love “All My Exes’ Moms” it is such a hilarious, unique concept. Especially having your exes mom in the music video. What inspired you to write about that relationship between you and your exes mom, and did you ever expect it to resonate so widely?

Yeah! So I wrote a song called “I’m sorry Tokyo” which was about embracing my Asian heritage. Because of that song I was invited to this API song writing camp. It was filled with Asian songwriters and producers, so it was that camp that I wrote all “My Exes Moms” in. On the way to the camp I got a DM from one of my exes mom saying “I love your music, I just want to let you know I’m rooting for you and I want you to have a lot of success.” So when I got to the succession I had this idea to exaggerate it like all my exes mom love me. The song had a lot of success so when I was coming across plans for the music video I was bouncing ideas off my friends in Nashville who are also artists and in the music industry. Rosemary Joaquinn, who’s my roommate and opener, it was her idea actually to have all the boys lined up on the couch next to each other and once she said that I feel like I was sold for the idea of it. 

You’re hands-on with every part of your art—from writing to directing videos to merch. How does wearing all these hats shape the way you tell your story?

I think it allows me to make the world more all encompassing. I literally create every aspect of it, I’m not handing it off for someone else to make the art and I’m just approving of it. It’s very personal to me, very intentional and everything has a reason. I’ve spent time working on it to a point where I feel like it’s ready to be release in the world in the way that I’m proud of. It is different than an artist who has a label that creates all their stuff with them. 

How do you get pass those creative blocks? 

I have found especially with designing since I am not a graphic designing but I did minor in it in college, but music is my number one, I find that when I design something I have to work and design it for a full day. A full day and then hate it at the end haha. I then step a way from it for a few days then come back to it and redesign for a whole day and then I’ll get something I love...The merch took months because I wanted it to be design in the way that I knew I would love it and like have longevity. I still love the designs now so I know I made the right choices with that.

If you could collaborate with any artist, living or dead, who would it be and why?

Taylor swift is my girl, I think I get a lot of comparisons to her rightfully so. She is my idol she is my.. I never had a favorite artist before her. She was the first person that I loved every song on the album. The no skips kind of idea. I love her storytelling lyrics and I think you can see that and have it be reflected in my music now. It’s very common in country music. That is why I moved to Nashville, and I think it’s important for me to make pop music that is catchy melodically but also tells a story and has something important to say.

Do you have any pre-show ritual that help get you in the zone before stepping on stage?

Sometimes I warm up my voice, we have dinner every night haha. I have Asian food before I perform because I can’t have any diary because it will gunk up my throat.

What’s something you’ve learned about yourself from being on stage that you might not have discovered in the studio?

That is a great question. Definitely knowing how to interact with an audience. Specially since different shows have different crowds, big or small. You never know what crowds will be the most vocal, the most hype, wanting to dance, wanting to sit still and I have to perform to all of them. I have to put on my best show for all of them regardless on what they are giving back to me. Knowing that has made me a better performer. 

Your songs often feel like they’re pulled straight from a journal—raw, specific, and clever. What usually comes first for you: the lyrics, the melody, or the story you want to tell?

Usually I start with a title or a hook and once I have the concept then it’s the melody. Melody  is so important in pop music because if your melody isn’t catchy then no one cares about that song. You can write a song that has amazing lyrics and is so poetic but if your melody isn’t catchy no one will care...I am thinking of things that are happening in my life right now and thinking how can I get super specific. Such as for “Younger Guys” I was realizing that a lot of the guys I was dating were a year or two younger than me. I had just gotten back from a trip where I had a crush on a guy who was 24 and I was 28 and I was thinking that this keeps happening, it’s embarrassing to me when telling my friends about it. I want to write songs that empowers women across the world, with this song I wanted to capture that this is normal and I feel like I successfully did that. I have people coming up to my shows. I had a show recently where a girl came up to me and was like this is my husband and said that “I was nervous to start dating him because he was younger than me but because of you, I realized it was totally fine and now we are married”. Stuff like that makes me feel like I am doing something cool or helping people feel confident in themselves and that is super important to me

Your debut album Big Mouth feels like a bold statement. If you could describe it in three words, what would they be and why?

Intentional, sentimental, and raw. I guess because the album is so personal to me even the title, I wanted my first album to have title that felt like me. Throughout my whole life I had people make fun of me for having a giant mouth, a rather large mouth and so by naming it “Big Mouth” I felt like I was owning that and making it my own. You use your mouth to sing and there are so many reasons why I felt that title was perfect for my album. But I do think every song I write is totally the truth, if I am in a session and someone spits out a lyric that is related to the topic but I haven’t experienced it, I won’t put it in. Even if it rhymes perfectly, I’m like I can’t put that in because I haven’t experienced that personally. The album is very much a real look into my brain.