00:00I'm like living and breathing like the midnight sun era,
00:05which is how I feel and how I want to look right now.
00:07I just am it and then people can join.
00:18It feels so fun to be honored as the Breakthrough of the Year
00:21by Billboard Women in Music,
00:23because I've been doing this for a long time,
00:24but I feel like this year has really been
00:26an incredible year for me personally and in my career.
00:30To see that that's being recognized
00:32from outside of my little bubble of where I work
00:35is so amazing.
00:37Moments for me for the last year
00:38has definitely been my collaboration
00:40with Pink Panthers for Stateside.
00:48And then of course Midnight Sun.
00:57Releasing that, seeing how people were reacting to it.
00:59It's interesting because, you know,
01:00Billboard is also the charts,
01:02how people are, how much they're buying and streaming
01:04and all of that.
01:05Midnight Sun for me has been just as successful
01:08as my previous releases before,
01:11but the biggest difference for me is that I feel like
01:14it's everything around the song
01:16that people are like engaging with,
01:19like coming to my shows.
01:20You know, I finally am playing so much live,
01:22so seeing like real people coming to my shows in the venues
01:26and they dress up or they make videos to my songs.
01:30I feel like people are engaging a lot more with my music
01:33and that's so fulfilling to me
01:35because through all of this,
01:36I just really want to connect with people.
01:38It's been so incredible to see like how it's all coming together
01:43and I get to see people come into my world
01:45that I've built over the past year.
01:47I've remained passionate about music by just being more involved
01:51in the making of my music.
01:53When I started out, I mean, I was signed at 14,
01:56which is like a baby, you know, that's literally a child.
01:59At that point, I was just like, I want to perform,
02:01I want to be on the stage.
02:02Since then, I have grown into a songwriter
02:06and somebody who knows how I want my production to sound like,
02:10how I want my stage to look,
02:13how I want my videos to look and feel.
02:14And I think the more I create, the more I want to create.
02:18It's no longer about just entertaining.
02:20Like I feel like I want to make my art by doing so.
02:25I feel more connected to what I make and more honest.
02:28Then when I connect with people, it feels more like real.
02:32Midnight Sun is all about joy and happiness
02:36and freedom and colorfulness.
02:39It's very vivid and bold and sparkly.
02:42That's just who I truly am in my soul.
02:45And I don't know if there's so much of that right now.
02:48I think it could serve as a form of escapism,
02:51but also just like something that we all need
02:54a little bit here and there.
02:55I feel like it's genuinely coming from me.
02:58I planted the seed of this era, like I made this what it is.
03:02And I think people feel really excited
03:04when they get to be a part of it.
03:06So even though the dolphin meme, for example,
03:08that happened with Symphony two years ago
03:11wasn't necessarily a part of my mood board,
03:13it fits so well into my universe.
03:15And I think people like,
03:17they're part of the journey that I'm on.
03:19Everything's been coming together.
03:21Because I'm so proud of it,
03:23I don't feel like I have to promote it.
03:26I don't feel like I promote it when I post a video,
03:30like a TikTok to my song or talking about my song,
03:33because I'm just like welcoming people again,
03:36like into my world where previously I sometimes felt like,
03:40okay, I posted one Instagram saying like my song's out.
03:43I've done it now.
03:44Like they can come and listen to it if they want to.
03:46While now I'm just like,
03:48I'm like living and breathing like the midnight sun era,
03:53which is how I feel and how I want to look right now.
03:56I just am it and then people can join.
04:00It's never ending midnight sun.
04:06I felt really confident as I was making midnight sun.
04:10I felt so secure in my writing process
04:14because I felt really safe with my team
04:17of Helena Gao and Margo XS and MNEK.
04:20It was just magical.
04:21Like it was just magic in that room.
04:23And I felt like I could truly express myself
04:26and be myself creatively and like personality wise.
04:31Like I've really made some beautiful friends
04:34through that experience.
04:36And I'm very excited to see where we could take it next.
04:45The Stateside remix came about because I,
04:49I don't know, maybe she had been thinking about me before,
04:51but I was feeling like loving.
04:54So I was just DMing a bunch of girls
04:56that I love and look up to.
04:57Like, love you queen, you know?
05:00So I DMed her that and she was like, oh queen.
05:03And then we were just queening out in the DMs.
05:05And she said, actually, I am doing a remix for my album
05:09and I would love for you to be on it.
05:11Two days later, that was written and recorded in Denver
05:16while I was on tour with Tate McCray.
05:18And it was just so amazing.
05:20I hit up MNEK and I said, hey, you know,
05:23if you have some time, could you please help me
05:25think of a verse for this?
05:26Like it will be so mega.
05:27And he sent back basically the verse, what it is now.
05:30I just changed a few words
05:31and I changed a little bit of the vibe.
05:33I just know I could trust him so much.
05:35Like any, anytime I need help, I just send it over.
05:38Like send something over you, you have an idea.
05:40But then of course, I love to write with him
05:42in the studio too, more like collaboration,
05:43but he really made like that verse what it is.
05:46And then I recorded it and then it was like out a week later.
05:49It was so easy.
05:50It was so smooth.
05:53I never could have guessed what happened with it.
05:58It's just so insane.
05:59I mean, you can't plan really what happens.
06:02Like Alyssa, for example, doing her routine to stateside for the Olympics.
06:12That's just her liking the song, which is again, a proof of this era.
06:18And of course, Pink Panther is connecting with people
06:21and for people to want to incorporate the music in their lives.
06:26I was doing rehearsals for this tour that I'm on, The Midnight Sun, US Lake.
06:30We were just like starting production rehearsals.
06:32And I saw an interview the day before where she was like,
06:35yeah, I'm going to skate to stateside.
06:36And I was like, oh my God, that's crazy.
06:39What if she, what if she even has my verse in it?
06:42And she did.
06:43She had both of us in it, me and Pink.
06:45I filmed the TikTok, like watching it for the first time
06:47and it was so incredible.
06:48But the more I watched it, the more emotional I got.
06:49She just looks so joyful and happy and she's in her truest essence and form.
06:57And it's so inspirational for someone who is like a creative
07:00and who wants to express themselves like me,
07:03to see someone just being at home in what they do.
07:07I get goosebumps.
07:08Like when I think about it, she looks so happy.
07:11That's her story.
07:12You know what I mean?
07:13That is really like history.
07:15And I got to be a part of that.
07:17That's incredible for me.
07:18That is like one of the coolest things that happens to me.
07:23I've been doing interviews for such a long time and I love to talk.
07:26I really love to talk.
07:28Like if I wasn't a good singer, I would still use my voice for yapping,
07:33talking, talking to people.
07:35Maybe I'll work at a radio station, maybe social media, YouTube,
07:39like anything that I could like reach out to people
07:42and express myself and have conversations.
07:44I think that's just what I love to do.
07:46I genuinely like truly enjoy speaking to people.
07:51And then everything online is kind of like a conversation with my followers
07:55or the people who engage with me.
07:57I think it's just how my brain's wired.
07:59I get really excited when I get like feedback or engagement in any sort of form, positive.
08:10But in general, like I just operate that way.
08:14I think I've always been that way.
08:15I will always be that way.
08:17I love humans.
08:18I love people.
08:19I think that's where it comes from.
08:20It's interesting now, I think, because I realize now that the tiniest thing
08:25could be blown up to like a headline.
08:28I have been in the spotlight in different ways, depending on where I am in the world.
08:34People over here in the U.S. haven't really cared that much about me personally
08:37up until quite recently.
08:39I think I just have to get used to the fact that everything that I say in whatever format,
08:44in whatever interview, can be just taken out of context or like made into a big thing.
08:50But if I am just honest and true to what I believe in and who I am,
08:55I think I'll be fine.
08:56But we'll see.
08:59You know what it was?
09:01It was honestly about the fact that I said in an interview that I like,
09:05oh, how would you work out routine?
09:07And like, obviously, I'm doing my show like five times a week.
09:10So it's obviously that.
09:11And then it's genetics.
09:13And then that I laugh like I would I don't ever work out abs.
09:16But I do think like singing, like, huh, you know, like you sing with your.
09:22Yeah, like.
09:24You got to have some support.
09:25I truly believe it comes from laughing.
09:27And I did laugh at a tweet that said, like,
09:30SARS workout routine is like 10 sets of lols, five repetitions of like rolfs,
09:37and then 10 reps of Ella Mephi.
09:40Like, you know, it was just silly.
09:41And I was like, that's funny because that's true.
09:45The last version is coming of Midnight Sun.
09:48And I'm very, very, very excited.
09:51I think this is going to be Motherquake times a million.
09:54This is so fun for me.
09:57Like, what I'm about to experience with this is the height of my career so far.
10:02I'm so excited about this deluxe album, Midnight Sun,
10:06and all the amazing women that are on it.
10:08I've always wanted to work with women.
10:10And I've done so many collabs back in the days throughout my whole career.
10:14And I've always said, like, I want to do more stuff with women.
10:16And the fact that I have, like, a whole album,
10:19and every song is featured with some of my favorite artists.
10:23I was really inspired by how Pink did it, how Charlie did it,
10:27when they remixed their songs and really made it new.
10:30Every song, new production, new feature.
10:33I write new verses.
10:34A real reimagined Midnight Sun, but with all girls that I love.
10:40And that's just, like, the coolest thing that have happened to me so far.
10:44Ladies in the music industry that I want to show some love to
10:46are definitely every single one on my remix album.
10:51I'm really in an era where I, it's not, no, it's not an era.
10:55This is a lifestyle of surround myself with amazing women,
10:59and, like, support women, and uplift women, and amplify women.
11:02Even just, like, the Women in Music Awards, like, is such an important night.
11:05Not only for the people on stage holding the microphones,
11:08executives, the people who are making this whole industry possible.
11:12I want to shout out all my ladies on Midnight Sun.
11:15There's so many other ones I still want to collaborate with.
11:18I saw SZA came to my show, and just, like, her showing up, I was like...
11:24It's so fun to see.
11:25So, of course, SZA, I want to give love back to her.
11:28Everybody knows I already, like, love Beyoncé.
11:30I want to shout out my sister and her friend and their group Lene.
11:33There's so many, so many women out there that I look up to.
11:37Everyone who's gonna be on the stage for the Women in Music.
11:40It's really an incredible room to be in.
11:43I actually don't really show up to a lot of ceremonies if I don't present,
11:46or if I don't perform, or if I don't, I guess, have business going there.
11:51But I've always loved going to Women in Music every year.
11:55I think it's a very fun event, and there's women being celebrated.
11:58I think that's a beautiful and important thing.
12:00The advice I would give to my younger self.
12:02I would honestly say to start writing sooner.
12:05Don't be scared that it's not good enough, because I don't think there's no such thing.
12:09Everything is just a matter of taste.
12:12There's no objective truth to it.
12:14It's good because it's you, and that's what makes it good,
12:18and that's what people can connect to.
12:20Just have fun and go for whatever option that gets presented to you
12:25that you feel a little bit more excited about,
12:28and not to think so much about what you should do,
12:30or what other people think you should do.
12:34But you'll be fine.
12:39Bye.
12:40Bye.
12:41Bye.
12:42Bye.
12:43Bye.
12:43Bye.
12:43Bye.
12:43Bye.
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