Who or what have been some of your biggest music inspirations or influences in this process?

I’d say the typical heartbreaks or just the exploration because I spent 2022 exploring, travelling, meeting people... I’d say finding myself, and I don’t believe one finds oneself. I don’t think you’ll ever find yourself because you’re constantly changing. So that was the idea of the album—attempting to find myself but not finding myself. Constantly attempting to find the ‘now’ and embracing it at the same time.

In terms of musical influences, I’d say a mixture. I’ve no idea what the genre is. I went from Midnight Rendezvous, which is super dreamy and poppy, dream pop like a ballad, and then next thing you know, I’m releasing Apple Pie, which is electro-pop, which I’ve never done before. Then there’s 6HRS, which is one of my favourite songs because I wanted to write something indie, very band-y. When I wrote this, I was like, “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I did this!”

I was listening to Landon Conrath—he was the inspiration for 6HRS—and I thought, “I love this!” I love how I just wanted to bop. I kept replaying his song over and over again. I went to the studio, and my producer came up with a chord progression, and I immediately wrote. It’s that feeling of being able to write without thinking. But when you cannot write, that’s when you’re like, I want to sit in the corner and cry. Right? I’m just taking inspiration from whatever I’m listening to and being like, “I want to write this.”

If any of the songs are based on personal experiences, tell us about them.

For Midnight Rendezvous... it was literally a midnight rendezvous with someone that I met on my last night in Bali, and then I flew back on his last night. It’s a very ‘love story’ kind of thing. The initial idea was that I meet him at midnight, or he would come to meet me at midnight and reconnect, and then it’s like... love at first sight.

The funny thing is the whole promo for that song was like how I’m so in love, and people were commenting saying, “Oh, I’m so hooked on this love story,” but I was promoting that song when all the heartbreaks already happened. The guy ditched me in South Africa. I took a 20-hour flight to South Africa to a guy who didn't love me back and ditched me in South Africa. I released Midnight Rendezvous after he ditched me, and there I am singing about being so in love (laughs), but every time I had to find all these videos to show how in love I was, I’m like crying behind my phone. It’s quite a story.

6HRS was also part of this whole experience because South Africa is six hours behind. The idea of long-distance and leaving me with love at first sight is like, “What do I do with this love now? What do I do with this feeling?” It was just the frustration of a long-distance ‘‘situationship’’ and it was written before he broke my heart. I kept saying, “No, I didn’t fly to South Africa for one person. I flew there for the surf,” but he was partially the reason.

How much of your identity do you put into your music?

I used to write only sad songs, so the songs would always be super mellow but chill. This year, I wanted to try something different. That’s why I came up with the album, which is different from my usual stuff, and I’m very happy about it. When I write music, I feel a burden lifted off my shoulders. Some people journal, I feel like my songwriting is journaling, putting everything I feel into music. I’d say I put a lot of me inside my music. I like to express myself through music. I like to express myself in general. I’m a very expressive person. I’m also an oversharer, so that helps (laughs).

Who are some of the artistes that you hope to someday work with?

I absolutely love Tom Misch and Jeremy Zucker—that would be a dream—or Anderson Paak. Oh, Anderson Paak. So sexy, his music, his entire vibe. But local artistes... I’d like to collaborate with Claudia. I think there’s something in the works, so hopefully, by next year. There’s also Lost Spaces, NYK... I’m just going to name all the Malaysian artistes because I think we have a lot of local talents. I'd love to work with a lot of local talents because I believe collaborating grows the community, which is kind of lacking in Malaysia. I want to see it grow, so I’m just going to say, open to all local artistes!

What are your plans moving forward after the release of this album?

My boyfriend is Indonesian, so he wants me to move to Indonesia—that's a big step and an idea, but whether or not it happens, we’re not sure. I do plan on still writing and releasing music. That's the goal. I think my Mum would haunt me if I didn’t pursue it.

I’m very interested in interior design at the moment. My Dad’s space has an unused balcony, so I’ve been taking photos and going on Picsart to create the space. I’m just like, “Okay, what is the software that they use?” because I’m super intrigued and interested in bringing ideas to life. It’s like music, I see the similarity in that–bringing ideas to life and making dreams come true. I don’t know, it might be a temporary thing. I don’t know if it’s going to go anywhere.

Other than that, I’ve always been just going with the flow, so anything life throws at me. At the moment, it’s surf. Travelling, definitely. I’d love to travel the world. I want to go everywhere and anywhere.

What does music mean to you?

Music is my journal and a form of therapy, but also something that stresses me out because it’s work (laughs), and music is an expression for me to share with those who listen, to tell them that they’re not alone. Everyone experiences it or understands it differently, and that’s the beauty of storytelling through lyrics and music. Having someone come up to you and say, “Your music helped me get through this or that...” or “...made me feel like I’m not alone”, I never thought I’d be able to do that.

Someone once came up to me and said that my debut single, Okay, was the reason she could get through a very bad situation. It’s crazy because that song was a product of a typical heartbreak. Big or small, whatever you’re going through, never let anybody belittle your problems because it can be very, very real in your mind, so much so that it could be as big as anything. So being able to communicate through my music to help anyone, that’s what music means to me.

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