Where were you mentally when you were preparing your EP?

I was in a terrible place. I was super depressed. I didn't enjoy listening to music at that point in time in my life, and I was really worried because it's my job. I was like, “If I don't like listening to songs, how am I going to make them?” I thought I had writer's block. I was really demotivated, but I used the studio as a safe space to try and regain some confidence. And it was very much a little step here, a little step there. I'd come home with a song that we'd finished, and I would be like, “Okay, so we did one song, but I probably can't do another one.” And then I do another one, and then I do another one, and then it amassed into this whole sprawling moment.

In your EP, we can clearly hear an influence of Aaliyah, especially her self-titled album. What resonated the most from her to you?

Absolutely. I love Aaaliyah’s blend of gothic imagery and vampire cat stuff with the conventional aesthetics that you usually find in pop RnB. I do think she paved the way for this pop R&B superstar alongside Janet as well and that’s what everyone is trying to attack right now in 2025. She was really free. She had a special artistic direction that was not really understood by the time. She was more in a box. I know when Beyoncé was super young, she and Aaliyah were friends, and Beyoncé was the cleaner version of what she was doing.

Even though the circumstances were not the greatest, was there any fun moments you achieved during the process?

Absolutely. I loved writing “Say the Word” - it was made out of a free style. I was going to the pub a lot at the time and listening to a lot of folk music, so I wanted to create my own version of that. I just remember doing my makeup and I wrote it by the time I was finished with that.

Then I had the idea to produce it all scratch on my laptop. I just thought that that was my chance to get really creative because I hadn't really delved into any conceptual music for the time. I was just like, I want to make six hit songs. That was my vibe. “Say the word”, the fireworks and all of the weird stuff that happens at the end, it was my chance to show that classical music background that I have with the opera and the choir stuff. I enjoyed that. And then guitar was this massive puzzle piece, and everyone else didn't really see the vision, but I just knew that it was going to be a song everyone would love.

The UK RnB scene is growing so fast. Are there any artists that you like, specifically?

I'm a massive fan of Kwn. I could tell she listened to a lot of Michael Jackson when she was growing up. I also think Flo are super, super cool, and they have some of the best consistency of anybody I've seen in this category in the UK, and they've held it down for so long. I think that's amazing. I think Pink Pantheress is a genius, and I really do relate to everything that she represents in a lot of ways. We've spoken about this before. I think we come from a very similar place, we are coming from the same background. I think we are similar in a few ways.

In another interview, you quoted 50 Cent as a role model.

He's so smart. He's one of the most intelligent musicians to do it. And the coolest thing about him is he doesn't hide his wisdom. He just shares it with people again and again. But I love the way he sees things because he's come from a lot of difficulty. He was very unremarkable at a certain point in his life. He got dropped. And also just the idea of being in an environment that is just so far from the reality that you think you're going to end up in. 50 Cent lived in his grandparents' basement on a tiny bed, and that was his base for a long time. I look at that and I use it as a metaphor for everything in my life. It just doesn't really make sense at this specific point being 22. I'm like, You need to be razor- sharp, air tight so you can get there.

Since you clearly have strong visuals, is there any video director you are dreaming of working with?

Yes. I would really love to do something with Charlie Chops. I love her stuff with Zara Larsson and the stuff with PinkPantheress. I think she's so talented.

In your Instagram stories, you've mentioned Tim Burton as one of your main inspiration when it comes to fashion. Can you tell us more about that?

I love Tim Burton so much. I just love the way that he, by force, inserted this entire crazy, Gothic aesthetic into pop culture for no reason. No one else said that this needed to happen. And he was just like, “This is what I like”. He created a language that now so many people follow. I used to watch these films when I was a kid, and every single time I turned one on, I was just mystified. I remember where I was when I watched Alice in Wonderland, I love Coraline so much because she reminded me of myself when I was eight, and she still reminds me of myself now. I am a nerdy girl and I do project a personality when I'm this feline character or whatever, but I am introverted and shy deep down. When I'm by myself, I'm into journaling and just a lot of classical music and just a lot of the stuff that you'll see in the Tim Burton world.