I have never done drugs, I’ve never got high, I’ve never smoked anything in my life. I don’t give a fuck, I never have. It’s just not interesting to me. I have other shit to do. … I know people around you doing that shit makes you want to, but you don’t have to … [her song "xanny" is] less "don’t do drugs"; it’s more "be safe" …. I don’t want my friends to die any more.
American singer-songwriter (born 2001)
I really wanted to be a model when I was little. I loved photography and I loved being on camera. But I was short and chubby so I couldn’t. Anyway, being an artist is way more interesting than just being a model because it’s about you and what you want to be. You’re not being treated like a clothes hanger.
Aside from singing, I'm also a dancer. I've been dancing since I was eight. Last year, one of my teachers asked if I would either write a song or have my brother write a song to choreograph a dance to. I was like, "yes, that's such a cool thing to do!" Then, my brother came to me with "Ocean Eyes", which he had originally written for his band. He told me he thought it would sound really good in my voice. He taught me the song and we sang it together along to his guitar and I loved it — it was stuck in my head for weeks. We kind of just decided that that was the song we were going to use for the dance. We put it on SoundCloud with a free download link next to it so my dance teacher could access it. We had no intentions for it, really. But basically overnight a ton of people started hearing it and sharing it. Hillydilly, a music discovery website, found it and posted it and it just got bigger and bigger. It was really surreal. Then, Danny Ruckasin, who is now my manager, reached out to my brother and was like, "dude, this is going to get huge and I think you’re going to need help along the way. I want to help you guys." We were like, "that’s swag!"
My whole family is really musical. My brother and my mom both write songs and my dad has always played the piano and ukulele. When we were little, my dad would make us mix tapes with songs by artists like the Beatles and Avril Lavigne, so we learned a lot from those. Even though I never really thought of being a singer, I’ve always loved it. I’ve been in the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus since I was about 8, which has helped my technique so much. It’s showed me all of the different types of classic music there are and how beautiful they can be. When I was 11 or 12, I started writing songs because it’s a good way to express your feelings. My brother is a really good songwriter so we’d give each other notes and write stuff together.