When you say you believe in fate, what does that mean to you?

Things go with the flow and happen very easily, with not too many bumps in the road. You’re on your chosen path. In New York, my roommate, Chloe Chaidez, is in the band Kitten. I saw her open for Paramore last year and was blown away by how good she was. I was with my best friend, just like, “Oh my goodness, that band is so cool, she’s so cool.”

Earlier this year, she ended up finding my music and tweeting at me, and [I was like], “Oh my god, I’m obsessed with you, you’re obsessed with me!” We ended up moving to New York at the same time and she said, “I’m looking for a roommate,” and then we ended up living together! I was roommates with one of my favorite musicians! You never know how life is gonna present things to you. It seems like it’ll be small, or, “That’ll never happen.” I never could have known this person that I paid money to watch on stage would eventually be my roommate!

I would imagine that’s gonna be one of many moments like that for you.

It’s not the first—so many things are happening now. Even being here in New York is fate. When I sent in my demo to Godmode, I didn’t think anyone would even listen or answer me. I had just been reckless—I had nothing to lose. They were only releasing weird punk music, so I’m like, I know I make pop music—but at least I’ll try. They ended up loving it, so that’s just fate right there. You never know that something so small could end up turning into something so big.

What have some of the other best parts been, both in terms of feeling validated by your peers and also creatively?

I’ve grown so much as a vocalist. The first sessions of recording [my album compared to] these very last sessions this week, I honestly felt a difference in my voice. I’m so much more confident and comfortable with it. I’m not afraid to push it, which is good for the listeners too, because I can give my listeners more. I can give them something that they wouldn’t expect. Personally, I’ve made some really, really, really close friends while I was out here in New York. It’s an amazing feeling to have five other people that get you. I had a very small friend group in Vegas simply because everyone thought I was weird. I couldn’t talk about anything to anyone, because everyone liked all the same stuff, and I liked weird stuff, to them. Then I came out to New York, where everyone’s very progressive and everything, and found so many people I can relate to and relate to me, and have so much in common with. This is such a new feeling to me.

What had you been missing?

I listened to Shonen Knife, Half Japanese, and, like, the Shaggs, and old punk music like the Slits and Raincoats. Kids my age don’t know what that stuff is, and even if they do, it’s probably not until later in life, like, once they go to college or something. I could almost never talk about music with anyone back home, like, anyone. Coming to New York, where weird music originates from and a lot of people are already into it, is such a good feeling.

The “On the Regular” video is one of the best videos I’ve ever seen. How much of that was your art direction?

I’m such a musician. All I care about is the music, so when it comes to art and videos and stuff, I’m so bad. The video was directed by my producer’s brother. He’s come out Vegas to hang with me, and we know each other very well. When I heard that he was gonna direct the video, I was just like, “I’m gonna give you free reign.” I knew that he wasn’t gonna disappoint me because he knows what I like and what my style is. Once I hit the set, I was just so pleasantly surprised. Even the stylist they got me—everybody was like, “Didn’t you have a stylist for the video?” I was like, “I did.” They were like, “It looked like you dressed yourself!” and I said, “I know, they got in my head!”

It’s really cool that even though you’re such a self-sufficient and independent person, you’re willing to delegate stuff to people you trust.

You don’t have to worry about controlling everything if you have people that you trust. I knew that he wasn’t gonna let me down and that it was gonna be good, so that eased my mind. It also makes them feel good because they have full artistic control. You know it’s gonna be a really good shoot when they don’t want to let the artist down.

When you picked “The House That Built Me” to correspond with our First Person theme, what about it seemed like a good fit?

I love Miranda Lambert so much. When you told me the theme, I was like, “I have the perfect song! The song is so beautiful because it’s written like you’re telling a story to someone else. For the person singing it, you’re talking to a person living in a house that you’ve built with your family from the ground up, and grown up in, and have all these memories about. You’re letting the person know how special the house is, and all that you’ve done in it.

Did you have an experience like that growing up?

No, no, I moved a lot—well, not a lot, but a good amount. I was always in north Las Vegas. The staple of north Las Vegas is the pig farm. The pig farm is oddly my home symbol. I almost kind of miss it right now, even though it smells horrible. I didn’t grow up on the pig farm but I grew up around the pig farm, it’s like right in the center of north Las Vegas.

Are the pigs friendly?

They have tours, but I’d just…rather not.

[Laughs] You just like the atmosphere, not the actual pig part.

I actually do love pigs! I always wanted to pet pigs, it’s just…the pig farm smells. There are different parts of the farm, too. My homes have always been right next to the main farm. That’s where the horses and cows are. Those are the ones I see the most and talk to or pet.

But you always wanted to pet the pigs.

Yeah, I always wanted a little teacup pig.

When did you move out of your family’s house?

May of this year. It’s a good feeling: I was totally moving out with all my close friends, and it was like a bachelorette pad! I lived with four girls. My first moving-out experience is gonna be so different when I go back to Vegas. I’m moving in with some guy friends, River and Andrew, so it’s gonna be different because all my roommates have been female. It’s gonna be fun. I actually can’t wait to have a real pad. A bro cave.

It’s going to be great. What are your top three goals for 2015?

I’m at point where I’ve already completely surpassed any goal I thought I would accomplish in life, so now I’m taking everything as it comes. My main goal for next year is to keep writing so I have music ready for maybe 2016, early 2017. I don’t want to have such a long wait between my albums. I want to get music out as soon as possible. I’ll keep making music so I don’t keep people waiting, because I don’t like when my favorite artist waits three years to release their next album! I’m just not about that life, and I don’t want to do that to my fans. [Laughs]

It’s hard to write on tour, so when I go back home this weekend and have a few months at the beginning of next year, I’m going to spend all that time getting some material down because once I start touring around the spring and summer, it’s gonna be hard. I also want to start getting into fashion. That’d be cool. Maybe just doing a T-shirt line that’s not music-related. I knit and crochet, so maybe handmade stuff that’s hand-knitted and crocheted by me, just something small like that. My third thing would be to play more shows.

What was the last thing you knitted?

I’m actually knitting a hat right now for Chloe! [Laughs] It’s a really cute pink/purple ombré.

That’s adorable. Is there anything else you want to tell our readers about your thoughts on music, art—whatever?

No, I think I already bared my soul to you! It was great. It was like a therapy session. ♦