You always want an album to sound like its own little planet.

Before I moved to Brooklyn to pursue music, I was a high school dropout and speed freak who'd been living with her dealer boyfriend in Bucks County, Pennsylvania at 16.

I think I am a late-bloomer. My taste in music just keeps getting better.

I was working as a cocktail waitress in a heavy metal bar. Then, my manager said I should try some acting, which led to an audition Satisfaction, where I played a musician in an all-girl band. That movie is where I met my future ex-husband Jody Porter.

The hard part was when I went into the studio with co-producer Eric Broucek, and he started slashing my demos. I always sweat that.

The way I work is mostly unconscious and instinctive.

I just love music, so that's what I'm always working on, and I try to say yes a lot. Maybe I'm more ambitious than I thought I was.