More than anything, it's been a transition into embracing my destiny. I have everything around me to be able to do this properly. Whether or not I was hiding from that early on, I think now it's great to feel that way. It's just the journey.

I'm not looking to be the greatest pop star of all time. I want to be an artist. I want to influence people and I want to get people to think about the world, to think and talk to each other and connect. To challenge one another.

Being vulnerable and strong is a complicated thing, but that's who we are.

We [in my family] don't like to mess around and talk about our problems or complain, it's just not anything that we do.

The women in my family are just strong women who do their own thing, so I knew I needed to have individuals like that.

We had spent a lot of time in London [with Lucas Goodman], which has been amazing, but also it was kind of a homecoming and we felt so surrounded by a specific community of people who are just so New York, so unapologetically themselves and so creative.

South Africa was something that just kind of hit me.