I always say that my artist statement is to not be afraid to talk about the messiness - the unpleasant feelings and happenings around my life. I also try to convey what it feels like and sounds like and smells like and looks like inside of my particular skin, to move through the world as a black American woman in her mid-twenties. Language from songs and TV shows feel integral because it helps to create the environment and describe the full picture.

I liked the idea of using this mega-star [Beyoncé ] to talk about all those things on the tiny scale of my life.

I spent a lot of time trying to layer upon layer upon layer as I wrote. I think that's often the fear of a writer, that little nuances won't get picked up.

My friends and I have all been super motivated to work and to do the work that we need to and want to and think should be in the world.

We kind of have to rewrite our own stories and our own ways of being free.

I really hope that people feel permission to talk about their own troubles, but also to celebrate themselves.

I also think that [political turmoil] gives artists something, a way of kind of processing.