When I was thirteen years old, and we had just moved to Germany, I definitely felt I was missing out on normal teenage life. I was watching my old school friends from Canada grow up without me while I was in Germany trying to learn the language and trying to pass each year without failing.
Every time someone asks me where I'm from, I'm not sure how to answer that question... so I say I have no roots.
Home, for me, is with the people who I really love - whether that's in England with my family, Ireland with my relatives, or Germany and Canada with my friends.
At the end of the day, it's not the labels buying the music: it's the people out there, and you have to be behind the music and not anyone else. You're the one representing it, you're playing it for everyone; you're doing promotion and travelling around the world.
A lot of labels always feel the need to tell you how they think the music should be marketed and what songs work best where. I say make music you love doing, come up with a strategy, and put it out there.
Baking is more like chemistry, following certain instructions and knowing what comes out in the end. It's almost reassuring! Songwriting is a creative process where you go into a session with nothing and can come out of it with something incredible in the end. I never feel like I'm taking a risk with baking, but always with songwriting.
Being an artist and a human in this world always means confronting people who make you feel like you have to act according to their rules.
My mom used to bake so much when I was a child, and I have a big sweet tooth.
It's a really hard decision, picking my second single.
I was realizing that I didn't have a home. I didn't really feel at home in one place.
I get really nervous when I'm performing or meeting new people.
I make music... and it helps me figure out life.
Every song is true and has its unique story behind it.
When you've moved 13 times, you lose track of where you're from.
I didn't have just one place where I could say, 'That's my home.'
I have complete creative freedom. If I want to put a song on the album, there's no one stopping me.
I loved a lot of the romantic composers.
The idea - or, if you like, the need - to write and record 'Lash Out' was born of a feeling within me.
Like most people, I wanted and still want to live by my own rules.
Music is something I can control.
