Have you put boundaries in place with your social media to protect your mental health and your private life?
I really suffer when I spend a lot of time on social media. I have one of those time limits on my phone for Instagram, I don’t have Twitter on my phone. I rarely check TikTok anymore. I don’t read my DMs often because it breaks my brain.
The past year has been a significant reminder for me of what is real, tangible and important. The experience of being in a room with fans and seeing their faces – that feels like what is worth focusing on for me instead of spending hours and hours doom scrolling. I learned over the course of the last year making the album that it’s a choice, how we spend our time.
That being said, I’m so grateful to social media, because that’s how I started connecting with people. But there’s a limit for me personally, and I think I’ve gotten more sensitive over the years as to what that is.
You have two influential parents in the Hollywood world – how has that affected the goals you set for yourself? Has there been pressure? Inspiration?
I wouldn’t say pressure. I’ve grown up in a house where storytelling is something that grown ups can do. That’s been inspiring. My dad was writing about made up creatures, aliens, love, heartbreak and adventure. Growing up in close proximity to an adult who was telling stories like that had to have meant something, and I’m deeply grateful that I’ve had an example of someone who has done what they loved, for myself and my brothers, I think we feel very lucky to have been exposed to such crazy stories from such a young age.
I’ve grown up in a house where storytelling is something that grown ups can do. That’s been inspiring.
Growing up, though, I kept my parents so far out of everything I’ve done musically, before I was ever, you know, on the Internet, or with a label releasing music. When I was really little, if they walked in the room, I would stop playing piano because it was so entirely mine and not theirs. And I loved that part about it, but sometimes maybe to a fault – just in terms of getting advice when I could have used it over the years, I kept them out of it.
Your Mum was one of the founders of Time’s Up, what an incredible example she is! Has her work in that sphere impacted the way you see the world?
I admire her wholeheartedly. As I’ve gotten older, I just wanted to be more and more like her. To see her fearlessness in these spaces is something that inevitably has guided me as a woman. The coolest thing is seeing the sisterhood between her and the hundreds of women who rallied around Time’s Up and were brave enough to use their voices, especially when it meant that they were putting themselves at risk.
There’s a lot of focus on the #MeToo movement and its impact on Hollywood. How do you see its impact on the music industry?
I think that there’s been a shift in terms of people being aware of accountability happening. That being said, we’ve not reached a point of equality by any means. And so while I’m grateful to exist at the start of this larger movement, I think working in these industries is the very starting point.
I feel very inspired by all of the women that have come before me, we’re all aware that we’re standing on the shoulders of women that have suffered through times before there was the space for being vocal – before people were listening. But I don’t think any of us are satisfied yet.
