Before I was working professionally, I would do YouTube covers. But as a creative person, it was really hard for me when I wasn't releasing my own music. That felt unnatural to me.
Before YouTube, I was playing in restaurants and doing open mics - every once in a while, I'd throw an original in there. And then YouTube kind of just opened doors for me, so once I felt like I had an audience to share music with, I began to share my original music.
For me, Sundance always felt big. It's not the only way to make your way, but for me, it was definitely that critical link between struggling artist, kind of working on my own, to actually working professionally and being connected and being seen.
Music composition was a creative call for me, and it gives me a kick. But I never thought that I would ever sing professionally, even though I used to sing a lot.
It all started with social media, building a fan base via Tumblr and YouTube, doing covers, and releasing a project with original music. Labels started to peel interest then. It was around the same time I was applying for college.
Growing up with videos and YouTube, being able to see content from the '90s - music and games - that really helped me stay connected with the time before me.
I wanted to play my original music, but it was really hard because a lot of the people who would come out to the shows found out about me through 'The Voice' and wanted to hear covers.
I'm releasing a single. It's called 'Live it Up.' It was based on my Euro trip. I only write my own music. I don't let other people write it at all. So I've been working on that a lot. There's three singles coming out. The producer of The Fray who did their double-platinum album 'How to Save a Life,' I'm working with him. He's producing me.
I am quite a romantic person, really, and I should have put that into my music earlier, but I was probably denying it... I didn't want to be soft because I felt I had to be so hard to get people to believe in me.
I like so many different genres of music that I guess it would be hard for me to pick one person who inspires me when so many people inspire me to make good music.
These past years have been really transitional for me in every aspect - personally, emotionally and professionally. I was excited and nervous and anxious because I literally had nothing to fall back on. This is my own thing, it's all me. I spent a year working on the record and really wanted to spend time on what it was going to represent and how it was going to represent me in this time in my life.
Youtube was the start of my career officially, although since I was 4 I've wanted to be a singer. I've performed here and there before youtube, but youtube push me much further.
I'd be dong something creative - something I could express my personality through. I enjoyed working as a gardener before music consumed more of my time. I would probably be still working as a gardener, perhaps, and I wouldn't mind doing odd jobs on the side that were creative, but I'm not sure what they'd be.
Back in the day, I used to get really upset when people used to say that I didn't really make all my own things - like my art or my videos or whatever. I work really hard on everything, so it used to upset me when people would try to discredit me or say that I wouldn't have what I had without this person or that person.
I feel incredibly lucky to have grown up with creative parents and around creative people, many of whom live with anxiety. My mum would sometimes say that it was a beautiful thing, and that it would come in handy when making music - and it's made me a more empathetic person.
I would go into periods of depression in my life, and I would feel so alone. I felt that there was no one who understood how I felt, either on TV or in music, and writing really helped me change what I thought and how I felt about myself.
When I was a street performer, before I had any songs of my own that anybody would stop and put in money for, I would always be doing covers. Even with covers, people wouldn't stop in the beginning.