my god when was the last time I was here well we caught up in this studio I think back at the beginning of 2018 and the first time was in May 2007 yes I remember that oh my god I remember being so nervous for this interview so a lot has changed in the last couple of years
a lot has changed it's been it's been a journey really really has yeah I feel like I've just I've learned so much about myself like learning how to like handle my emotions and my thoughts and and just like I don't know really knowing myself and like knowing what I
want and like you know how sometimes like what gets in the way of what I want which is you know for everybody I feel like it's kind of themselves I feel like I got back to music as a form of in a lot of these songs as a form of like healing and as a form of therapy and
like connecting with myself and I realized I'm actually healthiest mentally and emotionally when I'm writing cause that's how you release it that's how you express you say no like I feel like when I'm not writing for a really long time it's like it's music is literally the way that I feel the most
connected to myself what's the one thing that's gonna strain you the most in your occupation what's the one thing that stresses you out the most I think for me it's which is something that I'm really really working on and I've been really outspoken about like anxiety and
whatever I think it's that and I and I feel like I've realized especially in the last couple months I've taken a big journey and realizing that that's totally like the brain can change and you can really work to improve that and I feel like I'm really working on changing that and I see a huge
difference which is actually something that I I want to be more outspoken about because I know a lot of my fans struggle with issues like that but I think like training of the mind is like the most important thing because that's what you have for the rest of your life you know
and I think that music for me is like instrumental in like kind of not going there and like staying in in my feelings I use music selfishly if I made an album that was like I felt the most me album ever like everything about it captured the essence of me you
know more than any other album that I'd done in the past and it was the least successful I would still be happy the reward for me is in listening back to them being like oh my god I remember that and I get emotional listening to your music personally privately yeah I totally do
there was a time in my album where I wanted to keep writing want to keep writing cuz I took a long time writing this album and they were like I remember like listening back after like the first like heartache and just being like ok I need to this needs this chapter needs to
close because I can't I can't keep listening to these songs I think that that quote that's like it's better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all it ending doesn't take away from the importance and the sweetness and to me falling in love feels
life-changing and that's why I'm like I this album was so important to me because I think I've always just believed that I think something that I have realized from falling in love is that ironically the most important relationship that you have is the one with yourself well that's what you take
away from the heartbreak that's what you take away is the learning for yourself totally and I think that for a hopeless romantic that's like a pretty mind-boggling thing to learn is that actually I'm actually the one that I'm gonna have my whole life you know and in
order for me to be good to this person I actually have to like understand myself better do you have that thing will you absorb traits and eggs from your partner's eye so dude what have you absorbed assurance I definitely absorb like he takes care of himself really really well and he smells good man he
smells amazing but I think that he has a very like kind of pure like free energy like he'll say to me sometimes oh I had to talk to this person because it made my heart hurt and he's very like I feel like he feels this need to kind of like lift the weight of whatever is is
hurting him in order for him to be free and I think that you know when his heart is hurting he really feels it and that's really search history yeah and then he does what he needs to do in order to feel better and I think also he's just very like he's like the most transparent
honest person that I've ever met he's a no soul a hundred percent he's a bad dancer no I was like is that like when you were doing the list on dream view and of course everyone's trying to work out who's what cuz you've been so transparent you never confirm or deny
who the songs are about no way that's the smart thing to do because he's a wide open so just so happens in a weird way that you guys have found each other and you're in the same profession and that is titillating for the world and yet most people try to shut that down
run away pull their hood over their head and what's been really fascinating for me who lucky enough to know both of you to a degree is that you've just kind of gone it doesn't matter oh my god hundred percent like we're just literally two human beings trying to figure this out
and that's like the the relationship that we've always had we don't know who the songs are about but you could where we tell us which one is the most inspired by him there's a few I want to play one I don't want to say because the reason I don't want to say I guess you
can guess liya how has it been since the beginning of 2017 opening yourself up to artists on your own terms and actually getting into a collaborative place getting to know other artists and getting into that space has it been enjoyable for you is it something you're getting better at oh
yeah I mean I honestly think everything depends on the chemistry that you have with people so it doesn't matter if they're artists or if they're songwriters or producers I think everything depends on your ability to open yourself up to that person and you
know like for example Phineas for me working with him this time around felt so easy to collaborate with him because I think that if we just met and we were just friends in school I think we would have a lot in common I mean him and Billie that's that's that's what I mean that is it honestly I think that
completely makes sense that's why they make such amazing work together because they have such a close relationship so they're just like there's no barriers you can work with the best songwriter or the best producer the best collaborator in the world and if you don't show up
like this like completely open you will make a song in your opinion do you have a lot of songs oh yeah hundred percent would you please just at some point just for Christmas put out like a playlist just coach songs oh my god everyone else is gonna love them right I think the reason they were
so bad is because there was like nothing going on in my life romantically right so I just like made stuff up and like just like blue situations out of proportion but it's like this this is rihanna's an X Sigma we always have this running joke with Ariana you know
because I've so many artists and songwriters and producers of the highest caliber yeah and every time the Rihanna is making an album the same thing happens you'll be out someone come up and they'd be like hey but hey what's up okay amen I don't want to I don't think from
anybody that's ever told me that I don't know any of them already he's the biggest heartbreaker in the music industry Sharon just breaks everyone's hot diplo broken heart broken oh my god that's so true oh man we only have five minutes left no this that sucks can I come here every
week you know that's come on that's not gonna happen international touring types are different proportions I'm gonna finish with uh I mean this is the only way that this interview could finish oh my god it's the only way go on and guess first man you already know how this song I've
ever written in my life this song for me writing it I remember I was in the studio and I had to literally go to the bathroom to just cry the song is basically about when I was in my first serious relationship I had never like brought a boy home before you know my
dad hadn't seen me like you know dating or whatever he was just like very like sensitive about it he was like well wow like my you know my little girl is growing up and I think that's the first time that he really felt that and so he was like felt really protective over me
and it was I just think that is the sweetest thing I think the song is gonna be like whine to me like I think when I'm like 90 years old like and if someday I'm like just listening back to my songs I think it's just gonna get more and more important to me so yeah this is first man you