what's going on it's good to meet you at last oh it's good to meet you too I very very excited to be here obviously I I mean not for nothing kind of owe everything to you all not at all not at all let's Crouch at the bar for a second because let's be honest the music you've been making in the way that you've been dealing with with it and reaching your
fans directly and using the platforms their own offer but doing it your own way is all you and fans know that they came to us we played the record and they came to us and said to us this is the right move right we knew it that's Instinct the diligence comes from the audience your audience are galvanized man yeah it's
cool they're like incredibly enthusiastic and I think one of the things I've learned so far about this project is that I have a pretty pretty strong personality um and it shines through in multiple um you know elements of this of this Venture that I'm on um and the the thing I've I've come to notice is that people either really
really love me enough to tattoo my lyrics on their body and like fly across the world to come see me or they hate me so much that they wake up every day and run a Twitter account dedicated to how much they hate me but either way I'm provoking such an incredibly strong reaction out of people divisive is the nature of the modern way that's the way
it goes if you want to put yourself out there you know there's every chance that you're going to divide opinion yeah it's incredibly polarizing to be an artist as well I think that anyone who creates something that you know is meant to evoke emotion is is meant to provoke a feeling from someone is bound to have that split you know reaction like Kanye
West you know an incredible artist and I think that a lot of people hate him and but also there are people who would die for him you know and a lot of the the the greatest artists that I've ever you know I've ever loved or I've ever looked up to have been artists that have that very very polarizing split where people
either love them or they hate them and I'm seeing that with new Americana so much right now where people think it's like you know the social commentary the satirical pop song you know what I mean like because the song is a satire you know and then the people who don't get that who are like this is the dumbest
thing I've ever heard and I'm like that's because you're taking it serious iously right you know um so it's been it's been such an interesting thing to watch and also been really cool to see a lot of my really young fans to see how intelligent they are cuz nothing goes past them they they pick up on every little tiny you know calculated detail
that I put into it and it makes it so gratifying for me it's like it's worth it you know to do that and to make moves that are you know strategic and to make moves that are well thought out and formulaic for them you know hoping they'll Discover it and then they do and I'm like yes you guys are so smart like I love watching it how is it that
artists are some of the most sensitive vulnerable people in the world and yet their whole entire aesthetic is based around putting their ass on the line I almost think it's like a form of masochism I'm completely there it's so funny cuz I'm incredibly political and I'm incred incredibly outspoken online I find myself in interviews saying stuff
to people and they're looking at me like what I've learned and this is this is a side note but it's relevant I promise is that you know with my project I have learned it's been so much more successful for me to be myself I pride myself on being an artist who's authentic who's real and not an artist who says they're authentic and real
someone who genuinely is I don't censor myself I say whatever I'm thinking all the time I don't worry if it's not you know upkeeping a personality upkeeping a brand there's no mood board were you raised that way did your parents ever did they say no to you um yeah absolutely but my parents had me when they were really really young so they
were just really encouraging of me figuring out who I am um but they were also you know Guinea pigging me they had no idea how to raise a kid you know I remember being 18 years old and I'm like well I don't know what to do I can't afford to go to college and they're looking at me like we don't know what to do either I'm damn like you know what I
mean that their hands in the air and all of us just kind of having this moment of panic but um I don't have a mood board hanging up on the wall in my bedroom that's like okay so these colors are Hy and this way of talking is Hy and this way of dressing is Hy I change how I dress all the time change how I talk all
the time because I'm a person I'm multi-dimensional I'm not a brand the thing is is like the more uh you know honest and the more personal than I can be the more these these people are likely to be like cool we believe her like so when she says buy this thing she must really mean buy this thing she's not just trying to sell us BS yeah the
trust is crucial in this day and age amongst the artistic community and the relationship that you Foster with your audience and hopefully the role that places like beats one provide is to say you know what here's an artist you can trust here's an audience Looking For Something to Believe In and we're the proud bridge to try and make that happen
or at least help that happen and I think that trust is crucial how thick is your skin I was going to say I think that's the mass Aid in is the fact that I need to be myself and put myself on the line all the time and it's almost like this this sacrifice in a in a weird way it's like and it's such an arrogant way to
think of yourself as like this as like this martyr like oh I'll let myself get beat up because someone has to say it you know what I mean but that's really how I feel you know it's like I would rather get absolutely chastised and crucified for you know being like this about my opinion or being like this about my sexuality about my personality
about whatever because someone has to someone has to I'm not suggesting I'm the only artist who does that would be ridiculous you know new Marana has brought up all these oh Hy the voice of a generation like no that's not what I want to be I am the voice of myself I would not be arrogant enough to walk into a room and say yeah I I cover all the
bases but would you go on a cover of a magazine that suggested that title I would probably ask them to put new Maracana voice of the generation cuz if the song wants to speak for people that's fine but I'm not going to like if people decide that they Vibe with a song and the song speaks to Something in them that's great but the song has its own
voice the song at this point is taking on its own shape and and that as as my job as a songwriter is to do that you know my songs are supposed to speak for me initially and then they're supposed to grow and evolve and turn into something else and that's that's the thing for me is I'm not the voice of generation I'm speaking for myself and
I'm I'm fortunate enough that I am in a very very versatile position you know and this gets talked about all the time I'm half black I'm half white I have bipolar disorder I'm bisexual you know I'm in such a such a split of the world so there's a lot of you know walks of life that I relate to and a lot of walks
of life that I understand so in writing this song was a satire about that about growing up in diversity about growing up as the kid who didn't fit anywhere there's an expression in Norwegian that's um translates to Falling between two chairs it's when you're trying to sit down and you fall between two chairs it's so funny as a metaphor like I get
it cuz you know that that fleeting moment that feeling where you're you think you're about to sit down you miss the chair and fall between them like I feel like that kind of every day so I kind of get it I've never really I've never really fit in anywhere Vince Staples said here the other day he was like there's only so many people that
think different that are allowed to fit in you know if you're bold enough to say it if you're bold enough to stand up and express yourself and be honest about how you feel no one can stop you fitting in I don't I mean my skin is not that thick though you know I've got i' got like half a million followers on Twitter um
it's nothing compared to like One Direction's 24 million or whatever you know what I mean but my level of Engagement is so incredibly High the thing that I've learned is I need to pay attention I know I have a lot of friends who are artists who say oh don't read don't search your name don't blah blah blah blah blah but I have to because
that's where I find the good things and I don't mean compliments no I know I mean that's where I find a kid who says that's where the good stuff is I would love if Hy did this yeah you know the reason for me being so involved with my fans is cuz I need to know them and unfortunately what that means is as I'm
scrolling and I'm seeing I wish Hy would play here and I wish Hy would do this and I wish Hy would blah blah and I love when Hy but unfortunately I'm scrolling through awful a ton of tweets that say I wonder who Hy slept with her music's not that good or you know tweets that say um I can't stand Hy because she say she's half black and half white but
she only looks white and I think she's lying you know when you read those things I think so much is of it is about the context of the day and what you're going through there are days you feel bulletproof you know I got my crew behind me my fans are beside me my records sound good I got some good news you know what take that comment and
stick it yeah I scroll past something and I go oh okay but like blah blah blah you I scroll past something it's like H's a bad feminist because she blah blah blah blah blah and I'm like okay that's cool what are you doing I'm at least out here talking about it and you know trying to start the conversation and talking you're behind a computer at home
I'm a bad feminist because of blah blah blah but what are you doing yeah besides criticizing how I'm doing something and you got to find a way through it man I do and I do I'm I I I'm getting much it's just starting for you let me tell so you talk about 500,000 Twitter followers right now let's let's have another let's catch up in 6 months and
see where you're at well I gained 400,000 in the past five months I mean the anticipation for your album for bad lands is huge which is awesome I mean it's great you know and the records that have come out have set that up and teed that up brilliantly you've come out there and teed it up but you know you've
said this is a concept record I do concept music I don't go in there I don't try and put 10 of the best songs I'm co-writing with 10 great writers together and Bish BOS bash there you go top 40 radio which is why you perfect for us cuz we don't play that game awesome so so you know you you've you've created this concept record and Concepts
have been really lacking in not I can't write any other way that's one thing I've come to realize you know in in writing and like you know I'm so I'm so excited for the album to come out because I think it's going to help me a lot with what we were just talking about because right now all all anyone has to talk about like is my personality and is
this and what I say and my Twitter and my this and my that I'm about to put out a record that is a better reflection of me than I can ever possibly articulate on a social media and I'm going to let that speak for myself and then I'm going to let them change their tone and change what they're saying and I'm and I'm
really excited to watch it happen cuz you know I'm talking to you right now as someone who knows about my my whole record I know what my body of work is I know what I've said what I've done what I've accomplished what I've indicated on this record and I'm talking to you with the air of someone who knows all these things it's the hardest thing for an
artist to do is make a record and hand it in you know hand shaking cold sweat hand it to someone and say God I hope I still like this in 6 months when it comes out and I need to believe in it and I am like just thrilled with it good you know I I really really think that I did the best I could and it's been so therapeutic for me because 6
months ago I was incredibly insecure about the record I was like oh what if people don't like it what if it doesn't blah blah blah blah what if it doesn't blah blah blah BL blah and you know now I'm here and I'm like I know because I still like it because I still believe in it I know that I did everything in my
power make that record the best thing it could be and if people don't like it there's nothing more that I could have done it was a risky thing to do you know I'm here I am and I call my record company and I say I'm making this concept album and everyone goes what do you mean you are the the Tumblr blue haired pop icon girls love
you you're dropping the ball you could make something so and I'm like a you like whatever like I don't want to hear that like I'm GNA make the album I want to make and so you know we sat down to do bad lands and it it it just turned into a monster like in the best way like it became so scientific like I sat down and originally you know came up with
this idea for the concept which is this post-apocalyptic Society it's this booming Metropolis Neon Lights people like a corrupt government this just like moving rotating City surrounded by a desert Wasteland and what the desert does is it keeps people from the surrounding societies of the world from getting into the City and it keeps
people from the city of Badlands from escaping cuz no one can make you through the desert you would die and so I start working this concept I'm like what do the people look like what do the buildings look like what are the colors what is this what's the history what's the blah blah where do I fit in like where where's my place in in the
Badlands and about halfway through working this I have like a serious like body shattering Epiphany the entire thing is a metaphor uh for a mental state so you know in the center of my head is this booming Metropolis with you know you know corrupt forces and neon lights and it's buzzing it's revolving it's never
and it's surrounded by unexplored territory people can't come in and I can't escape and you know that came even further for me because all of a sudden I realize I'm regressing it's a defense mechanism I'm creating an imaginary Playland that when I get home from a really busy day of press of flights of whatever I don't have to deal with my
real life because I can go home and I can work on bad lands you compartmentalize yourself away into the autistic process it became an obsession and then which is what art is it is obsessive compulsive absolutely um but I thought I I didn't I thought something was wrong with me I've never done a body of work this big and so here I am like
oh my God I'm I'm crazy like I'm actually crazy something is wrong with me but you know it was also incredibly therapeutic because I'm having this realization and I'm accepting it and you know it got so scientific for us because I wanted people to my favorite records that I've ever loved are records that I feel like I exist in their own Universe
the Arctic Monkeys record am I feel like that is their own black and white graphic novel leather jacket rainy Street world you know the 197 record very similar Kanye W records all of them like even like the L Del R records lot of Records in mil Haney's done like you know just this idea of creating a space creating a world but I wanted to take
that further and I wanted to create physical parameters so when Leo and I sat down to do the record um you know it got scientific it was if I throw a rock at a wall 50 F feet away how long will it take for me to hear the echo apply that delay to the percussion if I'm talking to you from a room from the back
of the room and I have my hands cued and the room is about this big this tall and made of this material how far will my voice echo put that Reverb on my vocal and you know just taking all these very scientific ideas of how sound reacts in spa in in certain spaces and in certain you know environments applying it to the
songs and then hoping that when a listener listens they feel that this song is claustrophobic because they hear the textural hum that you can't hear the hum but we we put the hum in the song textur relase you'd feel like you were underground or you know they feel that this song is wide and open because of the one droning note that kind of pans
back and forth kind of giving you idea of this open space so it became scientific and every single song on Badlands is a different part of the landscape there's a badlands website and there's a badlands gift shop and we've done you know secret codes and secret leaks and this kind of like gorilla Warfare B gift Everything In It's free
actually um so you see it's a gift shop and you go oh this is some Ploy for her to make money and you click on it but it's actually free get posters and stuff like that we're just kind of giving them away so they can be like a part of it or whatever but you know we've leaked a couple songs I hope my record company doesn't hear that I just said that they
actually don't know but I we leaked a couple songs it's cool too cuz it doesn't ruin anything the get it and then everyone else has no idea it happened let me ask you a question because the way you described yourself before and the way that you know you you you deal with your brain and your mind it works with you and also works against
you which anybody listening whether admit it or not I can Rel self aware to the point of a fault right yes which comes with things like anxiety or bipolar syndrome or anything else it really focuses on the negative as much as the positive putting yourself out on that stage with the hunger that you have to get your art out there get your fans
to be you know absolutely love what you're doing do you have the right team behind you because it's it's going to get crazy my team is incredible and I have so much you know investment in this project that it's like you there's two really bad things that could potentially happen happened to me and the first one
would be that I pretty much you know drive myself crazy and this kills me because of how over involved I am and how you know my brain is this revolving door that is consistently moving through the motions of this I wake up and I live this I I live this like you know a lot of these kids think I have some some life and I I don't like I don't I don't
have friends I don't go out I don't do anything every single day I wake up and this is all that I do from morning to night then when I lay down on my bed at night my brain doesn't shut off my brain never shuts off it is constantly thinking about this and and my brain has always been that way always been very buzzing like a machine that's
overworking itself like since I was a little kid um but now it's it's it's like a speeding bullet getting faster and I'm wondering when I'm going to hit something the second really bad thing that could happen to me would be that I let this you know consume my personality and I let you know the fortunate successes that I've had take me to a
point of arrogance but the thing is is I'm so self-deprecating and so self-critical all the time I don't think that could happen like when I walk out on stage and play show it doesn't matter if it's 500 kids in a club 20,000 people on an imagin dragon show 6,000 people headlining a festival at night you know it doesn't matter what it is honestly
nine times out of 10 I walk off stage and I look at someone and I go God that was awful I did this and I did that and I and someone looks at me and goes Ashley what are you talking about that was awesome yeah I sadly even the people close to you will never feel it the way you do cuz and I'm over I'm constantly overcorrecting and that's the
thing trying to keep my head up and constantly overcorrect myself without everyone around me realizing that I am just constantly in fear of not doing this right um and I care about my fans so much every time some CU you I'm a 20-year-old girl you know what I mean I don't have this sense of like yes I am above you buy my things do my stuff I'm
like hey I'm one of you I've been a fan of something before thank you for making me that thing for you like every time my kid comes up to me and shows me a tattoo of my lyrics I have in my body I walk away thinking oh god well I really can't this up now or this kid going to feel really dumb in a couple years every
time I do something whether it's PR play a show put out an album do an interview whatever I'm thinking to myself I got to do it for those kids with the tattoos because I don't want them to be 40 and have to explain this girl that fell off you know what I mean like I'm serious everybody has to explain the tattoos at 40 but I just mean like from a
metaphorical standpoint like oh yeah she was the singer and then it didn't work out and she was like a one hit wonder and like whatever but I really believed in her at the time so I got this I don't want that I want someone when they're 40 to be able to say this is a Hy tattoo and for their friends to know who the that is