Q: "Burnout" feels incredibly honest from the very first line, immediately placing listeners inside a restless, overthinking mind. What was happening in your life that inspired you to write this song?
A: I was working a part-time admin job, teaching in the afternoons, juggling a million other odd jobs, and trying to consistently make music while still showing up for the people I love, and for myself. It wasn't exactly a recipe for good health. I reached a point where every hour of my day was accounted for except the ones I actually needed to recover. Writing Burnout was my way of stepping back and asking, "What am I doing all of this for?" It became less about being busy and more about questioning why I felt like I had to constantly earn my worth.
Q: One of the most striking lyrics in "Burnout" is "I'm busy that's the rumor / Thank God for my sense of humor." There's a balance between self-awareness and sarcasm throughout the song. How important is humor to the way you process difficult emotions?
A: Extremely. If we don't laugh, we cry. Humor has always been one of the ways I process difficult emotions. I think it's what makes honesty digestible. You can write about doomscrolling, perfectionism, anxiety, and all the messy parts of being human, but if there's a little wink in there somewhere, it feels more relatable than hopeless. Burnout is a heavy song in a lot of ways, but I wanted it to have those moments where you smile and think, "Okay...yeah, I've definitely done that."
Q: What does "Burnout" personally represent to you beyond simply being overworked?
A: To me, Burnout is about so much more than being overworked. It's about what happens when your self-worth becomes tangled up with your productivity. Especially as women, we're expected to be ambitious, emotionally available, financially responsible, healthy, socially connected, and somehow make it all look effortless. At some point, I realized I had internalized those expectations without even questioning them. That's really what the chorus is asking: If we're constantly proving our worth, what is it actually worth?
Q: The line "I pick apart the show I gotta stand out" speaks to perfectionism and self-criticism. As an artist, do you ever struggle with feeling like every release has to outperform the last, and how has that mindset affected your creativity?
A: Absolutely. When a release goes well, I sometimes feel paralyzed, like I'll never be able to recreate that success. When it doesn't go the way I'd hoped, I immediately start thinking about how to make the next one better. It's an exhausting cycle because you're never really celebrating or grieving, you're just chasing the next thing. I have to constantly remind myself why I started making music in the first place and let that be the thing that guides me, not numbers or expectations. Ironically, the more I focus on making something honest instead of successful, the better the work usually ends up being.
Q: You describe your struggles as "First world problems" before immediately following it with "critical, clinical, too cynical to solve 'em" Were you trying to capture the guilt that often comes with talking about mental health when people convince themselves they shouldn't be struggling?
A: That's a huge piece of it. Living through today's news cycle can feel exhausting and overwhelming, and there's a real sense of helplessness that comes with witnessing so much pain every day. It can make your own struggles feel insignificant by comparison. I wanted to capture that strange guilt of thinking, "I know other people have it worse, so why do I feel this way?" But the truth is that someone else's suffering doesn't invalidate your own. Both things can exist at the same time, and I think a lot of people carry that tension.
Q: There are several references to modern culture, CVS prescriptions, collagen, the IRS, that make the song feel very specific to this generation. Were you hoping to document what burnout looks like for young adults today?
A: Definitely. Honestly, a lot of the lyrics came straight from the pages of my journal. I think people are connecting to the song because of those little specifics, they're the conversations my friends and I are constantly having. I wanted it to feel like you were sitting across from me at girl dinner while we unpacked everything that's been weighing on us. The details make it feel like my life, but I think that's exactly what allows other people to see themselves in it.
Q: As an artist, writing about burnout can sometimes be therapeutic, but promoting a song, creating content, doing live shows, and staying visible can also contribute to burnout. Has releasing this song changed the way you think about protecting your own mental health within the music industry?
A: Definitely. Ironically, I managed to burn myself out while releasing Burnout, and that became a bit of a wake-up call. It made me realize that it's one thing to write a song about protecting your peace and another thing to actually practice it. I'm still figuring it out, but I'm learning to be more intentional about where I spend my energy and which pressures are actually worth carrying versus the ones I've placed on myself. I'm trying to build a career that's sustainable, not just successful.
Q: Finally, if you could leave a message for someone who's about to hear your music for the very first time, what would you say to them?
A: I hope you hear a little bit of yourself in these songs. Even when they're deeply personal, I write them because I believe the more specific we are about our experiences, the more universal they become. If my music can make someone feel a little less alone, or give them permission to laugh, cry, dance, or take a deep breath, then it's done its job.
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