NT: Has it felt weird or jarring to leave your home country at such an early age?

P: I’m very lucky because I’d never been to New York before but I knew some HitRecorders that lived here. I contacted them and suddenly I had a community in a strange city. I’ve been travelling back-and-forth a lot the past few years and I moved here officially this past January. No matter how fortunate I am, it’s a big thing to move here rather than visit for work. Coming from a place like Helsinki and Finland, there’s five million people, and they would all fit in New York and there would still be room to spare. I’ve dreamed of it for so long, I’ve always known I’d live abroad at some point. I get a lot of energy from the city, and you need that energy for the music.

NT: I know you’ve worked with Charles Newman(Magnetic Fields) quite a bit, what drew you two to work together and what does he bring to your recordings?

P: Sundance has always played a big role in my story. I met Charles at Sundance the year after I met Steven. Charles and Steven had been working together, and I was performing with some of his artists there. I recorded a duet at Charles’ studio and that’s how we started working together. I enjoy his method of working and how much I was able to be involved in it. When it came down to who should produce my record, he was the first person in mind. Charles was really pulling it all together from the different writers I worked with, giving a common core.

NT: What did you want to do differently with your latest release that you hadn’t been able to do on your previous releases?

P: My first EP, I didn’t know what I was getting into, and how to produce it. Getting into this one I was more prepared and had a vision. Charles made me a part of the process from day 1, layering all the instruments and melodies. It was such a great experience to be so artistically involved. I also feel this time I was braver with the lyrics, less soft around the edges. The messages are more straightforward and stronger.

NT: Why did you want to focus so much on using your lyrics as a tool for inspiration on this record?

P: In general at my core I’m a storyteller. Whether I’m by myself or writing with someone, the core of it is the lyrics. I feel like especially now, coming from where I come from, Finland is an amazing country in so many ways, but what it lacks is confidence. There are some rock bands that are national successes but there are no pop artists that make it internationally. When I was starting out, I wasn’t sure if I should fly out, I had to turn down record labels who said “If you sing in Finnish we can sign you right away but we don’t know what to do since you’re singing in English.” There are so many young people there who are afraid to dream big. My family is so supportive, my mom just kept saying to dream big, but our society keeps saying to be realistic. So a big part of my message is anything you put your mind into you can do. I want to achieve that and go back home to say, “I did it, you can do it too.” The mindset is very important.

NT: What’s next for you this year?

P: We’re going to do some pop-up shows in New York. We’re going to make more material to go along with the record, a video for “Fire” and some cover songs as well.

Words by Owen Maxwell