Rising Star
By Mandy Ng
vervegirl: Tell me about the importance of your relationship with your fans. Anna: I consider myself lucky that people are willing to listen to me. I’m always in awe of the response I get. I’m very honoured to have their attention and to be able to give that back to them. I think singing and songwriting is a great means of communication.
vervegirl: You’ve often talked about feeling like you didn’t fit in during high school. Did you ever get over that feeling?
Anna: I felt different from everybody because I stayed home writing music. I felt like a nerd because I didn’t have the social life that every-body else had. But it turned out to be such a great thing because I didn’t get involved with stuff that happened to my friends. I ended up turning something that made me feel different into something that now separates me from other people in a really positive way. Most musicians, artists and creative people don’t fit in. I’ve toured with some of my idols and they’re just as dorky as anybody else because we were the kids that stayed home and wrote songs. I’ve toured with the The Wallflowers, Five for Fighting, Gavin DeGraw and I share the same record label as John Mayer and I know they don’t feel cool.
vervegirl: Revenge of the nerds?
Anna: Absolutely! (Laughs)
vervegirl: Have you ever gotten a bad review and how do you handle that?
Anna: I don’t always read reviews about myself because I don’t always want to know. If it’s a negative one, I think it would be hard not to be emotional about it. I don’t want to be so self-centered that I’m always reading things about myself. Especially because I don’t always feel like the same girl that everybody sees. I’ve got the same problems as any other teenager or 21-year-old girl. I look in the mirror and think, “I look so ugly this morning.” I have “fat pants,” too!
vervegirl: Are you ever scared of showing too much of yourself in your lyrics?
Anna: I thought for a while that I just wanted to write for other people because I was afraid to sing my own songs and that I would be giving away too much. But I finally got over that when I realized that when I’m singing my songs for other people they’re interpreting them in their own way. So, I’m not giving away myself but maybe giving words to somebody who couldn’t put words to the way they’re feeling.
vervegirl: What’s the funniest thing you’ve ever read about yourself?
Anna: People do come up with different interpretations of what “Breathe” means. They said that “Breathe” is about my fascination with underwater breathing apparatus, which I discovered when I was deep diving in Canada. This is only my third time in Canada and I’ve never had time to do anything besides work! And I’ve never even been underwater diving. I’ve been snorkeling, but “Breathe” is definitely not about a fascination with a snorkler! I know that people are going to take things however they want which is even a line in “Breathe”. [Cause these words are my diary screaming out loud/And I know you’ll use them however you want to.] They are open for interpretation. I don’t tell people exactly what the story is about because I like that people can apply those words to their own lives.
photography: courtesy of sony/bmg
