SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
Singer-songwriter Claire Cottrill goes by Clairo. She got famous recording and uploading music from her bedroom. Her song,"Pretty Girl," which she put out when she was 18, has more than 100 million views on YouTube.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PRETTY GIRL")
CLAIRO: (Singing) I could be a pretty girl and wear a skirt for you.
PFEIFFER: She's now in her mid-20s and is working with a full band.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TERRAPIN")
CLAIRO: (Singing) It's a simple thing. We're all afraid and shy away. Now I find I guess I don't shy.
CLAIRE COTTRILL: There's something so cool about letting people into your music. Music has normally been such a solitary thing for me.
PFEIFFER: Clairo is now out with her third album. It's called "Charm."
(SOUNDBITE OF CLAIRO SONG, "SEXY TO SOMEONE")
PFEIFFER: My favorite song on this record is the one called "Sexy To Someone."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SEXY TO SOMEONE")
CLAIRO: (Singing) Sexy to someone is all I really want.
PFEIFFER: I like the sound. I like the beat. I like the lyrics.
COTTRILL: Thank you.
PFEIFFER: What are you trying to say about feeling wanted or needed or maybe not feeling wanted or needed?
COTTRILL: It was this thing and this feeling that I think everyone understands, which is the motivation to get out of the house or the motivation to feel happy sometimes relies on external validation, and no one wants to ask for it, but it could be something as small as oh, I love your outfit, or are you an actress? Have I seen you on television?
PFEIFFER: (Laughter).
COTTRILL: Or, like, you know, just something really sweet and simple.
CLAIRO: (Singing) Sexy to somebody, it would help me out. Oh, I need a reason to get out of the house.
COTTRILL: When people reach out and connect like that, it's really beautiful because a lot of people are very lonely, and no one knows it.
PFEIFFER: Yeah, and maybe that's very specific to today, I think, when people often do feel a little alone and not sure how to reach out, so maybe it's very appropriate for the time we're in.
COTTRILL: Yeah. I mean, with phones, I think we're probably in one of the more isolated eras of time.
PFEIFFER: You know, related to that, I read that you're not online as much these days, and I wondered if that's an intentional distancing from screens, if you just felt like you aged out of it a bit.
COTTRILL: It's definitely intentional. I have not aged out of it at all. I'm 25 and pretty much the prime suspect for someone who should be incredibly online. I have just formed a different relationship with it. It changes a little bit when suddenly you're the person they're talking about. You don't have this anonymous part of your life anymore. I think going on the internet is just a different experience now. Internet is my personal ball and chain that I will never get rid of, but I have my limits with now.
PFEIFFER: Yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NOMAD")
CLAIRO: (Singing) I'd run the risk of losing everything, sell all my things, become nomadic.
PFEIFFER: I read a review of this album that said that some of the songs have what that reviewer called, quote, "the classic Clairo melancholy." I think they were specifically talking about the song "Nomad."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NOMAD")
CLAIRO: (Singing) But I'd rather be alone than a stranger. You'd come visit me late at night.
PFEIFFER: I wondered if you would agree with that, that your songs can have a sadness to them.
COTTRILL: (Laughter) For sure, yeah. I would say that I'm realizing that a lot of my songs have an equal part sad-to-happy ratio, whether the lyrics are sad and the music is happy. Yeah, I like that description.
(LAUGHTER)
PFEIFFER: One of my colleagues here at NPR really likes the song called "Pier 4."
COTTRILL: Oh, yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PIER 4")
CLAIRO: (Singing) What's the cost of it, of being loved? When close is not close enough...
PFEIFFER: I read the lyrics of that one, and they felt very personal, but also cryptic. I couldn't quite tell what they were supposed to be telling me. What is the meaning of that song?
COTTRILL: There was something I wanted to do with the album, and I intentionally made "Nomad" and "Pier 4" the first and last songs on the record, because I do feel that "Nomad" is the daydreaming about somebody, the yearning that you have of a person, and then "Pier 4" is kind of at the end of your experience.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PIER 4")
CLAIRO: (Singing) And when you find you're at the pier, playing out moments when there was a touch...
COTTRILL: And in this romance or another romance or multiple - doesn't matter - but maybe at the end of this, like, phase, "Pier 4" is kind of the sad acceptance of circumstance. When you have dated a little bit, it can affect you, and you can end up running away from good things, and I think "Pier 4" was kind of just this, I knew it wasn't going to work. I'm sad it's not going to work.
PFEIFFER: Yeah.
COTTRILL: Maybe I'm the reason it didn't work. And then, after "Pier 4," if you listen to the album again, it's kind of this, like, beginning of the cycle again once you've met somebody.
PFEIFFER: Yeah. Are your lyrics always or usually based on something that happened to you personally, or do you sometimes just channel the experiences you see other people go through?
COTTRILL: I would say it's both. I'd say there's a little bit of truth in every song. There was this Joni Mitchell video I saw that I really enjoyed where she talked about when someone is listening to her music, if you see her, then you're doing it wrong, but if you're able to see yourself, then that's what she wants your experience to be. I'm not saying I am Joni Mitchell, but I like the idea of that - of I might be writing the song, but the song is meant to be listened to by people who aren't me.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "JUNA")
CLAIRO: (Singing) You know me.
PFEIFFER: That is musician Claire Cottrill, also known as Clairo. Thank you.
COTTRILL: Yeah, thanks so much.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "JUNA")
CLAIRO: (Singing) You make me want to go dancing. You make me want to try on feminine. You make me want to go buy a new dress. You make me... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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