What are the inspirations for the songs that you write? You said that this album was more personal than Anniemal; generally, do your songs tend to be based on personal experiences of yours, or are there other kinds of inspiration at work?

A lot of it was stuff that I went through myself; some of the lyrics are personal. But also, I’m a really big fan of Air, Serge Gainsbourg, a lot of French pop music. So when I did songs like “Marie Cherie” and maybe “Take You Home” as well, I was very much listening to that sort of stuff. It’s mainly the stuff I like to listen to when I’m just home. It’s definitely made me think differently.

Although Anniemal and Don’t Stop are different in many respects, as you’ve already discussed, one common thread that’s immediately striking is the contrast between the more upbeat songs and the ones that are more somber, whether in lyrics or in tempo, or both. This tension seems important to you as an artist. Can you talk a bit about it?

To be honest, I just get into the studio and start to write things, whatever comes into my mind at the moment that I’m there. But the main thing was that I really wanted to develop as a songwriter; that was really important to me. When I got to work with Xenomania, that was great because they challenged me very much on my songwriting. When you work with a producer, it’s [usually] much more about the actual beats and maybe not so much about the songwriting, so it was great to be challenged in that way.