Working on this album has been very emotional and super personal, and creating this character 'Cry Baby' helped me deal with my own insecurities.
Part of the problem with America is that letting go of emotions is viewed as a weakness, but it's my strength. That enabled me to write my songs.
The behind-the-scenes kind of process at TV, especially live television - that was super scary, but I think it's made me more comfortable now. If I ever have to go on live TV, I at least remember what it was like when I was 16.
I grew up on Long Island. It was pretty normal.
There's a heavy hip-hop influence in my music, some trap influence, but it's always lyrical.
I've always written the storyboards for the music videos, and it's been hard working with directors trying to get them to understand what I'm thinking.
I believe everyone should be equal, and we should all love and support each other and express ourselves the way we want to express ourselves and be whoever we want. That's my motto.
I think that 'Cry Baby' came from a nickname I was called as a kid.
I wanted to play my original music, but it was really hard because a lot of the people who would come out to the shows found out about me through 'The Voice' and wanted to hear covers.
I'm a perfectionist, and even if something comes out great, it's still not perfect, you know?
Once I was done making my album 'Cry Baby,' I knew I wanted to make a vintage-inspired baby bottle perfume.
I really loved taking photos when I was younger. I think my love for photography sparked my love for creating the visuals to support my music.
I think if you're going to cover a song, you should definitely take it apart and put it back together as if you wrote it. I don't think you should sing it the same way that the artist sang it - that's kind of pointless.
I don't like a lot of pop music. But I like the idea of pop music.
I definitely think it's cool being Puerto Rican and Dominican, but I feel it has no influence on my music.
I like scaring myself.
The real me is this deep, kind of somber person. I can't really help that.
My parents were super strict, so I didn't have a lot of freedom to hang out at parties or anything like that. I didn't get invited, and I didn't have many friends.
My two favorite parts of what I do are definitely writing the music and then writing and directing the videos to support each song. As well as doing my own makeup and styling for the videos.
Eventually, I started writing down a bunch of titles that related to childhood themes and would pair it with an adult situation that either I was going through or someone else in my life was going through.