Jensen McRae is here to stay. The LA native folk singer has just released her sophomore album, I Don’t Know How But They Found Me! Drawing comparisons to Tracy Chapman and Joni Mitchell, Jensen is at her most vulnerable on the record, thoughtfully telling the journey of reclaiming herself after heartbreak.

After a whirlwind few years touring with Noah Kahan, MUNA and Corinne Bailey Rae, and an epic voice, Jensen is one to watch. From her hometown of Los Angeles, we spoke to the artist about the new album and navigating the music industry:

What have you learned about yourself through making this album, now that you're out the other side?

The biggest thing that I learned is that I can trust myself both as a person, as a woman, but also as a musician. Like my taste is valid and my opinions are valid, and my instincts are good, and I know myself really well, and that self is in flux and subject to change. But I'm very good at remaining in touch with what I really want and need, and I just have to listen to that.

How old are you?

I'm 27.

You seem like you’re very self aware and exactly where you need to be.

I've talked to people about it who are a couple years older than me and they say that 27 is when it happens. Obviously they say your frontal lobe develops at 25, but lke it's your late twenties where you really start to like settle into yourself. I know that my thirties and forties are probably gonna be my peak, but I feel like I'm finally starting to age into my personality and I feel like I like myself more than I ever have. And I hope that continues.

It does. It’s really fulfilling when you reach that point as a woman where you trust yourself and you feel unstoppable.

Yes because so much of the indignities of girlhood are about people pushing you around, people talking you into doing stuff you don't want to do, telling you you're not capable of doing things that you want to do. You’re taking people's word for it and being like, oh, maybe they're right. I feel like it's in the last couple of years, I'm like, no actually I get to decide. I decide if I want do something or if I don't want do something. My totally stance on that is right, because it's what I want.

Totally. Who did you work with on this album that's been instrumental in helping you to convert all these feelings into the music and shape your sound?

Brad Cook executive produced it and working with him was the biggest dream come true. He's worked with so many artists that I love. He has such good instincts and such good taste. He has no ego at all. Every day that we were in the studio with him in North Carolina, I would ask him about all these other artists that he worked with and his experiences and he just doesn't value things because of outside approval. Like he genuinely picks the stuff that he works on because he's passionate about it and because he likes it. Sometimes that means he’s working on a record with Adele and sometimes that means working on a record with me. It doesn't matter lie how famous the person is. It’s wonderful to be working with someone who has that kind of enthusiasm for their work. When we were in the studio, he treated me like an equal partner and from our first FaceTime call, I felt like I was talking to someone who really saw me and respected me. And that's unfortunately not super common. I've heard so many stories of other people feeling disrespected in the studio and feel like they're not being listened to and being talked over. I'm so grateful that I could add Brad to my cohort of wonderful producers who really care about that I want and want to deliver that at any cost.

Do you have a song that you're like particularly proud of writing and crafting?

I'm really proud of Savannah because it's one of three songs on the album that I wrote a hundred percent by myself, and it's the oldest song on the album, which is interesting. It's the one that I feel like sums up the energy of the album.

I love the album cover. What was your process with the visuals like? Did you have a very clear idea of what you wanted to do?

We had a few different kind of angles that we were working with, but with that one, we wanted to have like the visual of the moving boxes because part of the genesis of the title, I Don’t Know How But They Found Me, is about how when you go through something difficult, you want run away from it, and you want to push it away and hide it somewhere. Even if you leave your city, and even if you leave your relationship, you can't outrun yourself and you can't outrun your demons. And so the moving boxes both signify ending a relationship and packing up the physical stuff to leave, but also trying to start your life over. My expression on the cover is like, kind of one of resignation because it's like, oh, I came all this way and look, I still have all this baggage in all these boxes.

Speaking of visuals, is fashion important to you? Do you have people who you look to for inspiration?

It's starting to become more important to me. For the first couple years of my career, I was really resistant to caring about it because with fashion and makeup, I had this idea that it was unserious and it didn't matter.  The more time I spend in this industry, the more I'm enjoying it. I love using my clothes and my makeup as an extension of my self-expression. I'm very into perfume, and I've started to really have fun making vision boards of my clothes for stuff. When I played Jimmy Kimmel the other night, I immediately knew I wanted to do a Stevie Nicks homage. I knew the dress that I wanted replicate. And then of course my stylist Kate pulled like the most amazing things and everything I tried on, I loved and we settled on this look that I really loved. I'm realising how much narrative possibility is contained in fashion.

What has been like your scent of the last few months for this rollout?

Someone asked me on Reddit the other day, what’s the fragrance for the album? And I've been saying Bibliotheque by Byredo because that was my first niche scent and it's the one that feels the most like this. I also really love Velvet Haze, which is kind of similar to Bibliotheque, but a little bit different. But Bibliotheque is the perfect blend of depth, darkness and sweetness. I also love the name Bibliotheque and I love books, so that was why I got it in the first place.

What have you been reading?

I've been reading a lot of essays, so I read a book of essays called Monsters, which is about the writer is reckoning with what we do with great art by bad people. So it's all these essays about problematic artists throughout history and her trying to figure out like, well, what am I supposed to do? How much of this am I allowed to consume? She never really has like a clear answer. Then I read another book of essays that comes out, I think in May, but I got an advanced copy called Culture Creep by Alice Bolin. It's about her experience as a millennial, reflecting on the way that society has changed over the course of her life. She talks about Fitbits, Hugh Hefner, teen magazines and all these different things under the umbrella of post-feminism and late capitalism.

Who have you been listening to that you're excited about?

I'm obsessed with Jennifer's Body by Julia Wolf. It's such a good song and I cannot stop listening to it. I have to shout out Samia as well because her album Bloodless also came out today and I was listening to a little bit of it last night, and I love everything I've heard so far. The new Gracie Abrams song, the live song from the O2, Death Wish. So good.

We saw Justin Bieber’s Instagram with you. Are you guys writing together?

Not present tense writing together. He found my music over a year ago and we weren't talking much because he's obviously quite busy. But then randomly last month, he saw me doing Instagram lives and started messaging me about them. He asked me to come over spontaneously while he was having a session. So we did a day where we were just jamming for like seven hours. I would love if anything we did that day came out. But I have no idea what his plans are.

What's next? When's the tour?

I leave for tour a week from today. The first show is on May 3rd in Philadelphia. I'm on the road in North America all of May, and then I'm doing like two weeks overseas in Europe and the UK in June. I just announced all my fall dates, which is really exciting. I'm doing some more North America shows, and going back to Toronto, Boston, New York and Chicago and other places.

Hopefully you can come to Australia, too.

I want to so badly. Hopefully next year.

Listen to Jensen McRae HERE.

@jensenmcrae