Rae Morris's wacky, magical pop music inspired a bidding war for record labels when she was still a teenager.
She recalls that "a lot of it was quite hilarious." "The situations that you find yourself in as a teenager and people try to sign you up for fancy dinners and other stuff.
It's absurd, ridiculous, and wasteful.
In 2011, Morris signed with Atlantic Records for an undisclosed amount of money.
She was warned by the label that she had "a lot to do" before she could release her debut album. But Unguarded made it into the Top 10 in 2015. Critics praised its "experimental production and chill-inducing voices" when it arrived in 2015.
The 2018 follow-up, Someone Out There was even better.
It sounded raw and emotional, blending Bjorkian beats alongside soaring pop melodies. Morris captured the joy of her falling in love with Benjamin Garrett on Do It. She also conveyed the pain of losing her character on Dancing With Character, which was a tearjerker that is on par with the emotional opening sequence of Pixar’s Pixar film Up.
The album reached number 20 on the charts despite receiving rave reviews. Morris was not balancing the books when compared to label-mates Anne-Marie and Ed Sheeran. She got the call she was waiting for.
The singer laughs, "I'm not afraid about the 'dropped word'." Many people try to avoid the word and say, "I was let go" or "we parted ways". "I was absolutely, completely dropped."
The truth is that the couple had been in trouble for quite some time.
Morris sighs at the memories of being told to wear crop tops, write pop hits, and to dance while promoting her second album.
Despite these strains, she was still "lost and stressed" after the disconnect.
She says that for a time, music made her feel sad. "I would get jealous, and that wasn’t a good feeling."
Garrett set her up for an "interview" to help her get out of her funk.
He said, "Let's start at the beginning. What is the point of doing what you do? What are you looking to achieve from this?
"And I had no choice but to be honest. I am a performer, and I love being on the stage. Calamity Jane is my favorite orchestral arrangement, and I also love Calamity Jane's Hyperballad. I also love Jon Brion's movie music.
"All of this stuff came forth and I was like, "Okay, here it is."
Morris suddenly had a sound palette for her new music: a kind of baroque pop with dreamy Doris Day stings.
"Ordinarily if I had been signed to a record label, we would have to say, "Okay, but how can you make that commercial?" "How do you streamline this?" She says. "But instead, Ben and I just began making music."
She wrote the No Woman Is An Island, a sweeping ballad that was inspired by the sexism in the music industry.
She explains that someone at my old label called me an "island" because I didn’t give enough to people at events and parties.
Rae said, "You have such a great smile. It's important to get out and allow people to experience this. It was a profound misinterpretation of me. This really bothered my soul for a long period.
"So, when I wasn’t with them anymore I realized that was the conclusive feel of that time – that I was slightly misunderstood. It's a feeling that women experience all the time in all walks and stages of their lives.
No Woman Is An Island could have easily been bitter if it was written by someone else. Morris adds warmth and humor to the story.
She sings that society reduces women to stereotypes when they really have "universes in their heads". This includes anxieties, memories, hopes and fears, as well as "Kardashians at swimming pools" and banana bread recipes.
These lyrics were composed when Morris became a mom for the first time and began to reflect on her strengths and abilities.
She smiles and says that she is good at cleaning stereotypically feminine roles, such as laundry and cleaning.
Motherhood also banished the urge to stress over things that weren't necessary.
"If I look in the mirror, and feel self-critical about how I look, I think: 'Imagine if she were doing that to me?' Morris states, "I'd be really sad."
"Already that's quite big in my day. That's an interesting change.
The family has settled in Primrose Hill, London. They live in Primrose Hill in a renovated 1970s LA townhouse that they have given a makeover. This was longlisted for a design prize.
It's quite a distance from Morris's ordinary childhood in Blackpool as the son of a firefighter, and an NHS worker.
She says, "I walk down Primrose Hill street sometimes, and it's like, 'I don’t think I belong there,'"
Rachel@Fairyland is a poetic look back on her childhood. The title comes from the MSN handle she used when she was 11, when she was obsessed about fairies.
Spitting From The Top takes place at the Blackpool Tower's peak, while Running Shoes tells the story of a Disney dream about running to her family's Lake District home "where the blueberries shine and the internet's slow".
A number of songs are written about Garrett's love story, which adds to the nostalgia. Morning Isn’t Morning is a beautiful reminiscence of the first flushes in their courtship. It's all "obsessive intimacy", "dirty sheets", while Skyscraper love pokes fun at Garrett's height (6ft6in).
They even performed a duet on the playful Go Dancing. Morris is excited for a night on tiles while Garrett is determined to stay home. This is a situation that is sure to resonate with any long-term partner.
This music video, which is priceless, illustrates the disagreement. It was recorded while the family was suffering from norovirus.
She says, "It was horrible." "There was a scene in my bathroom where I was, like, drinking Sake, but it was only water. Even that was enough to make my stomach retch.
"Watch me, and you'll see how sick I am. It's all parent-related, so you just have to get on with your day.
A Table For Two is the album's most moving song. It features Morris promising that she will see Garrett after her death.
"We don’t talk about death very often in our society, but I think it’s nice to tell someone you care that we’ll be meeting again at our favorite crappy restaurant and will have a really inexpensive bottle of wine.
"It doesn't get simpler or more real than this."
After Morris performed it with Tom Odell earlier in the year, the song is now a fan favorite.
She was reassured by the reaction, which has allowed her to believe that she is right to continue, even though she had been dropped for three years.
She says, "The more I age, the more certain I am about what I should do."
It sounds very arrogant, but it is true that I have always longed to be a national treasure.
"It's embarrassing to say that, and I spend a lot time trying to convince my self to be less ambitious to ease the blow.
"But ultimately, that's unhealthy. It doesn't matter what happens, you should still aim for it."
Follow us on Facebook or Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.
