Check out our Born To Lead effect to detect out how our comprehend daughter became a cocky-made success. Here, she opens upwardly about her secret obsessions, her rough high schoolhouse years, and why she's proud to exist a good girl.

A LOT OF YOUR SONGS ARE ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS THAT DIDN'T WORK OUT. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU Requite TO OTHER GIRLS WHO ARE GOING THROUGH HEARTBREAK?

Your feelings so are important to write down, to capture, and to remember because today you're heartbroken, just tomorrow you'll be in love again. And you'll capeesh it more when yous can get back and read your journal and realize that the happiness you accept is special because yesterday, you cried. I'm so lucky that I get to look at journals from when I was 13 and wanted [a singing career] and so bad, but never thought that I would be able to accept it, or to get to exist on the embrace of CosmoGirl.

More From Seventeen

preview for Seventeen US All-Sections Dynamic Playlist

So YOU DIDN'T EXPECT SUCCESS?

No! The reason I was so driven was that I didn't wait that annihilation would simply happen for me. Merely that doubt fueled me to work harder. My mental attitude was the reverse of people who are like, "Information technology's gonna happen for me. It'south gonna happen for me." My mantra was always, "It's not gonna happen for me. Become out and play that testify or information technology won't happen." You lot know? I never expected anything to exist given to me.

NOW THAT You lot'VE BECOME And then SUCCESSFUL, WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY?

What makes me happy is just curling up in with my mom in her bed and watching a marathon of CSI and Gray's Beefcake episodes with pints of ice cream. It's amazing when we go to do that. I call up that what people ever want is what they don't have a lot of, and the thing that I oasis't had a lot of lately is getting to curl up in bed and sentinel a marathon of my favorite shows!

You'VE TALKED Virtually HOW ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS IN Middle SCHOOL DESERTED YOU I DAY. HOW DID THAT AFFECT THE PERSON Yous ARE NOW?

I think the tiniest little thing can modify the course of your solar day, which tin change the grade of your twelvemonth, which tin can change who you are. I'm not quite sure how information technology affected me to lose all my friends and have to walk into schoolhouse and go at it alone, but I tin can only hope that information technology made me a stronger person. And I got to write songs about it — my first songs were written because of trying to deal with that emotion. I will never exist able to thank those people plenty because it'southward like, yous tin't write a vocal if y'all're not feeling anything, and sometimes, even though yous have to exist feeling pain, it's worth information technology in the end. Simply it's so funny because fifty-fifty when I become back to high school now, when I go dorsum to functions like a football game or a band concert or something like that, information technology doesn't affair how many people come up and ask me for my autograph, if I come across like one of those popular people, I still feel like my hair is frizzy and people are looking at me.

YOU'RE KNOWN FOR BEING CAREER-FOCUSED AND NOT PARTYING. Do You lot CONSCIOUSLY Effort TO STAY Away FROM THAT SCENE?

No, I'm simply beingness myself. I'm not a party daughter at this point in my life. It's non a priority for me. I accept to go upwardly early on and do interviews and I accept to sing every dark. I don't have any interest in going out to clubs right now. I love people, and I dear socializing, I just don't take whatsoever interest in beingness boozer. I don't worry virtually [people who say I'grand too much of a good girl] because the people who say that, it's similar, wow, you lot are actually trying to notice something yous don't like near me. And, honestly, if somebody wants to criticize me for not being a trainwreck, that's fine with me!