Anna Wise opens up Kendrick Lamar’s languid “These Walls” with a forceful moan before diving straight into the hook, assuredly repeating “if these walls could talk.” It was this standout from Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly album that would earn Wise her first Grammy for Best Rap/Sung collaboration this year. And while the mainstream audience may have felt this was the singer’s breakthrough moment, they had yet to realize that Wise’s walls had spoken for quite some time, long before the Academy recognized her voice from the other side.

But getting onstage to accept a Grammy wasn’t always in the books for Wise. There was a time when the thought of having anyone outside of her room hear her voice seemed unthinkable.

“You know when you think that your bedroom door is soundproof, and you close it and sing your heart out?” Wise asks. “That was me growing up.”

In fact, it’s this childhood belief that privacy is possible in your childhood home that eventually led to a family friend overhearing Anna singing and tinkering on the piano. “Whenever I’m writing or performing, it's like I go into a trance," the vocalist remarks. When she first came out of this trance, her parent's friend told her how amazing she was and expressed that she should consider pursuing music.

While the family friend (thankfully) recognized her gifted voice, Wise didn't appreciate the attention at first. "She thought she was doing me a favor, but she actually freaked me the fuck out; I never played the piano if I knew that anyone was home. I was so embarrassed."

Luckily, this sheepish encounter didn't dissuade Wise from quickly finding a challenging new audience outside of her room. "I always had a sense of self and was really strong- willed, but I didn't know how to 'become' a musician," Wise admits. After getting kicked out of vocal jazz school, Wise enrolled in the Berklee School of Music, where she found herself frustrated with constricting theory classes while simultaneously finding solace in a hip-hop ensemble and personal work outside of the classroom. Like most artists, the confines of the classroom weren't where Wise got her first break. As fate would have it, it was during this period that another bedroom singing session led to her next endeavor. One day, while practicing in her room, Wise's new roommate (and future bandmate) Dane Orr overheard her and was impressed ("Again, still had not realized that closed door doesn't equal soundproof," she jokes). After a gentle tap on the door, the two created nine songs together within three months and released their first EP as the experimental duo Sonnymoon.

Less than a year later, Sonnymoon's track "Nursery Bays" found its way to Kendrick Lamar's ears, who called Wise and invited her to Carson, California to work on his now- acclaimed album, good kid m.A.A.d. City. After several months of 18-hour days, Wise would make multiple contributions to Lamar's album—including the underrated highlight "Real" — cementing herself as part of the rapper's tight-knit Top Dawg Entertainment family.

In between recording with Lamar and performing with Sonnymoon, Wise continued working on her solo work, focusing on songs that dealt with her own experiences as a female in the music industry. "I wanted to talk about how it feels being a woman and I didn't feel like I could do that under the moniker of a name that existed between a girl and a guy," Wise admits.

With her solo debut EP, The Feminine: Act 1, out today, Wise finally gets to voice her female frustrations in a harmonious fashion. Each well thought-out track on the concept EP introduces a new persona of a modern-day woman. The Feminine: Act 1 opens with "Precious Possession," a simmering slow burner, and gradually transcends to "Decrease My Waist, Increase My Wage,” a layered piece that addresses the gender wage gap and body image. But the real zero fucks (or technically, tons of fucks) given track is “BitchSlut,” a feminist anthem that coyly addresses the bullshit of double standards. After a seemingly innocent sing-song intro, Wise quickly jumps into the chorus and chants “I know what kind you are/If I say ‘no’ I’m a bitch/Say ‘yes’ I’m a slut",” letting you know the many sides of Anna Wise are here, but they’re not here for you.

“I want girls to get ready and work out to my music,” contemplates Wise. “I want them to walk down the street with the music in their headphones and not have to hear the catcalls, but just be tuned in.”

That’s not all she wants you to do. While the songs on The Feminine: Act 1 technically address issues the female endures, the Grammy winner does have her fair share of advice for anyone trying to make it in the industry. “Anyone that feels lost or that they’re not good enough, that’s totally not the case—just keep doing what you do and trust the universe and yourself,” Wise advises. “And believe that the walls are soundproof…. because who knows who’s on the other side listening.”