I wouldn’t consider my day spent with SZA—known as Solana Rowe to those close to her—a standard interview procedure whatsoever. Speaking with the 24-year-old “not-R&B” up-and-comer isn’t your typical Q&A sesh with a stranger who is way more famous than you. Instead, engaging in any sort of interaction with her is more like a chill sesh spent with one of your girls, smoking a j while dissecting the cultural significance of Cookie’s latest smackdown on Empire. While previous interviews with other publications have accurately touched on her laid-back demeanor, a down-to-earth approachability such as SZA’s can’t be feigned. Which is a plus, as that’s just what the singing chanteuse wants everyone to realize: Nothing about her is fake. Solana Rowe is as legit as they come.

“As human beings, we’re cautious of other people, especially people who are too kind,” says the singer with a contemplative smirk. “Being who you are is important. Once you alter who you are, people will think they were right [about you] the whole time.”

SZA’s legitimacy carries through her entire demeanor and rings true in her voice, the storytelling within her songs, and the spur-of-the-moment Pepper Ann hair dye makeovers. Her thoughts and opinions flow just as freely as the vivid stories she depicts in her songs and the hair dye that’s squeezed straight from the bottle. Since her 2012 EP See.SZA.Run., the “#glittertrap” singer has been building her musical cred with syrupy tracks, jazzy tempos, and a steady stream of guest joints on collaborations some up-and-coming artists would only dream about. But it wasn’t until she became the first female signee of the TDE record label (home to fellow Top Dawgs Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, and Isaiah Rashad), and released her 2014 major label debut, titled Z, where listeners really started to take notice. Tracks such as the fragmented codeine-in-a-tune “UR” and the Lamar-assisted “Babylon” would quickly cement her status as a new alternative (and self-described “not-R&B”) musician to watch. With Z, SZA introduced a marijuana-induced musical escape where enunciated whispers abruptly switch into bombastic examples of restrained emotion with an unexpected beat drop. With the uncategorizable tracks that quickly lead to NPR “Songs We Love” articles and Pitchfork seals of approval, the pressure after Z could only build from there.

Following that major label release, SZA quickly began to notice the changes within herself that come naturally after a Soundcloud-bred artist reaches a new level of accessibility. With fame comes fans, and with fans come damaging social media comments where followers think they know more about the idol than they really do. But with the rare negativity comes the ultra-positive, with followers tweeting at SZA with lines like “If you haven’t seen SZA live, girl. It’s an experience” and “@sza you've become very free lately in your interviews, live performances, even in your pics on IG.” It’s easy to see that SZA hasn’t let any of those rare out of the blue haters bring her down. “I think I was starting to think of everything else happening outside, like Does this person like it? or Is it cool?” questions SZA. “I just had to get the fuck over it and learn how to channel my anxiety in a different way.”

With her newfound confidence and tunes, SZA is overcoming any fears and anxiety. But don’t label her a role model just yet. “I don’t want girls to get caught up in the carefree ‘I don’t give a fuck about anything’ kind of thing,” SZA reasons. “It’s okay to not give one for sure, but it’s also really important to care about certain things. Your whole life will pass you by while you’re stuck in that phase just because it’s cool for now.”

“Nothing in life lasts forever and you have to try,” she adds. “If you don’t try, then you’ve already failed.”

Since she’s been on the tour circuit in preparation for her as-yet untitled release due later this fall, SZA has had to dig deep within to learn more about herself. The bad part? Sure, it can be scary (“I’m the most emotionally raw I’ve ever been in a long time and it’s putting me in a weird place that’s also kind of necessary.” ) The positive side? Discovering yourself as a person both musically and emotionally inevitably leads to some solid bangers. “I think it’s good to edit yourself sometimes and just let go and really go for it—even with hair, clothes, personality, vibes, and people,” says the artist. “Even if it’s about saying ‘No’ and being your own person—that shit is commendable as hell. Your conscience will commend you and everything tends to fall into place when you do that.”

After falling into a brief lyrical rut after the success of Z, SZA discovered that the only way to grow sonically is to truly put yourself out there and switch up the game. “It’s a matter of not being afraid,” SZA says of experimenting on her new upcoming album. “The fearlessness comes as an accident. It’s like being in a fight and slapping somebody first because you’re so nervous they might beat you up. It’s about taking that mentality to just crack off first and go nuts.”

If cracking off and going nuts leads to sonic rejuvenation, then bring on the fists. Lucky for us in the mood for a fight of beats, SZA chose a range of mellow allies to collaborate on the upcoming album. Enlisting the help of musicians and frequent collaborators such as Thundercat, Robert Glasper, The Social Experiment, and Terrace Martin, SZA is going all out for her next release. “[With the new music], you can hear all of my different thought processes, the steps and levels, and the understanding,” SZA admits. “You hear my curiosity, and I don’t think that’s something people have heard in a long time.”

Only time will tell if her new tracks spark listeners curiosity as strongly as it did for newbies with Z. But hey, what’s life if you never make that leap and test it out for yourself?

“You have to just throw all the paint at the wall and then take away from there. When you’re worried about what other people think too much, you’ll never even throw it,” says SZA. “You’ll just be like, ‘Oh, I should just use navy’ or you’ll just one color because it’ll be too busy. You’re forgetting that you can just put white paint all over it if you want to and restart from scratch.”

No need to start from scratch, SZA. Just keep doing you.