Giving a feminine spin to the Brooklyn music scene, Fleurt delivers lyrics about things girls normally wouldn’t discuss in a band full of boys. Gaining big streaming numbers with her debut single, which earned over 10,000 plays on Spotify in the first week, Fleurt is back, and she talked with us about her newest single, “Favorite Emotion.”

What inspired the name Fleurt?

Honestly, I do think the idea originally came from Fleur Delacore from Harry Potter. I had originally thought Flirt would be a good name for a solo project, but the “eu” spelling is so relevant because I love floral imagery and how that carries the implication of French culture. French rococo and impressionism have always been my favorite art-styles, which I think is very apparent in my visuals.

Tell us a little background about yourself, how did you get into music?

I always sang as a kid and my parents had me in musical theater, so for the longest time, I wanted to be a singer in musicals. Musicals actually have a huge influence on my life and tastes as well as my writing to this day. I specifically remember wanting to start writing my own songs when my dad told me that “real rockstars are the one who write their own stuff.”

And your debut single, “Talk Me Down,” gained over 10,000 plays on Spotify in its first week, did you think it would gain listeners that quickly?

Absolutely not. I’m still not totally sure how that happened but would like to give a kiss to each and every person who streamed it.

How does it feel to know people are listening to and connecting with your music?

Lovely, honestly. I try to make the music that my friends and I wanted and needed as young girls, so the fact that I’ve gotten so much feedback from women and girls specifically is really meaningful to me.

How would you say your new single, “Favorite Emotion,” differs from “Talk Me Down?”

I’m biased because “Favorite Emotion” is actually my favorite song I’ve ever written. A quality that I look for in all the music that I like is, obviously first and foremost, if the song bops, but secondly, I love that inexplicable quality a song can have that makes you feel a certain twinge of sadness—or not exactly sadness, but wistfulness. I feel like “Favorite Emotion” has that, which makes it my personal favorite.

What’s your songwriting process like? How did the lyrics for “Favorite Emotion” come together?

The lyrics for “Favorite Emotion” literally wrote themselves. I was late-night texting one of my high school friends who knows me really well, and we were reminiscing and I literally said, “I think nostalgia is my favorite emotion,” followed by, “Wow, dope song title.” The rest of it is about my horrific breakup last year because during the entire relationship I felt an overarching sadness about its eventual end—constant nostalgia for something that hadn’t even ended yet. I realized that’s something I do a lot. I’m so afraid of things ending that I don’t always appreciate them while they are happening, which is a self-inflicted nostalgia.

Can you describe the vibe of your EP You UP?

The EP is, in a word, girly. It carries the same light electronic feel as the other songs. When making the EP, one priority for me was that it was danceable and would translate well to being played live because I love playing live and I want the live show to be fun. But it’s also very important to me that the lyrics are poetic, personal and clever. I love pop music, but I hate the mindlessness of the lyrics in a lot of mainstream music. I love how clever and honest the lyrics of emo music were in the early 2000s, so I try to keep things kitschy and relatable. I think there’s a seemingly impossible chasm between “indie alternative” musicians and “pop” musicians, and indie alternative artists can get caught up in making their work very serious and legitimizing it. I don’t want to do that.

Can you tell us what songs are going to be on the new EP?

I actually haven’t decided yet! I had five songs set and ready to go, but I’ve been traveling so much this year and written so much new material that I’m having second thoughts about the old songs being on a new EP release and might want to record a bunch of new material! Either way, I can promise there is a very cool mashup/cover I recorded a few months back that will definitely be included.

Anything that fans look forward too for this year?

Live shows! I’m dying to play live and have something cool in the works—or at least I think it’s cool. I’m playing a show at SXSW with Sound Dessert, where I’m going to debut some new songs and test out some live arrangements, but I can’t wait to bring it to Miami and NYC, where I have a few dates scheduled for this spring.

Take a look at the video for “Favorite Emotion” below!