CM: Yeah, I'm a chick with attitude. Sometimes I can be sort of a hippie, in my general approach.

PB: Since you had trouble releasing One Girl Army, your first album, it must feel good that your new album actually came out. Do you feel vindicated?

CM: Yeah, I'm excited, I feel like it's a new start, since my first album sat and gathered dust. I still have a long way to go, and I'm not exactly a new artist, but it's still music that's fresh to me and I don't feel burned out on it yet.

PB: What happened with the album that never came out?

CM: The funding from the label fell through, so they couldn't release it.

PB: So it really sat around collecting dust.

CM: Yeah, sadly. I learned that the music industry is like The Matrix -- it takes a while to figure out who the good and bad guys are.

PB: After the release of your EP, critics portrayed you as someone with gothic sensibilities.

CM: I know I'm not anybody's stereotype, and I don't care what people say. People are going to write what they write and like what they like, and I know this music isn't for everybody. It's a challenging, classical approach to making music.

PB: On "Sweet Chariot" you sing, "And it took me further than I wanted to go, underneath his shoe, and it leaves me hungry for a touch I can't feel." That sounds kind of dark and lonely. Where are the CD's lyrics drawn from?

CM: The lyrics are really drawn from the last four years of my life. I'd moved to L.A. after school, and it was very lonely, I didn't know anybody, I still don't know that many people. And I had to get used to the shitty weather and the dust and smog that's everywhere.

PB: What was it like being crowned Miss Teen Illinois?

CM: There wasn't really any fun in the contest. I did it to prove my dad wrong, sort of a "Fuck it, I'm cute. I'm going to put on a shitload of makeup and win."

PB: Do you have any rock star crushes?

CM: Well, I really like that guy Diego from [the New York band] Elefant.

PB: He's also a model.

CM: I don't know what the hell he is, but he's the hottest thing I've seen. If I could rock him, that would be fine.

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