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Making tidal-sized waves in the club scene, internet sensation INJI has released her highly anticipated debut project LFG, igniting every girl and gay to wear the tightest clothes, brightest eyeshadow, and reclaim their rightfully owed space.

The Turkish-born songstress accidentally fell into her viral fame, releasing the single “GASLIGHT” for no reason other than to share amongst her friends—and that’s exactly why it worked. She wasn’t chasing recognition but rather creating from a space of fun and purposelessness, a feeling foreign to those of us entrenched in adulthood yet knew intimately as children. From fake accents to vibrant colors, INJI has stayed in flow with her inner child and has thus managed to rack over a million monthly listeners on Spotify, simply by playing.

Featuring hit singles “GASLIGHT” and “THE ONE,” LFG is suited for the pregame, Uber ride over, party itself, and afters. It’s liberation embodied, an invitation to put life on do not disturb and run feral with the friends who feel like medicine. You can tell that beyond the dance genre, INJI is simply in love with music and the way it makes you feel, with a sultry voice disguised within witty liners and lyrics begging to be Instagram captioned. She’s a girl’s girl, giggling through life jotting down all the moments she hopes little her never forgets. Fully surrendered to the ride, every cover to INJI’s singles feature a small but legible paragraph that begins with “In the name of a nobler womanhood,” paying honor to the reason why she’s doing it in the first place: the sisters, mothers, aunts, and little girls needed to be reminded that men should only be giving you love or expensive gifts. Preferably both.

Not many have the advantage of releasing their first EP while already being crowned the dance scene dominatrix, and as an LA crowd ushered into The Echo, drunk with glitter and anticipation, we caught INJI backstage to talk about the EP and the girlhood it bows to.

Ones To Watch: Your music is so obviously for the girls, girly pops, and gays. When you make a song, what specifically do you want a girl to walk away feeling?

INJI: The song “Madeline” used to say “All the girls, all the gays” and then we changed it to gals because I didn’t want anyone to feel left out, so you’re very right. We originally made this EP for the girls and gays. The reason I wrote “GASLIGHT” was to say “Hey girl, if someone is being an asshole to you, you have the right to be an asshole back.” I was in a position like that and I felt very disempowered, so the reason I wrote that song was to empower whoever finds themselves being stepped on. Clap back! I got a lot of DMs from girls saying that they broke up with their ex, listened to “GASLIGHT,” and feel good about their anger and rage. That’s the reason I made the song and I’m so glad it resonated the way it did. I was going to call the EP “In The Name Of A Nobler Womanhood” but it was too long. The whole EP is about joy and feeling confident in yourself, whoever you are. Don’t waste your time on people who don’t deserve you!

Your music definitely gives women permission to love themselves in all of their complexities. Because it’s so heavily dance-oriented, do you feel the need to upkeep a club girl persona even when you’re in a different vibe?

I don’t go out much at ALL. Maybe one night a week and straight back home. I think that’s why “BORED” doesn’t really talk about partying so much, but more so “I’m pursuing my dream right now and I’m creating.” A lot of my new music is less club oriented because I felt like singing more. When I was in college, that was the phase I was in. “MADELINE” was written after a night out when all of that really happened. But now I’m definitely the girl who goes out less than her friends.

So when you do go out, what is the scenario of a perfect night out?

College version, love a good home pregame because you never know if you’re going to find the alcohol that you want while you’re out. Get the girls over and pregame. The boys if they want to come too, I guess. And then go frat hopping, find the music you like, and when you’re at the last destination and none of your friends are lost, 30 minutes in be like “Okay guys I’m going to bed. Bye!” I Irish dip early every single time. I’ve gone out, I’ve looked pretty, I got the photos, I saw my friends, I’m done. I don’t need to get drunk right now and stay up until two! I’m going home.

I relate so deeply. What’s your self care like right now?

Mental health is the most important because immediately I realized this is a hard industry, especially if I’m exposing myself online. I got a psychologist and was like “I want to be a singer and need to build a mental state that is made of steel,” so we’re trying to do that. For example, I feel bad but I don’t read a single comment and haven’t for a year. Even the smallest thing can get to you! It could be a crazy person from the corner of the world but I just can’t. I feel bad because I don’t respond and will sometimes make my boyfriend go through them and reply to the nice ones, but mental health is number one. I was scared to do live shows because I was like “What if I see people in the corner not having a good time?” so I wrote down all of the healthy thoughts that I want to have going into a show. Also, other dance musicians gave me the advice to go completely sober because if you’re on tour and have to get drunk to sing every night, it’s a slippery slope. This isn’t partying, this is work, you need to see this as a job.

Coming off of a single that went so viral, did you feel a pressure to maintain that specific sound?

The interesting thing is that when “GASLIGHT” blew up, I had never planned to do music. We made it as an inside joke for ourselves. I was in a jazz band but never thought I’d make or put out dance music. I had 35 followers! It blew up and it was extremely scary because I had all these people looking at me and had only written one song in my life. Sound-wise, I was lucky because the song that worked was written so authentically because I didn’t think anyone was going to listen to it. We weren’t trying to go mainstream. That gave me the confidence to say “If I put myself in a song and write it like no one is looking at me, it might work.” Sometimes I get pushback if I’m in session with much bigger songwriters or producers that know what works or doesn’t in the industry and I’ll pitch something super bizarre, they’ll be like “I don’t know if that’s going to work.” But I’m just like “Let’s lean into the weird.”

What would eight-year-old you think of your life right now?

I was thinking about this on the plane because it’s crazy that I’m going to be on stage singing my songs and people paid money to see me! I was journaling saying even if my music career literally ends after these two shows, I’ll be extremely happy that this ever happened because I’ve become alive. Little me is jumping up and down in joy because all I ever did was pretend to be on stage and put on musicals in my room, and now I do that in real life.

INJI's LFG is available now.