Taylor Momsen uses songwriting as “therapy” during all her “incredibly hard” times in life.
The 32-year-old singer-songwriter has previously been open about tackling depression and grief, and The Pretty Reckless frontwoman turns to penning tunes to “cope” with life’s tough moments.
She told NME: “I picked up writing when I was five years old, and I feel very fortunate that I figured that out really young that it was this tool that allowed me to be purely and utterly free.
“I realised I could write everything and anything I thought, and by doing it, I learned to process myself and process the world around me.
“It is something that has served me incredibly well in adulthood, too. And that’s not to say that life doesn’t take its toll and things aren’t incredibly hard at times, but definitely the writing aspect of it can be like therapy sometimes.
“Without it I don’t know who I’d be or where I’d be. It’s how I cope. It’s how I deal with everything.”
The Pretty Reckless dropped their fifth studio album, Dear God, last week, and Taylor insisted the rockers had the “same fire” to make the LP as they did with their 2010 debut album Light Me Up.
She added: “This record feels really inspired and fresh to us. In a lot of ways, it feels like the first album, Light Me Up.
“Not musically, but in the way it has that same sense of intent and that same fire from when we were at the very beginning.”
In March, former Gossip Girl star Taylor admitted she was excited for fans to hear the band’s new album.
Speaking on Chicago radio station Rock 95.5, she said: “I’m so proud of this album and I’m so happy that people know it’s coming now. ‘Cause that’s been a secret that I’ve been holding on to, so it feels nice to let that go.
“Because I know all the inner workings of everything, but the world doesn’t, so it feels great that it is finally out in the world and there’s an definitive date where you guys can all listen to it.”