Gretel reflects on releasing her debut album, ‘Squish’, and reassessing success after the intense expectations created by early breakthrough tracks. She says a quieter-than-hoped-for response has pushed her to value the music itself over online comparison and external validation, while live performances and real connections with listeners have become especially meaningful.

Released in April, ‘Squish’ addresses femininity, people pleasing, body dysmorphia, grief, the male gaze and belonging. Gretel describes several songs as emerging instinctively, while ‘The Perfect Body’ concerns choosing happiness amid body dysmorphia, and other tracks draw on the deaths of her grandfather and grandmother; she now defines success as earning enough from music to continue making it.