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Chanel Loren was feeling burnt out and overwhelmed, so she turned to what she knows best.
The recording artist wrote "the audio hug I needed," a song called Ebony, which was a message to her inner child in which she encourages herself to accept where she's at.
"I kind of wanted to write that song as a hug because I felt like I needed a hug," Loren told ABC News.
"And the only person that could give me the hug was myself.
"So, it became like a love song for myself, but I realised that it wasn't just for me."
Loren says the song is for anyone who needs reassurance and the spirit behind the track is self-acceptance.
"You don't have to be anyone else," she says.
"This is who you wanted to be. You are becoming that person.
"You're reaching your goals and your dreams and being alive is good enough.
"You don't have to do too much."
Loren's alma mater was attended by Amy Winehouse
The 29-year-old was born and raised in London and studied at the Brit school, which boasts famous alumni including Adele, Amy Winehouse and Spider-Man actor Tom Holland.
"I started to get into music and fall in love with singing around 16, 17 [years of age]," Loren says of her origin story.
"But before that, I was just in love with lyrics and instrumentation.
"I did a little bit of poetry when I was younger, but nothing that I would frame," she laughs.
Loren migrated to Australia in 2012 after her mother married an Australian following her parents' divorce.
"It was really hard," she said.
"It still is hard. I feel like my coping mechanism is to be in my own bubble.
"I dabble in escapism, which isn't cool because I'm not always present sometimes."
Australia was familiar, and yet so different from home
Loren found it difficult to fit into a country so similar to home… and yet, so different.
"It was very isolating. I felt alone … even down to how I spoke because I'm from South London, so I was speaking slang and all of that.
"And then when I came here, no-one understood me and I was like, 'I'm speaking English and you speak English.'
"But I realise it's two different types.
"So, I felt like at the start I watered down myself just so that people can understand me because I wanted to be heard."
She says it's ironic that Canadian rapper Drake popularised South London slang so much that many Australians have now adopted much of that slang.
"I was like, where were you in 2012 when I needed you guys?"
Loren developed much of her friendship circle when she studied contemporary music and performance at JMC Academy.
Her music has found its way to triple j Unearthed, and she was later signed by Sony Music Australia.
Ebony is on her new EP Between2Worlds, out on Friday, which is inspired by her move to Australia and struggles finding her feet in the music industry.
She says the album is a reminder to herself that being an outsider isn't always a bad thing and to be authentically herself, even if it scares her.
"It was just a bit of acceptance of, 'I'm not meant to fit in, I'm just meant to be and it's OK.'
"I'm privileged to live in two different countries and experience two different experiences.
"So, throughout the songs, it's just me just talking about how I feel.
"I just wanted to highlight different parts of me."
Between2Worlds is out now.