Musician, muse, seductress, champion of female empowerment...these are only a few of the descriptors that come to mind in attempting to pinpoint R&B break-out siren RHODES. In a few short years she released two EPs and a hugely successful full-length that catapulted her into the mainstream, breaking the blogosphere along the way. By fall 2014, she had paved her way toward domination of the pop-crazed Tumblr generation, which she rules with a new world order: sultry, moody R&B from the lips of a moodier star. And she's penned the battle cry of the empowered woman. "I wrote that song, Goddess, for me as much as for anyone else. We all need a reminder that we're strong, incredible women. There's something in all of us that makes us a goddess, whatever it is, even if the only person that can see it is yourself."

The seeds that formed RHODES into the complex woman and vibrant artist she is today has a deep root in her early years. Growing up in Los Angeles, she turned to music and poetry as a teenager. “I was going through a lot in those years. High school was not easy for me. I had my brothers and I had my closest friends but a lot of times I just felt weighed down by a million things. And it’s hard to get out from under that kind of pressure. I really had this intense need to feel heard, even when I didn’t necessarily always want to speak or know what I wanted to say. And so I started writing in a journal every day just to get it all out. I didn’t realize what I was doing at the time really, but that became the basis for some of my songs.”

Her first two EPs, Fall Over and London put RHODES on the radars of critics and fans alike, as she began to accumulate press on every outlet under the sun as well as score nominations for awards from BBC and MTV. However it was her release of debut full-length, Goddess, that pushed her over the tipping point into the world of pop stardom. In describing the inspiration behind the name and the concept of the album, she points to her feminist roots. “I truly believe that every woman is a Goddess. It’s the cheesiest thing to say, but you’re perfectly imperfect and it’s just something that you have to learn to embrace. It’s one of the hardest things to do, but it’s also one of the most beautiful accomplishments. And we’re all working on it. Or at least I am. And it doesn’t just go for woman either, I’m definitely a feminist, I’m all about equal opportunity empowerment. And I know that’s kind of a tricky thing to say, that there’s maybe this stigma about being a feminist, but I really think that stems from people not knowing what it actually is. If people understood that it’s just wanting equality for everyone, for men and women, I don’t see why you wouldn’t be a feminist unless you were scared of how truly powerful and amazing women are.”

The songs on Goddess reflect her inner search and constitute a body of work that feels at once piercingly deep and unwaveringly organic. “That’s how I like the music I listen to, I want it to sound real. Like someone who has lived and experienced love and heartbreak and jealousy and all fields of emotions is the one sharing. Don’t get me wrong, I like light, fun songs too. But give me a song that can punch me in the gut and I’m done for.” Her inspirations include powerhouses Lauryn Hill, Fiona Apple and Tracy Chapman. “It’s more than just the songs that influenced me, it’s what I felt listening to them and what I could imagine them feeling writing them. With Fiona Apple in particular, she’s just so honest in her songs. I totally connected to her music and that’s how I feel when I write my own, too. Because I don’t really have a process, I can’t force out a song or just imagine what I want something to be about. I always write when I’m in a really emotional place and it’s just the most natural thing in the world to unload all these hurts and wants and desires onto the page.” However, it’s not just musicians who nourish her creative motivations but that casual interactions of everyday life. “I don’t really like talking about it in specifics, but yeah, the people in my life inspire my music. Absolutely. It wouldn’t be real if it wasn’t really what I lived and breathed.”

Though music is her ultimate shelter from the storm, it doesn’t come without its challenges, especially as she grows increasingly more popular. "Sometimes it's so easy to get sucked into this blackhole of feelings. I'm really sensitive, I feel things so deeply. Too deeply, probably. And I'll have a bad day and just want to cower in the corner and hide somewhere and I'll still have to play and that's something I'm finally learning how to get a handle on. I haven't really been performing live for that long and I think it's really starting to settle into my bones. Even on those days I just want to disappear it feels good to step out onto the stage in front of these people who are going to sing back my songs because they get it. I can just turn off everything else for a while and enjoy. I can finally breathe and have a moment of like, 'What were you so worried about?'"

After all of these experiences in the industry, her own personal life, and the growth she has achieved, her words of wisdom are tough to beat. "I would say just be you, whatever that means. If you're being honest and true to yourself, even the bad things are going to be alright because at the very least it's genuine. You can't control everything, so you have to work toward accepting the things you can't change and the things you can, even when you fall into maybe both of those categories. And don't ever let anyone else define you." RHODES will be hitting the festival circuit in the early fall. Until then, she’ll be holed up in the studio doing what she does best: songwriting.