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This Arizona native auditioned as a member of the Vanessa Beecroft-curated performance troupe for Kanye West’s Yeezus tour in 2013. After a demo tape made its way backstage and eventually to the rapper himself, West called Hill with five words, “Meet me in Atlantic City”. He signed her to his label G.O.O.D. Music on the spot. The 23-year-old’s mesmerising, FKA Twigs-esque synth pop has since been packaged into an empowering and ethereal full-length album debut, West mentoring and curating at every step. Titled Like A Woman, Hill explores the depths of feminine sexuality and the very important message of remaining impenitent to this notion.

“It is true Kanye West didn’t love the first cut of my album… I was kind of expecting this reaction in a way, I felt like I was floundering a bit. It lacked identity and Kanye urged me to consider the direction of what I was trying to convey. He helped set me up with people who were critical to making it feel cohesive.”

“My single Hard To Love is about someone in my family… I kept trusting and wanting them to change but I felt like I was always being let down. I think a lot of that was just expecting more from someone than they were able to give me, which is a disappointing situation.”

“A big part of the album is about women not apologising for having sexual desires… and wanting to feel good. It’s also about not letting everything be ‘empowering’ all of the time. Part of being unapologetic about your sexuality is being comfortable with that vulnerability. In contrast to what society might tell us, women don’t have to state that everything feels empowering all of the time.”

“Before music, a lot of stock shot images of me in minimal clothing were on the internet… They were shot for American Apparel years ago, I was in body suits and lingerie but I didn’t really see anything sexual about them. They kind of took on their own narratives and as I was gearing up to release my music, I tried to erase them but then I felt silly because I was letting other people dictate what I chose to do with my body. The campaign visuals for the album are an extreme, satirical approach to the images of me that already existed on the internet. I took other people’s ammunition and saved it for myself.”

“I don’t know if getting asked about Kanye in interviews is tiring… I mean, I think it’s just natural, he’s been a big part of my journey from the very beginning.”

Kacy Hill’s new album Like A Woman is out now.