The singer opens up about good intentions and getting past the stress of traveling

I'm doing things because I truly and honestly feel them, and not because people are making me do them, she says during our recent interview. People should either like me and appreciate that I'm doing things my own way or just not pay attention to me. I just have this hang up about wanting people to realize I'm safe and they can trust me and I'm not judging them because I care about them. I want to be liked because I think I am meaning well."

And so, Lissie hopes her debut album, Catching a Tiger (Fat Possum), comes across as simply honest. I guess I want to get across that I'm just trying to be myself, and I hope, in doing that, that people will relate to me, she says of the material on the album, which was released August 17. I just have to do things in the way that feels right to me.

As such, Lissie says it's hard for her to listen to her own music or watch her own performances. The morning of this interview she performed her single, "Cuckoo" on the BBC breakfast show, which was painful to watch for her.

I was on the news this morning and someone sent me the link. I started to watch it and was like, 'Oh God, I don want to watch this,' she says, laughing.

When it comes to writing her music, the singer reflects that relationships are always good material, but she's recently found her stride being single and says it's opened her up to different inspirations for songs, like observing people as she walks down the street or simply exploring the way she's feeling on a certain day.

My inspiration for music really isn other music; it's more relating my feelings, she says. It's the sad, more melancholy things that inspire me to write, but it usually ends on a hopeful note."

And sometimes, another artist can find a way to portray how Lissie is feeling better than she can. She's performed several notable covers, from Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" to Kid Cudi's "Pursuit of Happiness," and says that the inspiration for a cover comes when she finds a relationship with the song. "Pursuit of Happiness," specifically, has a line about rollin' the Midwest side, which resonates with the singer who hails from Illinois.

Now that Catching a Tiger is out in the world, Lissie has been extensively touring, and notes that the last time she saw home was for four days in the beginning of July.

"It's a test of my patience and physical stamina," she says of the constant traveling, which often wears on her physically and mentally. "But, we're having a good time, and I feel like we're positively affecting people's lives, so it's worth it.