Jessica Pratt: your favorite mainstream star’s favorite cult artist? The California singer-songwriter’s 2014 single “Back, Baby” was sampled on Troye Sivan’s “Can’t Go Back, Baby” last year, and Pratt was a featured guest on A$AP Rocky’s recent single “Highjack.” Pratt commented positively about being sampled by Sivan at the time, Rocky already told Zane Lowe about his appreciation for Pratt’s “Portishead meets Stevie Nicks” vibe; now Pratt herself has spoken with the Apple about these developments as well as her excellent new album Here In The Pitch.

Regard attention from mainstream artists, Pratt says:

It’s very validating, and it’s very interesting, sort of, to see artists from very different walks of life responding to it and then wanting to use pieces of it. It’s very surreal to me. I guess I’ve always considered myself somebody who makes a certain kind of music that will, in my imagination, maybe historically, only appeal to a certain kind of person or exist within a certain genre or whatever.

She says she was touched by Sivan’s use of “Back, Baby” and his ability to build upon her particular breed of sadness: “I think they did a really good job of maintaining the level of sorrow. But he sort of used it in his own language.” Lowe asked her much more about “Highjack” and her experience with A$AP Rocky.

“He was extremely gracious and polite and kind and, yes, effusive,” Pratt says. “It happened really quickly and suddenly, and then it was over. I think I refer to it as a fever dream, and it did feel that way. Like it still is sort of like, ‘Did it happen?’ It’s so bizarre, but also very interesting and beautiful.” She adds that it happened suddenly: “It was just sort of a tentative thing at first. And then within the week, it was happening. And yeah, he was very sweet and extremely charismatic — like, impressively so. Some people just have this aura about them.”

Pratt had a lot of kind things to say about Rocky as a creative partner. “He seems very curious and very free in the way that he explores sounds,” she says. “And, like, no insecurity, at least on the surface. He just is very open in a way that I think is very conducive to making interesting music.”

She adds:

It was very easy with him, and I’m not sure if that’s because he was just very good at facilitating things. He was very focused and encouraging. If you’re trying something out with someone you’ve never worked with — obviously we’re coming from very different schools of music — there is the potential that you might run into some awkwardness: “This isn’t really working, maybe we should try this instead.” There was none of that. As I said, it was kind of shocking. It was just like everything fell into place immediately. There was no pivoting to other ideas. It just unfurled. I have to imagine that is not typical.

Watch the interview below; the Troye Sivan and A$AP Rocky comments begin at the 24:30 mark.

As someone who has never heard Jessica Pratt’s speaking voice before: Why does it sound like that?