Striking melodies and potent vocals are rather immediate when you listen to Maggie Lindemann. Her first two releases—the throbbing Knocking on Your Heart and the raw piano ballad Couple of Kids—are moody foundations and wholly personal tracks which combine an ethereal Lana Del Rey-like air and a sweeping Taylor Swift dynamic. Of course, the 17-year-old (who has amassed one million Instagram followers and over 300,000 on Twitter) douses the pop stories with her very own nuance and unfettered strength, heightening the sense of urgency and sheer force. Last month, upon the release of Heart, the song climbed into the Top 20 of the Alternative Songs chart on iTunes, something she could never have expected in a million years. “[That] was unbelievable to me. I have so much respect for both [Lana and Halsey] for going against the grain when it comes to female acts,” Lindemann shares in an exclusive Popdust interview.