Rising R&B singer-songwriter Haven is known for baring her soul through music – and in person, she is just as candid.

Catching her reflection in the mirror, the 21-year-old local artist behind the chart-topping 2025 eponymous album Haven fiddles with her hair mid-conversation and laughs about her latest impromptu trim.

“I had enough changes in my life, so I was like, you know what? New chapter, new me!” she says.

That sense of change runs deep. While Haven’s career continues its upward climb, her songs often reflect a more introspective side – one that does not shy away from uncertainty, heartbreak or healing.

“It’s actually kind of nice when someone like me just takes it easy. I feel like I’m not anyone at all, and I don’t like it when people say I’m being humble,” she adds. “Realistically, I’m not famous. The world doesn’t know who I am. If I stop doing music, nothing changes!”

The young artist, whose real name is Ms Teo Cher Win, is both a performer who commands the stage and a 20-something still navigating what it means to grow up in the public eye.

But Haven has always been down-to-earth about love, mining its messiness with a precision that has made her music feel disarmingly relatable. The song Ride Or Die confronts the tension of a situation, while Find My Way maps the uncertain path back to someone, regardless of how or why.

Here, she shares more about songwriting and why music will always be her most honest form of expression.

Q: What inspires your songwriting the most?

I would have to say the experiences that I grew up with, as I have never been good at expressing my emotions growing up. I always found that writing music helps me because I tend to psychoanalyse how I am feeling through my writing. That gives me clarification as I slowly figure...