Leaving home can be a thrilling and terrifying thing to do. So when 20-year-old Sara Hartman decided to move from her hometown in Sag Harbor, NY (aka the Hamptons) and move to Berlin, she channeled all those mixed emotions into her music. And her first single, "Monster Lead Me Home," was born. We spoke with Sara before she released her video for the song and found out how this New Yorker ended up recording tunes at studio in Germany and what her goals are for 2016.

Hometown: Sag Harbor, NY

Homebase: Berlin, Germany

What did you listen to growing up?

My mom listened to mostly Radiohead and Talking Heads while my dad was always really into the pop/rock category like Green Day. I had an eclectic musical upbringing I suppose, but it’s essentially 90s indie rock. My mom and dad aren’t musical at all, but I got a drum set for Christmas when I was 11. I had drum lessons, and it snowballed from there. I discovered that I could make new beats from the beats I learned. It was a very inspiring thing and made me fall in love with music.

When did you step away from the drum kit and stand in front of the mic?

I was very reluctant to do this and am still sometimes reluctant about it. But I really do love singing. I had a drum teacher who’s related to [folk singer-songwriter] Harry Chapin. His name was Paul Chapin. He also knew piano and guitar, I guess. I wanted to learn piano before I learned drums. I was hungry to learn more things. I was young and excitable, still am excitable. I learned probably four chords. And as soon as I learned, I could express myself through music. I know it sounds really cliche. My mom is a visual artist, and she would encourage me and my brother to make stuff out rocks and mud into anything. So I took that mud pie mentality and applied it to drums and piano, and it became songwriting. ;

You grew up in Sag Harbor, NY, but you’ve moved to Berlin. What inspired the decision to move, and how did relocating influence your music?

I’m from Sag Harbor, which is the Hamptons, and it’s a no man’s land in the winter. It’s a small town in the winter, to be honest. But in the summer, it flooded with the rich and famous. I worked in a shop on Main Street, and Usher came in and played with the toys we were selling. It was a very strange place to grow up, but to me, it was kind of normal. I started playing in restaurants when I was 15, and I was making as much money as my friends who were scooping ice cream for a living. It worked really well. Because it was the Hamptons, I happened to play in front of the right person. And now, I’m in Berlin working with this producer. I’m just in love with this new music that we’re making. It took the music that I was playing in the corners of restaurants to a new level. It’s very exciting.

I just finished the Patti Smith book, Just Kids, which is so great, when I landed in Berlin for the first time, which was when I finished the book. I thought that [Berlin] was New York when Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe were at the Chelsea Hotel when it was dirty and dangerous. When you have cheap places to live, you’ll have many artists there. And when you have many artists in one place, great things are going to happen. And that’s how Berlin is. That energy is so infectious. I’m so excited to live here.

Moving to Berlin inspired “Monster Lead Me Home.” Can you talk a bit about that? 

“Monster” is a very special song to me. It personifies the whole move. I didn’t really realize that my moving to this place would be a real inspiration, but I guess you can make anything great when you feel comfortable. This is the most exciting and terrifying thing I’ve done in my whole, and I didn’t really realize it in the beginning because I was just so caught up in writing these songs. I’ve never been so scared, but I’ve never been so hopeful. When I’d be homesick after a long studio day, I would watchWhere the Wild Things Are to comfort myself because it was a movie my brother and I used to watch. Me, my mom and my brother would watch this and eat Chinese take-out. So I would watch it when I was homesick, and the image of that lost little kid. I felt like that lost little kid in this massive city. I felt like this music could bring me somewhere, I suppose. And that’s where the tag line comes from.

You’ve been working on music right now. What are your plans for 2016?

We’re putting the finishing touches on the album now. So there’s much more to come. “Monster” is really just the beginning. These songs are literally my experience in the past year. It’s been a growing experience. I’ve never been so proud of anything in my whole life. There’s going to be a lot of playing shows, going wherever people want me to play. People really seem to like the song, and there’s a lot more where that came from. I think 2016 will be a very, very fun year. I’ll be at SXSW in March so I’ll be making my way around.