Cady Groves: 'This Little Girl' Singer Gets Candid About Traumatic Relationships, Revenge and Daddy Issues During In House Q&A

"My whole album is about one guy, and he is a certified life ruiner," singer-songwriter Cady Groves admitted during our exclusive In House interview. After performing her track "This Little Girl" for our staff, singing lyrics like, "This little girl is capable of murder if you hurt her," the 22-year-old told us all about the relationship nightmare behind the music. As she warns in the song, don't let her diminutive stature fool you. "I wrote a whole album about cutting off that guy's wang."

The youngest of seven kids, the Marlow, Okla., native is currently based on her grandfather's 280-acre farm out in Kansas. "There's a gas station with hot dogs," she told us. "That's all I need ... I'm pretty white trashy." Her painfully honest attitude may land her in trouble with RCA label executives when it comes to her explicative-packed Twitter posts, but it's solid gold when it comes to her songwriting. Find out the shocking story that inspired the up-and-coming artist's new record, and learn how she went from neglected overachiever to culinary student to recording artist with self-diagnosed "daddy issues" in our Q&A below!

Who inspired your vengeful song "This Little Girl"?

My whole album is about one guy, and he is a certified life ruiner. I moved to Los Angeles when I was 21. I met a bunch of producers, and I met this one producer who was 35. I had never been in love before, and we became obsessed with each other from the second we met. I told my label I wanted to make my whole album with him, so we spent a lot of time together for the next four months -- every day together, 20 hours a day. We were looking at apartments, and I literally though I was going to spend the rest of my life with him. He was late for our last writing session, and he was never late, so I was telling the other writer, "I'm sorry he's late. I don't know where he is." And he said, "Well, he and his wife went out to Santa Monica, so there's probably traffic." I was like, "What?!" I freaked out. Everything in me just shut down, and when he got there, I just went crazy. I asked for [his wife's] phone number, and I called her, and she was like 40. It was the most horrible situation I've ever been through in my life, and I shut down after that. I started loosing my hair, lying in bed all day.

And then my label called me and said, "Listen, you don't see it now, but this is going to be something great. Write your Alanis Morissette album. Get even!" So I did. I wrote a whole album about cutting off that guy's wang ... so it worked out!

Has he heard the music?

He knows the entire album's about him. He hates it. I ruined his life, too, but of course [he and his wife] stayed together because there's too much money involved. Money rules people's lives.



You didn't know about his wife while you were dating, but didn't that age difference between you two seem odd?

I don't know what it is, but I love 30-somethings. I'm not attracted to anyone in their 20s. I don't know what it is! It probably has to do with daddy issues. I had a bunch of step-dads growing up and the only one I had that was cool was when I was super young, and he had a blond mullet and never wore sleeves, and he was a drummer. He looked exactly like Joe Dirt. He was also an alcoholic, but I thought it was awesome. I was mad at my mom when she divorced him for going to prison, but he did teach me how to play drums. So that started my whole love affair with music.

So you started with music at an early age, but you also went to culinary school in between then and now.

I really always wanted to do music, but everybody told me I sucked, so I went to college super early. I graduated high school at 16. So I got a culinary degree, a mass communications degree, and I started a business degree. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, so I was delivering pizzas near [Las] Vegas for like a year and a half, and I saved up enough money for studio time, and a week later, I had every record label in a bidding war over me.

Will there have to be another dating disaster in your life in order for you to write new songs?

I just had a recent train wreck that was worse than that. I added two new songs to my album last week based on that. I think I'll just keep this one a secret for the rest of my life. I'm still in the middle of going through it, but it helped me to write about it. I think I'm done with people in general -- I'll just become a nun one day.

You cover Adele's "Someone Like You" on your "This Little Girl" EP. What is it about that song that you relate to?

I cover that song because of this most recent relationship. It fits it to a tee. I don't like singing other people's songs, because I'm a writer, but I felt this one. Imagine if Adele and I dated and broke up -- I'd be terrified of what she'd say!

What was it like growing up as the youngest of seven kids?

You just never stand out. I was such a dork growing up. I had Christina Aguilera's first single, "Genie in a Bottle," and I had Mariah Carey's greatest hits album, but I was so afraid to tell anyone in my family that I was going to be a pop star one day. I would go up in my closet with my pillow over my face and hit the high notes.

I was always really advanced in school, and I think that's why I turned out OK. There were five boys and two girls, and the two girls were always really innocent, and the boys were always driving my mom insane doing really bad s---. So, my goal was to get really good grades and say, "Look at me, mom. I'm so perfect." So I did that, but she still never noticed me. So I just decided after being around so many people, I just wanted to do my own thing and stand alone doing my music.