When she appears on FaceTime, Clairo is walking through a door with precisely 240 bags of tea. There's a box of U.K. brand PG Tips in the Glasgow dressing room of the venue she’s headlining tonight, and 21-year-old Claire Cottrill is wondering if she's ever seen a bigger box of teabags, ever. These are the perks of being one of 2019's biggest emerging successes. There have been many firsts like this for Cottrill, singer-songwriter of one of the year's best songs (“Bags”—not about teabags, to be clear) and one of 2019’s best debut albums, Immunity.

Immunity is exactly 40 minutes, the duration of a mid-afternoon nap, or a coffee with a confidant, or a lap around a lake. Lauded for its gentle intimacy, the album became a respite for Clairo’s fans, that rare breed of musical companion you lean on and play on loop when you're at your most fragile. Co-produced by Cottrill and Rostam Batmanglij (who’s worked behind the scenes with Maggie Rogers and HAIM and is formerly of Vampire Weekend), it weaves R&B with alternative rock and soul fluidly without feeling pressure to be tethered in one mould. It exists as a time capsule for Cottrill’s transformative states of mind while recalling her heartbreak, her maturing and all her challenges therein. It’s told with such fine detail, it's like the stories the lyrics unfurl happened just moments ago.

For Clairo, 2019 granted her a second coming of sorts. Having first made noise by accident via a dorm-room viral video (“Pretty Girl”) two years ago, the Atlanta-born musician has had to navigate the biz while finding her voice, and responding to (inaccurate) rumors that she was a well-connected industry plant. Today, though, Cottrill's narrative is re-written on the strength of her sharply evocative, well-crafted, and earnest songs. She’s become a fitting emblem for a young generation who have the responsibility of saving the world on their shoulders and can't express their naïveté without backlash and consequence.

As an album, Immunity exists in the midst of its own growing pains. It speaks to its own flaws and it asks to be held, even though it's also battling to be bulletproof. The candidness of Cottrill spoke for itself in her performances around the globe. But 2019's also taken its toll. Cottrill had bronchitis a few days ago. She cancelled a show for only the second time in her career. Hence, the tea…

GQ: Claire, how are you doing today? Better?

Clairo: I'm a lot better. I was really sick. I'm good now.

Is that the sickest you've been on the road?

I haven't gotten that sick in a long time. I was dealing with bronchitis since Coachella, then on the Khalid tour [which I opened]. My throat started going crazy. I couldn't speak. It's a new thing for me to start drinking this Vitamin C shit.

You've been all over the world this year: Europe, Asia… places you've never been before.

And I would never have gone to them unless I was touring, which is the coolest part. I can't believe we've been able to go around the world so quickly and have people welcome us with open arms everywhere we go. I've never even been to Glasgow and the show here is sold out. It's strange. Crazy. Beautiful.

Has the traveling given you a new perspective on the world?

It depends on the time we have in the city. Even meeting people in the cities is enough for me. I have conversations with them, pick their brain about their day-to-day lives. I'm taking it all in. Traveling's the only thing I ever wanted to do. Doing it this way is the coolest possible. It was my dream. Then it happened. That's something I didn't think I'd be able to say.