By Tine Roycroft

It’s difficult to believe that the voice behind the sexy and strong song “How I Could Just Kill a Man” comes from a 20-year old girl. But it does. And with lyrics like “No to your key of rust, No to your raging words, Sleeping tires, I’m told they never drive,” you might just wonder who this young chick is and what she’s been through.

Just ask the songstress behind those words, Charlotte Sometimes, and she’ll give it to you straight ~ with a twist of astrological knowledge for added taste.

“I’m a Capricorn,” Sometimes revealed in a recent interview with Pulse Magazine. I caught her in between stomach crunches at the gym in New York where she works out at least three times a week. “And Capricorns are completely nuts! We’re doom and gloom and work-a-holics for sure!”

Born Jessica Charlotte Poland, this talented singer and guitarist got her first taste of life in the spotlight not on the stage in front of a mic, but on the dance floor. She began to dance when she was three years old, at her mother’s prompting. And despite obvious talent in ballet, Sometimes heard other art forms calling her name.

“I think I was always singing, even before I could talk,” she remembered. “Then I started doing musical theatre in second grade. I’ve always been an attention whore.”

Sometimes began writing poetry at the age of 13 when, she shared, she thought the world was falling apart around her. Most people would admit that with the onset of puberty they too felt that the sky was crumbling. But Sometimes was dealing with a completely different demon that stirred her to write ~ she had an eating disorder.

“It was bad,” the singer said of her former self. “I got down to around 90 pounds and I’m 5’7”. So I was skinny. My mom finally forced me to go into therapy.”

The singer’s dark journey apparently needed to get worse before it got better. Although Sometimes said she cannot be completely certain, she feels that what happened next was directly related to her eating disorder. Sometimes began to notice that her face was changing, that her jaw appeared to be moving backwards. X-rays confirmed she had a condition known as condylar resportion. In plain English, her mandible was disintegrating.

Sometimes went through a very long and arduous process during which two of her ribs were removed and made into new jawbones. At one point, her mouth was wired shut for a period of two months. Sometimes, who had always had the freedom to speak whatever her intelligent mind created, was now trapped in silence. So she took pen to paper instead.

“A lot of music came out of this period,” Sometimes said. I wrote my entire EP during the time my jaw was wired shut. And after [the healing process] was over, I never returned to having an eating disorder again.”

After her battle with anorexia and her convalescence, Sometimes emerged as a new woman with a different perspective on herself and on the world. Her stage name, she revealed, speaks of her struggle and is actually a combination of her middle name and a children’s book that she holds close to her heart.

“Charlotte Sometimes is a book about a girl who travels through time and she’s always somebody else. And all the time, she just wants to get back to her own time and be her original self,” Sometimes said. “And I feel much of my life is like that.”

A talented singer, guitarist, dancer and poet, Charlotte Sometimes admits that she is still “not herself yet” even after 20 years of an amazing journey to stardom, but the cute songstress is wise and hopeful.

“I have dreams and confidence that I will find myself someday,” Sometimes said. “I’m constantly growing and learning.”

For more info on Charlotte Sometimes, go to www.charlottesometimesmusic.com.