Words are a funny thing. There are a select few people who can do something much more than simply speak or sing with them -- they craft them to make magic. Hailing from the mysteries Finland, Peppina is that kind of artist. Give this gifted singer and multi-instrumentalist a phrase, and she'll turn it unexpectedly on its head. And that's just the beginning – this wise 19-year-old is as playful with music as she is with words. When Peppina puts them both together something special happens: an emotional alchemy that’s making people stand up and pay attention. "I think one of the greatest things for people to feel is that someone understands you," she says of her strikingly original songwriting. "I always want to make that kind of connection, if I can. But if someone hears one of my songs and gets angry, that's great too -- it’s a powerful emotion that makes things happen." Peppina hails from Finland, a northern European country with great natural beauty but with a culture that, in her opinion, values modesty a bit too much. For years this appreciation for humility as a public standard held her back from stepping into the spotlight. But as her skill on vocals, piano, guitar, and classical flute grew in step with her wordsmithing abilities, she made a discovery that would help set her free. The liberating force was hitRECord, the innovative open collaboration Website/production company founded by acclaimed actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt (“3rd Rock from the Sun,” The Dark Knight Rises, 50/50). “I was afraid to share my music with people for a long time," Peppina admits. “But I was fascinated with hitRECord. Their focus is on the art, not the artist, and that's what made me dare to put my music out there." It was a gamble that paid off. Several of Peppina’s early songs, both in English and her native Finnish, became the soundtrack for eye-catching animations. Her pure, intimate vocals and clever lyrics also captivated Gordon-Levitt, who invited Peppina to Los Angeles to perform the entrancing round “We Can Go Back Again” live before thousands on “hitRECord On TV” It was an exhilarating experience that encouraged Peppina to take another bold step, drawing her back to the United States for another visit in 2014 – this time to New York City to record her gorgeous and thought-provoking new EP, Follow Your Gravity. "That was another moment of taking a risk," she says. “It was the best and most challenging summer of my life. This is the first time I experienced living somewhere else besides Finland, and it was amazing to sense the millions of people packed in around me. I felt the crazy energy, and that gave me motivation to record." Self-funded via the revenue she earned from her success on hitRECord (the site splits all revenue earned 50/50 with its artists), Peppina called on her new stateside contacts to build a powerful songwriting and production team. Collaborating and recording with a hit-making group that included Jeff Franzel, Jimmy Landry and Michael Spivack, she was also joined in the studio by top session drummer Shawn Pelton (Sheryl Crow, “Saturday Night Live”). The result is an imaginatively modern collection of songs that converge pop, acoustic, electronic, and cinematic components in one captivating place. It kicks off with the instantly addictive single, “Time Standing Still,” where she locks in the listener with the lines, “I wouldn’t want to hear these thoughts I’m thinking/I want to shake this feeling that we’re sinking/If you don’t kiss these doubts away from my head I just can’t look ahead.” And the Gravity track “What You Are Will Show” springs up as an instant classic, where raw dancing drums and a jangly ukulele lead to Peppina counseling in the chorus, “Plan a perfect life/Filter out the lows and the highs, is that alright?/Everyone should know that you don’t have to want to travel in a perfect line/Open up your eyes and what you are will show.” Of course, that’s exactly what’s happening right now for Peppina, who’s poised to break away from her previous doubts and woo the world. “You never know what will happen if you dare to share your art,” she says. “For a long time I thought, ‘I can’t be an artist. That won’t happen.’ But denying myself made me really unhappy. I realized that I don’t choose to make music – I just do. It’s how I live. It’s what I am.”