Best of 2015: Hailee Steinfeld Reveals Favorite Music, Movies and More

Hailee Steinfeld went from Oscar-nominated actress to bonafide pop star this year, thanks to her hit empowerment anthem “Love Myself,” catchy debut EP Haiz and a role in Pitch Perfect 2 that allowed the teenager to show off both her acting and singing chops. As her big year wraps up, Steinfeld reviewed some of her favorite cultural and personal moments of 2015 and predicted what’s coming up in 2016.

Favorite Albums
“This year, so many albums that came out around the same time, which [feels] like Christmas came early. I’ve spent so much time just replaying albums in the last two months, three months than ever before. Some of my favorite artists put out albums this year, like the Weeknd. Beauty Behind the Madness is unbelievable. Alessia Cara is one of my favorite artists, and I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her and talking to her a couple of times. She’s just so, so cool, and her lyrics, her songs are so relatable, it’s insane. I love her. Adele’s album has been on repeat, and while listening to it, I just contemplate life. That’s a thing that happens when I listen to Adele.”

Favorite Song
“Probably ‘Stitches’ by Shawn Mendes. That song is forever stuck in my head, and I’m totally OK with it.”

Favorite TV Shows
“I’m the worst when it comes to TV, because I’ll start with season one, and I’ll get three, four, five episodes, and then I, like, skip two, and then I can’t pick up where I left off. I can never stay committed with a TV show. If I could pick one that I wish I could watch, it would probably be Game of Thrones. I feel like I would really enjoy that; I just haven’t had the time to get into it. I was a huge fan of Homeland, but I didn’t get that far into it. I need a TV show that I binge-watch.”

Favorite Movie
“I saw Straight Outta Compton and absolutely loved it. I was not familiar with the background of those people and those artists and how what they do came to be. I mean, I obviously knew what it was going to be about, but didn’t know it was going to be that in-depth. I really didn’t have any expectations walking in, because I wasn’t aware of how powerful it was, but I really, really loved that movie.”

Favorite Moment
“I feel like Taylor [Swift] has had quite a moment this year and being part the ‘Bad Blood’ video and going onstage with her in front of however many people there were that night to now performing in front of crowds similar in size. With Taylor having such an incredible year, being part of that is pretty amazing.”

2016 Plans
“I will be going back to L.A. at the end of this month. I am taking a minute off with my family for the holidays and then I am getting back in the studio to finish writing what I can’t believe I am calling my first album. So that will be happening and I can’t wait to just play more shows. I’ve been on this Jingle Ball tour, and I get offstage every night and look at my team and I am like, ‘All right, how many hours until the next one?’ I just love it so much and I can’t wait to release more music and perform more and it has been so amazing because I spent a couple months in the studio and then released the EP and now I am playing a couple of shows and I am seeing that this is what the cycle sort of is. This whole world is extremely new to me and I am learning so much every day, but I love the idea that so much is going on in my life right now and I am experiencing so much on so many different fronts. I am so motivated and excited to get back in the studio and be able to pull from that. When I was in the studio doing the EP, I was just like, ‘I don’t ever want this to end! I just want to live in the studio! I don’t want to do anything else!’ Now I want to go and live life so I can go back. It is a never-ending cycle that is so awesome and I can’t believe I get to do this – it is so cool.”