The folk and dream pop influences on the album — the acoustic textures, the songs that expand through atmosphere rather than through conventional pop hooks — reflect a musical sensibility that her brother’s mixtapes had introduced her to in Florida, a sensibility that runs counter to the pop register of “Good Girls Go Bad” and the Universal Republic singles. The difference between those singles and Heartstrings is the difference between music made in response to an industry’s assessment of what she should release and music made in response to what she actually wanted to make.
She has described the music she made on Heartstrings as “a lot closer to her heart” than the pop material. She has described folk music specifically in these terms — as the genre that aligns with what she is rather than with what the market expected of her. The decision to release the album independently, after leaving the major label system, reflects the same orientation toward professional autonomy that characterizes other decisions in her career: the decision to redirect her Gossip Girl audition toward Blair, the decision to do Of Mice and Men rather than taking another high-visibility commercial role.
The album did not reach the commercial heights of “Good Girls Go Bad.” It was not designed to. It was designed to be the music she actually wanted to make, released through channels that allowed her to control the terms of its release, to an audience that found it rather than to a market that it was pushed toward. This is a specific kind of professional success — the kind that is measured in different units than chart position — and it reflects a consistent set of priorities across Meester’s career.