Cassidy King, courtesy.

“Four in the Morning,” the new single from Cassidy King, is a departure from her first EP, Not So Picture Perfect. While the EP was emotionally intense due to the subject matter—a toxic, unhealthy relationship—”Four in the Morning” is a free and easy, upbeat summer song. It evokes feelings of excitement and warmth.

It turns out there’s a reason for that.

“We wrote that song last summer. It was the first warm day in Ohio, and the first warm day in Ohio is always the sweetest; everybody’s always out doing something,” King said last week. “I had just started talking to somebody over the phone who I had never really met in person, but I had always been really infatuated by them. She was just super great. That day was so perfect, and that moment was going on at the exact same time. From that feeling, I wrote that song in like 30 minutes. It was the first song that really wrote itself for me. It came so naturally.”

The video, which King released last week, came just as easily. She had a concept for how the song makes her feel and wanted to make people feel the same way. She joined together with a team of women to execute that vision. The end result was that the video shoot came together just as organically as writing the song did.

“That video was super natural. Since we had to get the right lighting, we did the shots in a short window. It felt super genuine, and it was super fun working with the crew and with Jordan [Kristine Seamón] who’s a great friend of mine,” she said.

But beyond the song’s origins, the tone suits where Cassidy King is at in her life. In addition to the success of her debut EP and a new project on the horizon, she’s finishing up her degree in business marketing and entrepreneurship, a path she initially had mixed feelings about but has come to embrace.

Initially, she was embarrassed to say she was splitting her time between music and school. She saw a stigma against it and thought admitting that she was doing both would make people question her commitment. Additionally, it was tough to do both well. In time, it became a point of pride.

“I thought about it, and I decided I really enjoy education and I love learning. I don’t believe that it’s taking away from my music; I think it’s bettering it. I feel more confident in business conversations I have with people,” King said. “Then I started working with people who were like, ‘Wait, you’re in school? You’re doing this?’ and they thought it was cool. So I thought, OK, let’s roll with it.”

That’s not to say she’s sad to see it end.

“It’s gonna feel so fucking good to graduate,” she said. “Obviously, I’m gonna miss parts of it, but I felt so overwhelmed for so long. I’m excited for it to be done so I can put all my energy into my music.”

Follow editor Daniel J. Willis at Twitter.com/BayAreaData.