"People walk a lot faster here and you have to reverse park," says Asta, who has revelled in the access to fellow songwriters, recording studios, and producers ready to collaborate. Her new single Dynamite, which features a sweetly discombobulated verse from rapper Allday, is the sound of Asta taking care of creative business in the big city.

"You have to put it all on the table because writing music is such a personal thing. Going into a room with one or two strangers and having to produce a song is exciting, but when it doesn't work it is so awkward," she says. "Songwriting is like the Coco Chanel philosophy – take one piece away and it will be amazing."

In 2012, when she was finishing high school, Asta won Triple J's influential Unearthed High talent competition, and at year's end her track My Heart is on Fire made the Hottest 100. That was Asta 1.0: winsome alternative pop translated through bedroom recordings. Dynamite is Asta 2.0: vibrant electronic pop with a vintage R&B bounce and an engaging vocal melody.

"I want the music to support my voice, just like the couch I'm sitting on at the moment, instead of just shadowing it. I'm really attracted to the bass and the kick drum – I love the simplicity of putting those two together," Asta says. "And now I've come to Sydney and I'm recording in a studio with heaps of knobs."

To turn or to work with? "Both! I've found my little pocket with this single, and that's very refreshing because there were times where I was freaking out about this stuff. I would be asking myself, 'What music do I want to make?' There are so many different avenues you can go down as a solo artist, but I feel this funky pop sound is cool for me at the moment."

The third of four children, Asta Binnie grew up in Cygnet, a "small hippie country town", where she was either painting without clothes or donning elaborate costumes so she could parade down the hamlet's main drag. Michael Jackson and Destiny's Child CDs were her musical inspiration. Now she gets letters from teenage girls citing her as an inspiration, while she fills in younger artists on the dangers of the unregulated music industry.

"I had my first court case a few months after winning Unearthed High," Asta says. "I didn't sign anything, but this guy wanted to manage me, and I was like, 'Wow, he wants to manage me'. He managed me for four weeks and then he wanted to sue me for 30 grand. I had to go through mediation and it was a huge eye-opener."

Now signed to multinational record label, Warner Music, Asta is level-headed enough to acknowledge that she might establish a successful career or flame out into a mere footnote. But she also knows that this is pop music's golden era, and it is as popular culture's ascendant sound.

"I've had luck, I've had struggles. But I've been able to survive through the music I make, because I put so much into it," she says. "I can't afford soap this week, but I've got a hit song. I love it."

ASTA

When: Saturday, August 21. 10pm

Where: Academy Club, Civic.

Tickets: $17 + BF available from moshtix.com.au