Anna Nalick is the music industry’s modern day Cinderella story. At the age of 21, she has already completed nationwide tours with music mainstays the Wallflowers and Howie Day, seen her debut album, “Wreck of the Day,” certified gold and had her debut single “Breathe (2AM)” dominate the Billboard Adult charts, all because of a self-recorded cassette demo. The resulting success has turned Nalick into one of the music press’s one to watch across the board and left her on the brink of stardom. Although the California native says fame isn’t her goal, she may have to brace herself for it. Pulse caught up with Nalick while she was enjoying a day off from her hectic three on, one off schedule in San Diego to talk about fame, her tour with Rob Thomas, her ascension to success and cleaning up after bar mitzvahs.

Dante Sacomani: How has the tour been going so far?

Anna Nalick: It’s been really great – I’ve said before it makes all the difference liking the people you’re on the road with and Rob and his band and his crew are really easy to get along with and a very talented bunch. We’ve had a lot of fun together so far.

DS: Are you finding that crowds are knowing your songs more and more these days?

AN: Yeah, it’s funny – it seems like everyone knows ‘Breathe’ but nobody really knows Anna Nalick yet, which is nice because fame is not something I’m really looking forward to. I think the idea of it sort of scares me, but I like that everybody knows my song. I mean, I’m sure there are people who don’t, but it seems like whenever I say, ‘Oh yeah, this is my song’ and I sing [sings] ‘breathe just breathe,’ they’re like, ‘Oh, I love that song.’

DS: Now that you’ve had this one hit song, do you feel there’s pressure to deliver another?

AN: As far as radio goes, I’m starting over. I’m going back to all the radio stations and I’m playing them the song and, you know, trying to convince people to play the song on their station. It’s a different vibe; [new single] “In the Rough” is more rock ‘n’ roll and more aggressive. And I’m sure there’s people who liked “Breathe” who won’t like “In the Rough,” but I might also appeal to a broader audience. So, you know, it’s always a gamble. There are a lot of great songs out there that never really get the time of day and there are some really crappy songs out there that make it huge – so you really never know.

DS: Aside from the single, how have you handled the pressure of being hyped as the one to watch by VH1 and a bunch of music magazines?

AN: I’m honored because I know that there are a lot of great artists out there and the fact that people would take an interest in my songs is very flattering. The other thing is that I’ve noticed that other musicians and other artists like my songs; it is just the biggest compliment, you know? Like, Fat Joe and Tommy Lee wrote about me in Rolling Stone and those kinds of things are just really flattering because they’re fellow musicians and I value their opinion as artists. So it’s all overwhelmingly wonderful.

DS: Now, you’re only 21, and that’s still pretty young.

AN: It’s really, really young if you consider that I signed my contract and made a record at 18.

DS: Exactly. So how does it feel to already have celebrity fans and a hit song so suddenly?

AN: In a lot of ways, it’s really very cool because I get to tour with and sing with artists like Rob Thomas or, um, – oh my gosh, I can’t remember his name – Jakob Dylan [laughs]. . You know, I get to sing and play with people like them who I grew up listening to and that’s really exciting and it wasn’t that long ago. I mean, it’s very ironic that I still have, in my old bedroom, the same pictures up that I had when I was 14 and I’ve got a picture of the Wallflowers or a picture of Matchbox Twenty on my wall back home, and now I’m touring with them. It’s very ironic and, of course, they get a kick out of it; Rob thinks it’s the funniest thing in the world. Then sometimes it’s hard and kind of scary because I am 21 and not everyone treats me like an adult or a professional. And I don’t feel 21; I’m certainly not doing the same thing as anyone else who is 21 that I know. So I have a big-kid job but in many ways I’m still just a kid, I have normal 21-year-old girl insecurities and it’s hard sometimes to live those out in front of so many people. But I get to make music and at the end of the busy, sometimes very strange day, I get to put on a show and that makes it all worth it.

DS: So how often do you get the chance to be 21?

AN: I’ve been touring for over a year, so any time I see my friends nowadays it’s, like, after one of my shows. When I go home, I just want to be with my parents and maybe get some sleep. So I don’t spend a lot of hanging-out time, but I do have fun. . I’m also really close with my band – they’re like my brothers and we hang out as I would with my college friends. We don’t really party because that’s just not really how any of us are. We have fun and they have drinks; we have a good time but we have too much to do to get crazy like how people talk about: ‘Oh that’s how everyone in the music industry is.’ It really isn’t [laughs]. The most professional people don’t do that because you don’t have time to when you have to wake up at 6 in the morning to do radio.

DS: You said you met with a lot of labels before choosing one. Were you courted on the strength of your demo alone?

AN: Um, yeah [laughs]. Actually, I couldn’t figure it out. I didn’t know why it was happening because, in my opinion, it was some little songs that I wrote when I was in high school and college – wrote them for my friends, wrote them for my own sanity – and here, all of a sudden, all these major labels that have people that have worked with Jeff Buckley and Tori Amos and even more recent bands like Switchfoot.

DS: It must have felt strange to then have to turn around and turn some labels down.

AN: Oh, of course. I’m honored already that anybody took interest in it. For me to be like, ‘Here’s my favorite,’ was kinda of like, ‘Oh gosh.’ I felt like I was in high school and I just had so many choices for a prom date [laughs].

DS: So you were in school when the offer came?

AN: Yeah, I was in junior college and I had two jobs so I could pay for my gas bill to drive into Hollywood every day to work on my demo that I made with my producers. It was very weird because once I got to the point where I was meeting with record labels, I’m from California and they were flying me out to New York every weekend to meet with Epic and RCA and so on and so forth. I didn’t really have any friends in college because it wasn’t easy to talk about what I did on the weekend. I mean, who in their right mind is going to believe me when they’re like, ‘What did you do this weekend?’ ‘Ah, well, I rode around in a limousine, went to a fancy restaurant with a bunch of label execs.’ So it was weird. It felt like I was living a double life for a while. In the meantime, I worked as a janitor [laughs].

DS: Wait, a janitor? Where were you a janitor?

AN: It was at a rental hall and I wasn’t just the janitor. I was sorta the everything girl. Me and a couple friends – well, they became my friends – we all worked at this place where we would rent out space for quinceaneras or bar mitzvahs or wedding receptions. We’d make sure the catering company was there; we’d set up the hall before hand – you know, get their colors right, get everything set up, the candles, the flowers, the whatever. We’d make sure everything ran smoothly during the party and when they were done, we cleaned every bit of that place, including the bathrooms and, ugh, people at parties are messy.