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More than four years ago, 19-year-old Kristin Diable dropped out of LSU, a year shy of earning a degree, to give New York a shot. Not as a student, but as a struggling singer/songwriter.

Her sacrifices are starting to pay off. She’s had some interest from record labels, and was featured in the Indie Spotlight on iTunes. Diable came home for the holidays and played a show at Chelsea’s Cafe. 225 sat down with the budding songstress to dish about her career.

225: So, you appeared on an episode of The Apprentice. What was that like?

I got this call last year some time. The task was they had to get an artist in the studio with a songwriter and a producer and write a song, record it and try to push it on the radio, all in 24 hours. It was ridiculous. They brought in four musicians for the contestants to check out and I was one of the four. I didn’t end up working with either group, which is really good because I heard it was a nightmare for both of the acts that got chosen. The groups wanted to write the songs for them, and I think it was very embarrassing for the two people who did get used.

Your first full-length album Shelter came out in 2005.

It was crazy. We recorded it in Baton Rouge at Civello Studios. We started in December of 2004 and carried into January of 2005, so we did pretty much all the recording in a 5-week period. I had a bassist and a drummer come from New York, and they played on half of the songs on the album. I couldn’t really pay them to come down or take care of their plane tickets. It was funny because we all crashed at my sister’s place ... not the most comfortable experience for them, but they were sweet enough and chill enough to do it.

In terms of the songwriting, how long did it take for the songs to materialize?

Most of the songs were finished when we went into the studio. “Black Plague” and “Dynamite” wasn’t, and I wasn’t even going to put it on the record because I only had a verse and a chorus. We were in the studio one night, and it was late, and we had been recording for a really long time, and I was just playing around on the keyboard and started playing it. Everybody stopped what they were doing and were like, “What’s that?” They were like, “We’re recording that.” And I told them it wasn’t a song yet. They wanted to record it the next day. So, I went over to the School of Music building. They have a bunch of pianos up there on the third floor, so I spent a couple hours and worked on it, and it was done.

Where do you get inspiration for songs?

I used to write very much from a circumstantial, very direct, first-person view. I felt that if I didn’t have this specific experience that I couldn’t sing about it and be honest about it. But, the more you write songs and learn about songs, the more you realize how universal a lot of situations and ideas and experiences are. It doesn’t have to be the scenario you specifically encountered or lived as long as you understand the message of it. That’s been a nice realization for me.

Your family was opposed to your New York move in the beginning. How do they feel now?

Oh, my mom gets so mad at me when she reads those things. She’ll call me up and says, “I did not disown you.” She refuses to admit how angry she was, but it’s totally different now. My mom came to the show at Chelsea’s. She’s really allergic to cigarette smoke, so for her to put up with that for an extended period of time is really cool. And she usually goes to bed by ten, so she was a trooper. Most people don’t understand music as being a legitimate career.

What do you think brought your mom around?

That I survived and not destitute. For my mom it was the initial shock. I was really close to graduating and doing really well in school. My mom just wanted me to get my degree, which is reasonable. I think once opportunities started coming up and there was interest from really significant people and labels. she realized that I was serious and not like, “Oh I’m going to be a rock star.”

And, you’ve had some interest from some pretty big labels.

There’s one in particular—Decca Records—that is under Universal. There’s not a contract or anything, but I think that’s the biggest prospect right now. I really like they’re approach.