“They’re kind of interwoven with each other,” said George Watsky on his rap and poetry.

Named the Youth Speaks Grand Slam Poetry Champion in 2006, Watsky quickly gained recognition as a spoken-word poet. He released his first rap album, the self-titled “Watsky,” in 2009 and rose to fame in 2011 after a YouTube video of his music went viral.

Since then, Watsky has released four studio albums, an essay collection titled “How to Run Everything” and continues to tour performing his music and spoken-word poetry. He appears on The Hamilton Mixtape, performing a cover of “An Open Letter.” His most recent album, “COMPLAINT,” was released Jan. 11.

I caught up with Watsky over the phone while the rapper was in Alaska preparing for a show. The COMPLAINT Tour officially kicks off on Feb. 15, (and will come to the Ready Room Feb. 20) and Watsky has been taking full advantage of the last few days of downtime. The day before our conversation, he hiked up a “stunningly beautiful” glacier.

For Watsky, his newest album represents a new stage of his musical career.

“I wanted to simplify with ‘COMPLAINT.’ I wanted the core of it to be emotional resonance,” Watsky explained.

“Sometimes I think if you’re somebody who thinks a lot, like I do, you can get bogged down in thinking too much,” Watsky said. “The harder thing to do can actually be to simplify your thoughts. ‘COMPLAINT’ for me was really about trying to boil down the way I’ve been feeling the last year and a half or so and share my emotions in a raw way, in an emotionally vulnerable way and in a way I haven’t done on previous albums.”

That simplification came with a feeling of liberation.

“There was a freedom in feeling like I don’t have as many restrictions on what I can and can’t write about as I’ve placed on myself before. In terms of what it can sound like, in terms of what the subject matter can be.”

Watsky described his 2016 album, “x Infinity,” as a “very cerebral album,” chock-full of concept songs and multi-part songs. Though he couldn’t fully describe his plan for “COMPLAINT,” “because I have a sort of larger plan that I can’t talk about fully yet,” the album is “about the evolution of a relationship.”

Opening with the single “Welcome to the Family,” COMPLAINT then shows the breaking apart of that relationship, ending with the breakup in “Whitecaps”.

“Whitecaps” is one of Watsky’s favorite tracks on the album.

“It’s a nine-track album, and I had to cut a lot of songs to get down to nine songs. So, the stuff that survived is stuff I all really believe in. But ‘Whitecaps’ and ‘Feels Alright’ stand out to me,” Watsky revealed.

“I find [nine] to be a very spiritual number. Three is a number that pops up in spiritual imagery a lot, and nine is three threes. I’ve always been attracted to it for a bunch of different reasons, and I feel it’s right on the cut between a full-length and not a full-length. The album title has nine letters in it too. It felt appropriate to me.”

“COMPLAINT” also represented the next step in Watsky’s ever-evolving sound.

“‘COMPLAINT’ is part of deepening into that, understanding myself better as an artist, stretching my boundaries. It was gratifying to be doing a lot of singing stuff, to feel like the work that I was doing was paying off.”

Watsky’s influences have always been varied. For poetry, he lists Beau Sia and Steve Coleman, “who was very influential early on in the way that I try to write subversively funny things.” For his music, in addition to well-known rappers like Andre 3000, Eminem and Missy Elliott, he is also influenced by rock music, folk music and jazz. “I was a jazz drummer growing up,” Watsky revealed. “And different rhythmic patterns of drumming have been a big influence on what I do.”

Because of this, Watsky’s music and poetry aren’t what people might expect. He performs his spoken word over a band, and his concerts use what he calls “a whole lot of musicality.”

“I’m doing stuff that I consider poetry on top of the music,” he explained. “I’m floating on top of the beat rhythmically instead of locking in to the tempo.”

The biggest difference between poetry shows and concerts is the energy. Watsky compared the audience of a poetry show to that of a stand-up comedy show. People truly absorb the work and hear every word. Concerts are a little different—some words are lost, swept up in the music and energy of the crowd.

That feeling is what Watsky sets out to give to his audience in every show.

“Concerts are the closest thing to church in my life. I’ve been going to concerts a lot since I was in high school, and the reason I kept coming back is because I felt affirmed as a human being going to them.”

“It’s a feeling of being alive and a feeling of sharing your humanity with a whole bunch of other people in the room. I set out to have a life-affirming concert experience, for it to be rowdy but hopefully for people to leave feeling energized.”

Watsky will perform in the Ready Room Wednesday, Feb. 20.