It’s always cool to see someone from the DIY world ascend to the point where they’re getting interviewed on talk shows, and it’s even cooler when they turn out to be really good at it. That’s the case with Mitski, who released the excellent Be The Cowboy album last month. Mitski is great in interviews, and on Trevor Noah’s Daily Show last night, she didn’t just perform; she also sat for a pretty fascinating interview with Noah.

On The Daily Show, Mitski proved to be perfectly charming and eloquent, and she also got in one zinger that was funnier than anything that Noah had to say. Talking about the title of her album, Mitski described the “freedom and arrogance” of the American cowboy myth, explaining, “[The album’s] protagonist is someone like me who feels like they want to channel or embody that energy of a cowboy.” She also talked about the gendered criticism she’s seen of her own music, which makes me afraid to look at my own old Mitski reviews for fear that I used the words “raw” or “confessional.” And she talked about how liberating it can be to write songs for other people.

Mitski also gave a rare Daily Show musical performance, doing a solo-acoustic take on “Geyser,” the powerful opening track from Be The Cowboy. For whatever reason, the show filmed part of the performance through a rain-streaked window. Watch the interview and the performance below.

Be The Cowboy is out now on Dead Oceans.