Her face is obscured by reflective sunglasses. A record label publicist says I'm to address her only as "her".

Anti-image is its own promotional gimmick, but for R&B singer H.E.R. (it's an ironic acronym for 'Having Everything Revealed') the secrecy – no biographical details, no identifying press shots – began as self-preservation and has developed into a guiding principle.

"It's scary as an artist," the 20-year-old Californian says. "These songs, they all kind of represent my diary. They represent me finding myself, going through changes as a young woman ... It was always easier for me to release my personal stories without anyone knowing who I was.

"But it also became the best way, to just have the music in its purest form. Don't like my music because you think I'm attractive, or because of what I'm wearing, or because of who I'm associated with. Be about my message, and that's it."

That message has evolved over three collections of raw, downbeat R&B, from the distanced yearning of 2016's Volume 1 to something more sexually assertive on last year's Volume 2. Despite the growing interest, the forced mystique has remained.