You could say that career is defined by three B’s: Boston, Broadway, and bops. The pop singer may hail from Sydney, Australia, but her launching pad was right here in Boston, where Who graduated from Berklee just one year before releasing her debut album Take Me When You Go. It’s a trajectory that would go on to yield a glimmering collection of synth-pop gems — from her first single “Somebody Loves You” to her most recent release, the feverish utopia “Sweat” — and a stint in the Tony-Award-winning musical “Hadestown” as Persephone.

En route to a Boston show at Royale last night (June 5) for her Out of the Darkness tour of North America, the pop singer answered a quick round of questions touching on her musical roots in Boston, stage presence lessons gleaned from Broadway, and hosting shows that feel like “unintentional group therapy.”

Betty Who: I have always been slightly allergic to ballads — which is ironic, ’cause they are the kind of songs that come the most naturally to me. I think the part of me that grew up watching pop stars like Britney and Janet and Beyoncé always made me want to have high energy songs in my catalogue. When I’m feeling bogged down by the world (with good reason at the moment) I find that I turn to my favorite music from the ’80s that feels incredibly high energy: Kenny Loggins, Journey, Survivor. There’s a confidence in those songs that I connect with a lot and inspires me to feel like I can push through.

Boston is one of my favorite cities in the states, when I look back at my time at Berklee, I feel so lucky that this was the city I spent those years in. That show on the anniversary tour just felt particularly special, so we chose it for the recording. But I loved all those shows so much.

I used to spend hours and hours doing homework/reading/getting tofu scramble at Trident [Booksellers &] Cafe on Newbury. There, and of course Pavement right by Berklee was where I spent almost every morning before class.

I try to find the balance in my show between fun dancing/pop star fantasy and real-life human experience/connection. On this tour particularly I’m trying to highlight that even more than normal because of what an intense time it is in the world. Everybody’s feeling it, it feels strange not to acknowledge it so instead I’m choosing to honor it and celebrate the ways we as a community overcome and find joy and light even in the darkest times. My favorite shows as a fan are always the ones that leave me inspired. I hope people leave my show feeling awash with joy.

I absolutely do. I learned soooooo much at Hadestown about performance and depth and emotional connection. I think it’s so easy in the pop world to shift into robo-pop star mode and do the steps and sing the songs and smile big… but not necessarily feeling anything. And you can’t really get away with that as well in theatre, you have to “go there.” So I am absolutely bringing those lessons and applying them here in my pop show. I want people to feel the songs more than they ever have.