The musician tells PEOPLE about how mental health struggles, family healing and her romance with boyfriend Nick Austin inspired the new project

At just 24 years old, Madison Beer is more reflective than ever.

Over the past two-plus years, the musician has processed and written through traumas she endured — largely as a result of childhood fame — for the lyrics of her vulnerable new album Silence Between Songs, which was released on Friday.

The project arrives months after Beer’s debut memoir The Half of It, which found the star looking back on launching her music career at age 12 and its affect on her mental health and family life. “I have lived a very interesting, special, weird life,” she tells PEOPLE. “I’m really grateful for everything that’s happened but I also mourn my childhood sometimes.”