Bridgit Mendler Brings Her Legit Pop Career To The Big E

When she’s not playing bright-eyed bartender Candace on the set of NBC’s “Undateable” (the show was picked up for a third season), 22-year-old actress and singer Bridgit Mendler can be found in the studio, where she’s doing a follow-up to her 2012 debut album “Hello My Name Is…”

It only took a few supporting film and TV roles before Mendler found mainstream success as Teddy, on the Disney Channel show “Good Luck Charlie,” then turned her passion for music into a legit pop-music career. Mendler brings her band to the Big E in West Springfield on Saturday, Oct. 3, at 7:30 p.m.

Q: Looking back at your last major tour (with Zendaya), what did you learn about performing?

A: I think just naturally, as a person, I struggle with stage fright. Aside from that, I’m always trying to figure out new and better ways to connect with my audience. I learned a lot about continuing to feel more comfortable onstage, and I think I learned new and better ways to engage with a crowd. For me, that’s the most important aspect of live performance: translating the songs in a way that gets people excited and having that personal connection.

Q: As stages get bigger for you, does it become more difficult to connect with a crowd? Do you have to develop new techniques?

A: There are different techniques, depending on the size of the audience, and there’s something really cool about a small audience, the way you can interact with them. But the energy of a really large crowd: it feels warm and inviting, in a weird way. The shows that I’ve done that have been the biggest: you don’t feel exposed onstage in front of all those people. You feel enveloped by them.

Q: Are there like-minded musicians and singer-songwriters out there with whom you feel a certain kinship?

A: Definitely. There have been some long-term friendships I’ve had with people through my work on the Disney Channel, or sometimes just as a fixture on the music scene. That’s such a gratifying thing about music. Music is all about collaboration and sharing ideas. That’s something that I really love about it. You’re always free to be reckless about whatever idea you have, and that’s more fun when you’re with friends.

Q: Are you able you able to do more reckless stuff as a musician than as an actor?

A: I think it’s just different. As an actor, you’re trying on a character. That can feel like a challenge in its own way. As a musician, you’re making up your words and melodies and coming up with individual ideas, and that feels scary sometimes as well. You’re wearing your heart on your sleeve.

Q: Is working on music with another songwriter in any way like working on a script?

A: I haven’t worked formally on scripts before, so I can’t talk about what that’s like. I assume it’s similar. I’ve spoken to scriptwriters about that idea, and they’ve told me that all writing is similar, regardless of the medium. There are a lot of necessary revisions in songwriting. I think the difference is there’s such diversity in the number of approaches you can take to [songwriting] … Sometimes, with a song, it just writes itself in a number of minutes. I feel like, with a script for a movie, you would probably feel as though it’s right to revise, regardless of how good it felt the first time you sat down and wrote something.

Q: You’ve dropped some new music here and there since your first album came out, and there’s been some talk of a new album coming out. Where are you in the process?

A: I love music. It’s my passion, 100 percent. I’ve really been trying to discover the right sounds going forward. The album is definitely coming. I just want to put out something that represents where I am right now. I’m excited for what that will be.

Q: When you’re trying to figure out where you’re at, musically speaking, and you’re so busy with “Undateable” and other acting projects, does working music end up taking a back seat sometimes?

A: I’ve been working on music consistently throughout. I was doing sessions every day for a while. Even when I was on “Undateable,” on a rehearsal day, I would go into the studio. I don’t think there was a time when music wasn’t part of my focus. The schedule for the day changed when I was on “Undateable,” and there were days when it felt draining to do. But for me, I can’t stop until I get this album done. It doesn’t really matter if I have a bunch of things going on. I’m still going to want to be working on music. I don’t think there’s been a period of longer than a few weeks since my first album that I haven’t been working on music.

Q: Speaking of “Undateable,” I read that Season 3 will be shot entirely live. How will that work for you and the other actors?

A: It changes things quite a bit. I’m really excited for it. We tried out a live episode in the second-to-last episode of the season. There’s a great energy when comedians and actors are performing live. … It’s scary, but there’s also no shame or harm in messing up. From the first live episode that we did, people were taking risks. Guest stars were doing random crazy things. … We love the thrill. … I’m proud to be a part of a show that’s taking risks like that.

Q: Do you have to raise your level of preparedness to the tapings?

A: Yes, and I want to take that approach. I feel like the more prepared I am, the more willing I’ll be to take risks, instead of just freezing up on stage. I want to have my lines memorized, and then who knows how it will change over the course of season. Maybe I’ll end up deciding I don’t want to memorize any of my lines, and it’s more fun that way. But I think we always want to make the show the best that it can be. That’s the goal.

BRIDGIT MENDLER plays a free show (with fair admission) at the Big E’s Xfinity Arena in West Springfield on Saturday, Oct. 3, at 7:30 p.m. Information: thebige.com.