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Interview by: Maegan Grendell | March 22, 2023 | Photos by: Matt Adam
MG: Do you want to introduce yourself and the kind of music you do?
ALLY: My name is Ally. I'm originally from New Jersey, and I came out here when I got signed about a year ago to Geffen and Interscope. I do, I'd say pop, R&B music. The producer I work with is extremely talented at taking old songs, chopping them up and sampling them, and then we make a whole new song out of it. You'll hear a lot of that on my upcoming EP, so that's cool. That's how I describe my sound.
MG: How did you get into music? How'd you get into doing all of that to begin with?
ALLY: I started on YouTube just posting covers. I got reached out to by my producer. And from there we started making music. I would fly out to LA every holiday that I got, because I was still in school. Somewhere along the way my manager found my YouTube videos as well, and then I connected with him and then we connected with a label and that's where I am now.
MG: That's cool how YouTube can do so much. Is that kind of what you've always seen yourself doing or did you not really expect yourself to go into music?
ALLY: I've always wanted to do this. There was never anything else for me. If I were to go to college, I have no idea what I would study. I just love music so much.
MG: How old are you right now?
ALLY: I'm 19.
MG: That's crazy. I'm 20, and I've definitely seen the pros and cons of being so young in my field of work. Do you think that being 19 has kind of given you an advantage or a disadvantage where you are?
ALLY: I think both. Because in this industry, I feel like a lot of artists, they start very young and like around my age. I feel like that's the norm. But also there are many times where there are a lot of people that I work with that are a lot older than me, like songwriters, producers, people on my team. So there are times where I do feel like, “oh, shoot, I don't really know what I'm talking about. Maybe I should shut up…”. But yeah, I think there are pros and cons.
MG: What song do you think you're most proud of?
ALLY: A lot of stuff that hasn't been released. But also I think my debut single Stranger Things is forever one of my proudest songs, just because I remember when we first made it. I had never felt that way about a song before and it just felt so ‘me’. For years I was trying to find a song that really captured what I was trying to do. And that just did… lyrically, conceptually, melody, beat, everything. I just, I love that song a lot.
MG: What is your dream collab?
ALLY: I really would love to work with SZA. That would be cool. For many reasons. Obviously, because she's so talented and I love her writing. I think she's so unique, nobody does it like her. She grew up in my town and she went to my school and I remember she came back when I was in freshman year. And she gave a speech and I was just so inspired by her speech. And so that would be like a full circle moment for sure.
MG: Yeah, definitely. And I feel like your styles match well together. I think you guys would be really good on the song together.
ALLY: Yeah, that would be so amazing.
MG: Who's inspired you musically, and how do you think that's affected your style of music?
ALLY: I did like a band when I was really young. I was the lead singer of a band and we sang a lot of Beatles songs, Carol King, Amy Winehouse. So a bunch of classic artists, I'd say. But then on the other hand I watched Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. I loveD Ariana Grande and Selena Gomez. So a mix of both.
MG: Where do you see music taking you in five years? What are some of your goals?
ALLY: Hopefully just to steadily grow and be able to go on tour and meet people that like my music and just perform as much as I can around the world.
MG: How long have you been signed now?
ALLY: About a year.
MG: Have you been able to do many live performances?
ALLY: Yeah, I've done three showcases so far. And I have one coming up. We are trying to do them every other month.
MG: What's your favorite thing about performing?
ALLY: I don't want to sound cheesy, but it's like an escape. I get to go away… even though there's an audience right in front of my face, it feels like they're not really there. And I get to be a more confident version of myself and just feel the music.
MG: Can you talk a little bit about your EP, what it’s about, and kind of just that whole process?
ALLY: So it's gonna have the songs that I've already released so far. Stranger Things and Nostalgic. They were made like two years ago. I've been working with my producer on and off for years and years at this point. So, we're just now starting to release the music that we've built up. So there's songs from two years ago and songs from last week. Which I think is really cool because it captures the last two, three years of my life in a way. There's been a huge transition in those years with me graduating high school and like moving to LA and pursuing this career. Like it's been a journey. So I think it, you can see my growth on this ep.
MG: That’s so cool, especially as your first EP. I feel like that's like just a good starting point for your music, it just basically encapsulates what you've been doing for the last couple years and how you got to the point you’re at now. When you go on tour in the future, where are some places you really hope to travel to?
ALLY: France. I've been to Paris. It was amazing. New York, because that's where I basically grew up. I grew up in New Jersey, but I went to New York all the time. I think it'd be so cool to perform there. And honestly, just like a really nice venue in LA would be cool.
MG: What's your favorite outfit that you've gotten to wear, in a video or on stage?
ALLY: I did a performance type music video for one of my songs called You'll Never Notice, and the outfit was this oversized long men's blouse with a tie. But then I had these tie boots on and this long matrix jacket. I just felt really cool and powerful.
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