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Allie X | "Super Sunset"

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ALLIE-X-FLAUNT-SUPER-SUNSET.png ![ALLIE-X-FLAUNT-SUPER-SUNSET.png](https://assets-global.website-files.com/62ee0bbe0c783a903ecc0ddb/6472b3e099898644cddc9e44_ALLIE-X-FLAUNT-SUPER-SUNSET.png) If you need a title, Allie X is a pop star. You can say she writes catchy songs, but her lyrics and production take peculiar conceptual detours. In a genre known for its bonafide formulas, Allie X is dead set on saying what she wants–however she wants. Allie X was first heard around the block with her synth-washed single, “Catch.”  On Allie X’s newest release, _Super Sunset_, the artist takes a swim in LA’s dark waters, “It’s so uncomfortable trying to fit into this skin. I put my head on my shoulders try to be someone,” X sings on “Little Things.” Her voice festers on top of snares, she sounds fed up with pleasing, until she is nearly sing-screaming her way out of the song. On the veneer its pop, an explosion of synths and drums closes “Little Things,” but Super Sunset is X’s most brooding and sensational releases to date–even though she’s singing about identity loss, the falsity of fame, and how love is truly the only thing that is real. I caught up with Allie X at an event by [Flaunt and Diesel](http://www.flaunt.com/content/diesel-flaunt-hate-couture). After a brief attempt to speak with her in the venue, and even outside of it with the music on full blast we ended up continuing the interview in car parked out in front. Allie X tells me she’s used to doing weird interviews. **How do you begin writing a song?** Allie X:  I get that question in most interviews and it’s always different, but I’m more of a melody first kind of person, with exceptions. Sometimes I will write a lyric or a title and I can work from that, but usually it’s when someone starts making a beat, or I start making a beat, or someone plays a guitar riff and I think of a melody over that. **Does guitar inspire you the most or do you also compose on piano?** I started out on piano. I’m classically trained and that’s my instrument other than voice, and so I always used to write at the piano, but then I found that it is quite limiting. I would always end up writing the same kind of chords and the same kind of melodies, and so I actually prefer something more open like just a baseline or just a drum loop. **I’ve noticed a recurring theme in your music is relationships. How do you think about the germ of the song?  Is it based on how you are feeling in a relationship?** It really varies because in Los Angeles, the city of pop writing, a  lot of these songs, the majority of songs get written in a formulaic, machine kind of way. You get put in a studio with two or three other people. Sometimes you’re going inward, sometimes a writer or artist arrives and has something to say. But most of the time you’re thinking,  “What would a good song be?” When I write in that way and then it’s something that I want for myself, usually I end up rewriting the lyrics because its too generic or whatever. And if I’m writing by myself, my lyrics are kind of like... I always feel like I’m diving into a pool and I’m trying to find it, and it doesn’t come easily. It’s almost subconscious kind of stuff. And you’re right, I do write  a lot about relationships. Sometimes the relationship is me, speaking to myself, but I don’t make that an obvious thing. But the whole writing process is really about self exploration and growth. **When does your writing process end?** I just kind of know when I’m done with a song. But I have a number of songs that have taken me years to write. Like from beginning idea, germ like you said, to finished production: mixed, mastered, and released. My first song that I put out, “Catch,” was like that. “Paper Love” took  a year, “Vintage” was like two years, “Lift” it was three years. This record I’m about to put out now, there’s only one song though that fits that description, the rest I wrote really quickly, which was a first for me. And maybe it's because I was writing directly about something for the first time. **What inspired you about the city to write Not So Bad in LA?**   “Not So Bad in LA”  is a really sarcastic song.  It’s not about me defending Los Angeles, it’s about me analyzing the extremes of the city: the glamour verses the desperation, the beautiful versus the completely plasticky and grotesque, dreams versus delusions, and how that city can be all the things at once. How it is always challenging me mentally to live here. But when I go home and talk about how hard its been for me. People are like, ‘what are you talking about? It’s like perfect weather. You’re doing better than you’ve ever done, like you’re maing a living doing this.’ And that’s where (she starts singing “it’s not so bad in LA”)  that’s the best way I can sum of the sentiment of that song. **Is Toronto different from LA?** My first impression of LA, I was very charmed and mesmerized by it, but after being here for a year I started to feel the dark underbelly of it all. Of course when you’re working in the entertainment industry you get tossed around, things get messed up, you start to value yourself through the eyes of other people. Toronto is completely different. Just like Canada, it’s very innocent. People there are very pure and good hearted.... and not too ambitious, which is what bothered me about the city and ultimately lead me to come here. But in terms of the talent, and the music, and art culture there’s a lot of cool stuff going on. **How did you think of the name Allie X?** I used to make music under my real name in Toronto. I stopped performing and went into a little studio that I made for two years and decided that I wanted to buckle down and take all my ideas visually, and conceptually, and musically and make something of it. I started to think of it as Allie Xandra, which Alexandra is my full name. It evolved into Allie X. X represent the unknown because I still feel so confused about who I am and who I want to be, and what the meaning of life is. X feels really appropriate because it represents the idea of anything. **Do you feel like each release is an opportunity to claim who you are at the moment?** Yeah and I feel that I’ve grown from when I started this four years ago until now. I think there has been a real evolution in me as a person and that is reflected in the music. Even the fact that I don’t feel inclined to wear sunglasses all the time now, or the way that I interact with my fans, it all has evolved pretty naturally which is pretty cool. That’s the cool thing about the concept of X because it really allows me room to find my truth in whatever way and its still “on brand” or whatever. **What can your fans learn about you in this release?** They will learn about my journey here. It’s really direct. I usually write from a more abstract place, but this record is about my years here and the struggles I have been through with my self worth and navigating this heartless industry, and also falling in love for the first time. **How do you know you’re in love?** I’m such a late bloomer. I’ve dated people, but have never stayed with anyone for too long . This relationship is the first one where I can be fully myself, and not feel scared or judged. Love for me is more about friendship and really being able to trust someone. I used to think it had to do with lust and infatuation but I’ve learned that it's much better to not be driven crazy by someone in that way and to just have a best friend. * * * Photos by Joey James