Q&A: ALISA XAYALITH

She’s played the biggest festivals in the world including Coachella as one half of The Naked & Famous, and from a desire to explore her own musical identity, the Auckland-raised, LA-based artist has now dropped her stunning debut solo single ‘High Fidelity’.

WE’D LOVE TO KNOW A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR MUSICAL JOURNEY SO FAR FROM WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED SINGING AND MAKING MUSIC?

I first started singing when I was a kid, about 6 or 7 years old. I was obsessed with the great pop divas; Mariah Carey, Celine Dion and Whitney Houston. I remember listening to their songs, studying lyric booklets and learning their vocal runs. I love pop music and alternative 90’s music. 

I pursued every opportunity to participate in music of my own volition. Growing up, no one in my family really knew how passionate I was about music. I was pretty shy whenever someone asked me if I could sing. 

I signed up for school musicals, choirs, vocal groups, talent shows (never won first place haha) and eventually got a few guitar lessons when I was 13. My older brother gave me my first guitar, it wasn’t anything special and expensive, but I was determined to get good enough to be able to write my own songs. 

I took a gap year after I graduated from high school and when I came back I enrolled into a community college type music school called ‘MAINZ’ which is where I met future band members of The Naked and Famous that would change the course of my life. After dedicating over a decade to the band and four LP’s later, I decided to press pause on TNAF while I discover who I am outside of the only world I’ve known, with my new project.

CONGRATS ON YOUR BEAUTIFUL NEW SINGLE ‘HIGH FIDELITY’ - WE ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE MEANING OF THIS TRACK AND THE INSPIRATION BEHIND IT?

Thank you. Before I started working on my project, I was mentally and creatively depleted. One could say I fell out of love with music and making it. Writing songs for my project at the beginning of the pandemic gave me an opportunity to fall back in love with my life of being an artist and songwriter as an individual entity. 

Releasing ‘High Fidelity’ as my first single felt like the perfect place to personify this process I went through, with an existing duality of it also being about learning how to love someone new with all the ways you’re different from one another. How to better understand the art of compromise and, in the end, feel satisfied.

I’ve always been a romantic at heart and this song feels like an apt reflection of what I'm living through lately.

AMAZING! PLUS, THERE’S SOME INCREDIBLE INDUSTRY HEAVYWEIGHTS WHO WORKED WITH YOU ON ‘HIGH FIDELITY’ INCLUDING TYLER SPRY (U2, ONEREPUBLIC, LUKAS GRAHAM, SWITCHFOOT) AND NZ-BORN, LA-BASED WRITER/PRODUCER, SIMON OSCROFT (FRILLS, MOTHXR, OLIVIA RODRIGO). WHAT WAS THE WRITING & PRODUCTION PROCESS FOR LIKE?

‘High Fidelity’ came out of a zoom session with two writers in New York. Doug Schadt and Sophie Hintze. The song sat around on my laptop for a year. It was a bare bones worktape of just vocals and guitar. It came to life during a week of working with my producers, Tyler and Simon. 

I showed them this rough as guts worktape and they swooped in with their magic. Grounded the song with a tempo, tidied up vocal cadences, added guitars, bass guitar and basically a whole band. 

DO YOU HAVE MORE MUSIC ON THE WAY SOON? IF SO, WHAT CAN WE EXPECT?

I do have more music on the way soon, I'm wrapping up my second single right now and finishing my first EP. 

VERY EXCITING! WHO WOULD YOU SAY ARE YOUR BIGGEST INSPIRATIONS IN MUSIC?

Right now, my biggest inspirations in music are women who are authentically themselves. I’m inspired by their attitude, confidence and literary charm.

The women, to name just a few, that make my world a better place are artists like Lizzo, Kacey Musgraves, Griff, Holly Humberstone and Arlo Parks.

WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVOURITE NZ ARTISTS RIGHT NOW AND ARE THERE ANY SONGS THAT YOU ESPECIALLY LOVE OR CONNECT WITH?

NZ artists I love - Yumi Zouma (In the Eyes of Our Love), Chelsea Jade (Optimist), So Below (Us), Space Above (Fall Through), LEISURE (Slipping Away), Lorde (The Louvre), Fazerdaze (Lucky Girl) & BROODS (Like A Woman).

WHAT DO YOU LOVE MOST ABOUT LIVING IN NEW ZEALAND? DO YOU HAVE ANY FAVOURITE PLACES TO TRAVEL TO OR LOCAL SPOTS TO VISIT?

What I love most about NZ is the proximity between the city and the ocean, cafe culture and Christmas during the summer. I love Great Barrier Island, and sleepy little St Heliers where I spent a lot of time as a teenager. The Bakers Cottage in Kingsland (what I would do for a pie right now) and fish and chips on the beach from Takapuna Beach Cafe.

YOU’VE PLAYED AT SOME OF THE WORLD’S BIGGEST FESTIVALS INCLUDING COACHELLA! WHAT WOULD YOU SAY HAS BEEN THE HIGHLIGHT OF YOUR CAREER SO FAR?

Yes, I've been lucky to perform at some of the biggest festivals in the world, which are still career highlights for me. But, most recently, ‘Young Blood’ aka the song that changed my life has gone double platinum!! Which is incredible it’s still got a little life in it after all this time. I’m really proud of that.

THAT’S SO INCREDIBLE! WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BIGGEST LESSONS YOU’VE LEARNT AS AN ARTIST?

The biggest lesson I've learnt is how to trust myself. Being in a band for as long as I have, I often deferred to everyone else’s judgement creatively, rather than my own. Imagine working like that for ten years?! Working on my project has been a real crash course in learning how to trust myself in this new profound way. 

LASTLY, IF YOU COULD SAY ONE THING TO EVERY PERSON IN THE WORLD, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Comparison is the death of joy, so, learn to have love and patience for your own process. 

Thanks so much Alisa! Make sure you keep up with her on Facebook, Instagram, Spotify or Apple Music.