Allie X: the alt-pop provocateur returns with ‘Happiness Is Going to Get You’

0:13Hello and welcome to the Monocle Weekly. I'm Tom Webb and on today's show I speak with the alt-pop provocateur Ali X who returns with Is Anybody Out There? Her first new single of 2025. It forms part of her self-produce and written fourth record, Happiness Is Going To Get You, a meditation on existential isolation and shared societal malaise. Ali X joined me here in Midori House to share the story of her new record and to reflect on hits of the past, including this one you may recognise.

1:02Now we've just listened to a little bit of Black Eye. It's one of our most popular songs on the Monocle playlist. Listeners will recognise it. Really? Oh yeah. That's cool. I didn't know that. It's a huge banger because we have a seasonal playlist. This one sits across summer, winter, autumn, spring, because it has that effect. Great. What can you tell our listeners about it? Can you give us a little insight? Because we are so used to it. Yeah, Black Eye was the first single off my last album, which was called Girl With No Face. That was a record that was sort of a maddening record that I produced myself.

1:36obviously very referential to the the post-punk and the new wave movement of the of the early 80s in the UK and that when I think of that one what comes to mind is that I have like 20 versions of it where I had to just keep going and going until I could sort of quote-unquote crack it the bass line changed a bunch of times that's that's what I think about I think about opening up my Ableton live session and seeing 20 versions you've completed that album and you've now completed your fourth album how was it coming out of girl with no face as a process coming out of it it was fun to get out of it because being in it was um like i said pretty maddening it was the first sort of self-produced endeavor that i had taken on and um it was very isolating and it was sort of without a feedback loop because there was no one else collaborating with me and I'm really glad I did it because I think like therapeutically it I think it dug up a lot of stuff that had been dormant in me for a long time it's quite an angry record and coming out of it that release of anger seemed to have opened up this space for something completely different which is happiness is going to get you my next album which you have now completed I've completed it's coming out November 7th.

2:58And how are you feeling compared to when you released your last album? So different. This one is just, it's just a different album. I wrote this one at the piano, which I hadn't, I hadn't written anything at the piano for over a decade. I used to write at the piano when I was like fresh out of theatre school and just starting to write songs and everything sounded so cheesy and like, like a Disney song or something. So I became a, like a programmer and And that became my composition process is using like Ableton and programming beats instead of writing at the piano. But for whatever reason, on this one, everything started at the piano and it had this sort of reflective kind of feeling, whereas the last album was quite rageful and like super high energy.

3:45I think all my work my work's never like chill or anything but um this album definitely has a different feel to it like completely different feel than than the last one and can you put your finger on what drew you back to the piano no I have no idea but I will say what was interesting was that it was it was happening where I was getting these spurts of inspiration and being drawn to my upright at home whilst I was programming Girl With No Face and these like little sort of ditties that would pop into my head, which, by the way, if I played them for you, they wouldn't sound like a fully formed idea at all.

4:21You'd be like, what is this? It's very meandering, sort of vague, filled with errors and mistakes ideas, but enough that I could sort of log them and keep them for the future. And yeah, those were happening whilst I was making Girl With No Face. And I knew at the time, this is something completely different. Let's just make a little voice memo and log it away for another time. So you've had to trawl through voice memos to try and piece this together. How was that for you? I was taking like a break at my parents' place in Ontario, Canada after a lot of touring for Girl With No Face. And I was like, I'm not going to make any music.

5:01I'm exhausted. I'm fresh off a tour or whatever. And then, of course, I just got creatively restless within two weeks. And I said, oh, well, maybe for a lark, I'll start digging through these old piano bits that I was playing with and just making like piano demos out of them, basically figuring out what the structure of the song is and the chords and stuff. And as I started doing that, I thought, well, it'd be nice if there's a little kick snare pattern here and why not add like a little synth bass? And so quickly I had like four songs fully written and it was very effortless kind of process. So, yeah, it was interesting.

5:36It just sort of was waiting for me or something. So do you ever plan how you're going to release or when you're going to release a new album? Are you here faster than you maybe thought? Big time. Yeah, I'm here way faster than I thought. I thought I actually didn't think I was going to produce another album. I thought I'm just going to go write this with someone else because I was so tired after after Girl With No Face. But this one sort of just fell out of the ether into my lap. And I got, you know, I got excited as that was happening. And so then I did, then I started pushing it a bit. And by December, like the whole album was written, I basically wrote half of it on that Canadian summer vacation, and then half of it when I was in Central California in December on a vacation, like these two sort of relaxed situations.

6:22And I thought, I think I've got a thing about an album here. And so then I this year, I was like, you know, I'm gonna put this out this year. And so I really pushed things to make that happen. which has been a bit stressful, if I'm being honest. But yeah, I felt like she just wanted to come out, you know. When you say she, you do have an alter ego currently. Yeah, I do. Can you introduce us to her? Yes, it's the enfant Marie, the infant Marie, who is a time traveler. She has landed in various spaces in time in a six by six Perspex cube. and it's sort of this play on time and space. There's a lot of nostalgia in this work and a lot of sort of like dreams and projections as well.

7:09So there's this idea that it's like a metaphysics idea that you can exist in two places at once and that's sort of the representation of that. And what does she offer you as an artist or a performer? I don't really know how to answer that. I think every album I do, I like to have just some visual representation of the concept which is rooted in some sort of poetic sonic idea and I I don't know I'm just quite indulgent you know I think I like I just like to create worlds it's fun for me it's fun for my fans there's sort of an expectation of it now and infant Marie felt like yeah she really sort of makes this complete circle of a world with with the songs that that I wrote and the idea of of yes nostalgia and this album feels like a like a full circle in some way like I've almost traveled back in time to like who I was when I used to write at the piano or or like these songs in some way felt like they were the songs that I wanted to write when I was like 21 and I started writing but I just I hadn't found my voice yet so I don't know she sort of she just helps me sort of complete the idea I guess

8:41and returning to the piano the opening song leads with those piano notes uh big question for you then is there anybody out there um I was doing an interview yesterday and I think I'm going to repeat what I said there which is I think I ask a lot of questions in my work but I don't really answer them I pose questions and I try to answer them but even the x in my name it's sort of representative of an infinite possibility you know, the idea that I don't have the answers but that I'm allowed to ask questions has sort of almost always been a thesis for what I do Is anybody out there

9:27Is anybody out there And would you say that opener sets that tone for the rest of the album? Yeah, yeah and we sort of bookend the album like the last track has those same notes actually there's a lot of dirty words in it there are some swear words there's some is anybody out there yeah uh yeah there's a mother mother oh yeah mother yeah what's your relationship with with swearing blasphemy yeah stop my blasphemy um i think swearing too much in pop songs is like stupid like it's kind of like it just makes me roll my eyes but sometimes Sometimes it's appropriate to say the F word. Can we swear on this podcast?

10:11We can. Yes, we can. Sometimes it's appropriate to say fuck. Sometimes it's appropriate to say cunt. And it's very fun. And I felt like the song, it kind of just made me laugh to sing. Mother, fucker, mother, fucker. And it's enjoyable. It's enjoyable? Okay, great. It is therapeutic. So the title of the album, Happiness is Going to Get You, yeah what's the thinking there again like I didn't think too much I if I dug through my phone right now I could find the original memo of when I was coming up with this idea and you would hear in real time me just singing that it just sort of appeared you know and I thought that that I don't know how to explain that sentiment but that makes a lot of sense to me happiness is gonna get you the reason why I ask is because a lot of people online are looking for meaning are asking a lot of questions about your lyrics is that something you celebrate or do you just want to leave it to interpretation well I mean we could go deeper on on it I just don't know that I have like the exact answer I know certainly it has these sort of connotations of of both optimism and of doom and I love that duality.

11:29That duality is always in my work as well and in my person and that's sort of what that title is meant to evoke, if that makes sense.

11:50Speaking of new music, new single is going to be on the Monocle playlist next week, Reunite. Can you give us a little flavour? We're having a listen now. Oh, great. Yeah, it's sort of like a soft, to me, it's like a Wings, Paul McCartney, soft rock kind of vibe, which has this very heartfelt feeling for me about returning to my own body. I think for a first time listener, you're going to probably think of your ex or something like that, or like an old friend or a parent or something. But this is actually a song about me unifying my mind and body after, this is like complete detour but like uh yeah like i i've got chronic illness and so i've had this sort of dissociation with my body since i was a teenager and so this was like a yeah like sort of a celebration of understanding that we're unified and that my body's always been on my side but um probably most people that listen will think of their relationships and you mentioned paul mccartney um and i would say i'm not comparing myself to paul mccartney by the way so you're comparing yourself as a songwriting genius.

12:54No, I mentioned Paul McCartney because your first single, it does have that sort of Beatles-esque nostalgia wall of sound. Would you name any other influences you've had from this album? Oh, God, this album's like chaotic. Like I was trying to include influences in the bio and I just had to laugh. It's got like, it's got Bach, we've got Fiona Apple, we've got Chaka Khan, we've got, yeah, definitely Beatles, particularly McCartney. We've got Tin Pan Alley in there, honey. We've got Tori Amos in there. We've got Bjork. We've got Fatboy Slim. We've got, like, it's just, yeah, it's a lot. It's a lot.

13:36I feel like it's sort of, in some ways, it's like that free-falling through time and space of my life and just grabbing all my favorite things or something, which also, yeah, like, that's sort of the time travel vibe as well. And your voice memo grabbing as well. It's come together beautifully. Thank you. So you have the new album next month. You also are going on tour. You have some shows coming up. Sort of. Sort of. So I have it. Yeah, actually, no. Okay, I'm just thinking of what I've actually announced that will be. This is your moment. Okay. So I've announced a string of Rough Trade-In stores, which isn't really a tour, just a promo thing.

14:12And then I just announced that I'm going to be the support act for Magdalena Bay on their European and UK tour. but we also have several other announcements coming up. We will wait patiently. What can audiences expect from your live performances? I feel like you're better off asking the fans. There's a lot of... We were talking about my literal fans on stage, like blowing my hair. You can always expect that. I would say I'm pretty high energy, like dramatic and theatrical performer for better or for worse. So you're never going to get like a low key look or performance from me at a show. It's going to be pretty, pretty high energy.

15:00And then just have to end on this note that you have now gone through the process of your fourth album. Is there anything that you've learned looking ahead to maybe number five? I think just yeah I think during the pandemic when I chose to go solitary in my process and write and produce by myself I did feel like my writing got more authentic and some would say better I would be one of them and even though this album is completely different I mean actually I think it's completely different because I give myself the freedom to sort of just follow like the muse and the inspiration and I feel good about all of that I feel I feel like I'm kind of like a lifer in this I think I've been doing this for over 11 years I've taken a very independent route now very involved in all the business and the administration of my project and I feel like there's such sustainability in following my gut as simplistic as that sounds but following it musically and in navigating what is kind of a corrupt industry like I feel just really good about sort of the choices that I've made that have been really true to myself on both sides in the last years and I plan on continuing to do that in future works.

16:16And it's quite a trajectory 11 years you've now found great success and recognition has that changed anything about your life, your daily routine or your creative process? Well, you know, I consider myself successful because I make a living, like a comfortable living making art. But if you asked a lot of people, they'd say, oh, what happened to her? Or like, or I'm not really buzzy enough by industry standards or the numbers aren't probably where like, you know, the New York lawyers want them to be or whatever, you know. So when you say that, I appreciate it. And I actually do consider myself successful, But there sort of has to be this like humble side of me as well that understands that in the great trajectory, like I'm pretty small artist, but I like it, you know.

17:03And if something if some sort of like lottery moment happens, then fab. But I just feel so privileged to get to make art for a living and to have my feelings expressed through music and have this vast amount of art that I get to explore for the rest of my life and have people like listen to it, you know. But that's kind of how I feel. That's a lovely note to end on. Thank you so much for joining us. For sure. Thanks for having me. Thank you to Ali X. Happiness is going to get you. We'll hit shelves and streaming sites on November 7th. But fans will have the chance to preview the project at any of her Rough Trade Record Store tour dates, which starts in New York on October 30th.

17:49I'm Tom Webb, and this show was edited by Elliot Greenfield. Thank you very much for listening.