We all have those artists and songs we hear that strike the right chord and make us fall in love at first listen. They’re the reason we refresh social media pages, tour schedules, and Spotify profiles — because we can’t miss a single release. This is Love at First Listen — a new series introducing you to the emerging, and established, artists with new music guaranteed to upgrade your playlist.
Tell all your friends: #ALYSSAREID2022 is in full force. The Toronto-based singer-songwriter you know and love from pop hits like “Alone Again” and “Satisfaction Guaranteed” — and the “face” behind the faceless music project ASHS — has reclaimed her name and released a haunting new single, “Roses,” to kick off a year packed with new music, performances, and surprises ahead.
To commemorate the release, Alyssa is hosting an online raffle raising funds for The LifeLine Canada Foundation, an organization close to her heart, and giving fans a chance to score one of three Moleskine journals filled with lyrics, behind-the-scenes secrets, and space to write, scribble, or get creative. (PSA: You heard it here first — there may be a few more prizes being added to the mix!)
In this edition of Love at First Listen, read firsthand from Alyssa about her “gut-wrenching” new single, IDGAF approach to music, and why she wants to get in the studio with Doja Cat.
At first listen, your new single “Roses” is a total banger, but the lyrics reveal a much more raw, vulnerable perspective about facing your demons. How do you approach being so vulnerable with such a wide audience?
When I sit down to write a song, there isn’t really any intention other than emotional release. When I wrote “Roses,” I was sitting at a piano and it just poured out. It’s funny because once you take that piano song and you have to find a way to make it more marketable, there’s other production factors that come into play. Like you said, it’s a super poppy, fun song but at the core it’s this kind of gut-wrenching, super emo song. When people first hear it, they always tell me, ‘Oh, this is such a vibe,’ and then it takes them a few listens to understand the lyrics and they’re like, ‘Oh shit, wait.’
How did you learn about The LifeLine Canada Foundation and why did you choose to support them with this auction?
I was looking online for mental health resources because I’ve kind of figured out that it is difficult to find them nowadays, especially right now as I feel a lot of people are reaching out for the first time, and I really loved their site. They had personal resources, education tools, and really focus on suicide prevention, which has absolutely skyrocketed the past few years. Most importantly, I loved that the resources were all free. Therapy is very expensive, and for a lot of people it’s inaccessible. I really liked that they were committed to volunteering their time and helping people who can’t necessarily afford to pay $300 a session for therapy.
Fans have a chance to win one of your Moleskine journals, and an artist’s notebook always provides an interesting look into their craft and soul. What does your notebook look like during an album writing cycle?
I’m an ‘everything flows together all at once’ person. I know so many people that like to go on the mic and hum melodies and then try and fill them in later, but I think there’s always something magical in the songs where everything just comes out as one cohesive piece. It almost feels like it was meant to be and I’m just a vessel where the song is going through me and out to people.
Just before you released your latest album in December, you penned a letter to your fans putting your side project ASHS to rest and reclaiming the “Alyssa Reid” name. What made you decide it was time to end the ASHS era and return to your roots?
It just happened naturally. I had taken a little bit of time off over the past five years to really focus on songwriting and creative direction for other people and I really loved it. There were just a few songs that I was writing that felt a little too personal to give away, so we got the idea to do this faceless project on the side. No one was really supposed to know about it, but of course the people that had been following my career got it right away. But there was something really fun about it being faceless. I could just make music that I loved, have so much fun with my band and mess around on stage with the lights completely down, and there was no preconceived idea of what I was supposed to do.
After a handful of songs that were just very uniquely me, keeping it as a separate, private thing felt like I was doing a disservice to those people that had given me their hearts and put me in a position where I could even mess around and do a side project as a career. I decided I didn’t want to lose the attitude and fearlessness that the ASHS project had, so I amalgamated them with the intent that there was going to be a little bit of polish but I was going to keep my ‘I don’t give a fuck’ attitude.
In that letter, you also mentioned your hit single “Alone Again” was celebrating its 10th birthday. Is it insane to think you’ve been in the business for that long and you’re still finding new ways to evolve with that same dedicated fanbase by your side?
It blows my mind. Pop careers are not supposed to last for 10 years. They’re maybe supposed to last for two to four years, so the fact that there are people still supporting, streaming, and caring, I feel really lucky. This is what I love to do and a lot of people that I admire have had to hang up their hats and I don’t know why I’m still here, but I’m eternally grateful for it.
You’ve written for artists like Alessia Cara, Kayla Diamond, and Owen Barney. Is there one artist you’d absolutely love to write for, and how would the song sound?
I love Doja Cat. I love her personality, I love her music, and I love that she always experiments and doesn’t stick to one sound. I find her such a captivating person. I feel like she would be so fun to work with because she would be down to do anything and we could really push boundaries.
Fun question here: Every artist I talk to still gets a rush any time they hear one of their songs on the radio or over the speakers in a store. Where’s the most random or unexpected place you’ve heard one of your songs?
The last one was probably Subway. I was in the middle of an order and I stopped and I was like, “This is my song!” And the man was like, “This is my song too!” I think it was “Satisfaction Guaranteed” and I was like, “No, really, this is my song!” It was this funny little moment we had together, but it was conveniently both of our songs, just in different ways.
You ended one of your last posts of 2021 with the caption “it’s been a minute but WE’RE BACK, BABY!! #ALYSSAREID2022” What exactly can fans look forward to?
All of the music that I’ve been hiding away from everyone for the past five years is finally getting unleashed and now, hopefully, with the world opening back up, we can tour. We’ve already started planning shows, so the second we get the green light we’re going to town.
