Joining us today is ALI, a rising pop singer-songwriter who has just released her debut album, ‘Mirage Vol. 1’. After moving from Spain to London to chase her dreams, ALI has made a record that captures the highs and lows of change, self-discovery, and ambition. With singles like “Trick Of The Light” and “City Lights”, she blends crisp vocals with captivating storytelling, creating a fresh yet nostalgic pop sound. Let’s dive into the inspiration behind Mirage Vol. 1, the journey that led her here, and what’s next.
- Your first album Mirage Vol. 1 explores themes of dreams, expectations, and personal transformation—was there a particular moment or experience in London that shifted your perspective the most?
I feel it was during the first year that my overall expectations and perspective changed the most, not knowing all the challenges I’d have to overcome to build a life in a different country. Everything looks much easier from the distance and it’s not until you actually find yourself there that you realise the magnitude of it all.
- Your lyrics are both personal and relatable. Was there a song on the album that felt particularly vulnerable to write and how did you push yourself to share that story?
Songs like ‘Lonely’ or ‘Like A Thousand Days’ are the ones that reflect the most this vulnerable part in me. It’s actually when I feel like this that I have a stronger need to write about it as a relief. When you write about your stories and experiences, is impossible to not feel any vulnerable. I feel I can’t tell my stories halfway, I need to share it all to make it feel real and relatable, which makes the listener connect better with the music.
- “City Lights” serves as the heartbeat of the album—what was the creative process behind this track and why did you choose it as the focus song?
I chose ‘City Lights’ as the focus song as it’s the song that sets the scenery for the rest of the story that’s told in the album. It’s about the decision of leaving home and how I dreamed this journey and London would be, blinded by those city lights, so it’s basically how all started.
This is one of the first songs we wrote and it has gone through many changes, but it always maintained this poppy synth sound that reflected this first impression I had about London, with all of its bright lights and always crowded streets and full of sounds.
- The album has a mix of synth-driven pop anthems and intimate piano ballads. How did you decide which songs needed that bigger production and which ones should stay more stripped-down?
We always write the songs on the piano, as we think that a song should stand on its own in the simplicity of a voice and the piano, but then the songs and the topic kind of guide you during the production towards their own direction. We started some songs with bigger productions that then turned out to be much simpler and that demanded to have a sparser arrangement.
- You mentioned wanting to write the music you feel is missing from your ideal playlist. What specific sounds or emotions were you craving that you made sure to bring into Mirage Vol. 1?
You can always feel related to any song or artist you may like, but of course nothing will be closer to having a song that actually talks about an experience you’ve been through, a story that’s 100% yours.
- As an independent artist, you’ve been hands-on with every step of your career. What’s one behind-the-scenes moment from making this album that stands out as particularly challenging or rewarding?
When everything started to connect, as I could organise all the songs I had written through the last years in a way they told a story and reached the idea of splitting ‘Mirage’ into 2 volumes where all the songs would be related to each other, the same story told from two different perspectives.
Interview by Luna Clair