Allie X wears GERT-JOHAN COETZEE dress, VEX LATEX top, ZANA BAYNE belt, GROUNDS Shoes, and NORITAMY earring
It’s Saturday night, and LA’s Teragram Ballroom is packed wall-to- wall with sweaty bodies singing in ecstatic unison. Are we witness to some kind of religious revival? The adoration of the Virgin Mother, perhaps? Not quite. It’s actually the penultimate show of Allie X’s Girl with No Face US tour, but after four years of tumult, trial and tribulation, the Canadian pop star’s return to stage feels less like a concert and more like a resurrection.
She is risen.
We caught up with Allie X (born Alexandra Hughes) as she decompressed post-tour at home in North Hollywood to discuss the agony and the ecstasy that went into the creation of her new album, Girl with No Face.
Allie X wears MAISIE WILEN shirt, top, skirt, leggings and tie, YUEQI QI shoes, and PIERS ATKINSON headpiece
It’s getting hot in LA. You’re not a summer person, are you?
I am dying. Me and my dog, we’re meant for the cold and I live in The Valley.
My health condition is inflammatory and there’s something about intense heat that seems to make it worse. I have good air conditioning and I’m in this older building that’s very well insulated, so it doesn’t get too hot in the apartment. But then I start feeling like I’m stuck.
I’m gonna head to Ontario soon, where I’m from, and I’ll be swimming in the lake. It’ll be so nice. Bodies of water are good as long as they’re not boiling or growing some sort of new deathly algae because of global warming or whatever. Sometimes I go swimming in the Pacific, but you have to watch out because of the bacteria on the rise.
Allie X wears MIKIO SAKABE top, ASHTON MICHAEL skirt, ESTHE pants, and CLARITE shoes.
Is aversion to heat a zodiac thing? Your Chinese zodiac is Year of the Ox. Does that feel right?
Oh, of course. Yeah, that’s why I’m such a hard worker. Yeah, just tireless, grinding forward. It’s like I’m a Capricorn. Stubbornness is a trait.
You’ve been taking the auteur route, self-producing this album and self-directing your videos for “Weird World” and “Black Eye.” How did the four years between Cape God (2020) and Girl with No Face (2024) influence that path?
There’s so much. I don’t even know where to start. There was a creative and business transition I went through in parallel to each other. When I got out of Cape God’s release and into the pandemic, I had all this time on my hands. I started to really question my team and my finances and get into my contracts— the sort of insight into what goes on behind the curtain—it totally blew my mind and forever changed how I feel about the industry. I made drastic changes. I transitioned out of having management into being self-managed. I recouped all my debt with the label, took over self-funding for a larger back end, started doing things for sustainability and freedom that make sure I have a creative career.
Allie X wears HAIKURE cardigan and jeans, ZANA BAYNE corset and thong, MIISTA shoes, and KIM PERETS hat.
Self-management and paying label advances — musicians aren’t typically good at doing those things.
The labels know. That’s why they take a large share of the recordings. I realized if I’m actually getting a larger piece of the masters, streaming isn’t so bad. We all talk about how there’s no money in streaming, but that’s just because we’re all making money on the publishing side and not from the recordings because of the deals we do.
How’d that influence the creative side?
I had all this time on my hand, all this restless creativity. I started making beats out of boredom. What became this album started to emerge in summer of 2020. The anger about everything I’d been through started to pour over into the creative side. I really grew up. I became an adult. I became less starry-eyed. I’m more jaded, but way more grounded.
This was your first major tour in years. What went into it?
It was nerve-wracking. It was the biggest headlining tour I’d ever done and I was self-funding it. You never know if you’re going to be okay, what costs are going to come up, if the van’s going to get broken into, if the guarantees will really equal all the costs, blah blah blah… It was financially intimidating.
I had to cancel a tour in 2022 because of a chronic health condition. I had a lot of fear and trauma around that, and a lot of other kind of yucky situations with my health. I was really scared. But now I feel like I can do anything. I faced my fear. The whole tour sold out, and there are new fans — goth-ier fans, gay-er fans, older fans telling me I nailed that vintage synth pop sound.
You had the Teragram Ballroom singing along the entire night. Entire songs, not just the choruses.
I didn’t realize how hard people were singing ’til I watched the videos. I need an ambient mic on the room. It’s so cool to hear.
There’s a theatrical element to your sound. Have you considered dabbling in writing and performing musical theater?
That’s where I come from, which is definite- ly in my voice when I’m performing. All that training I try to throw away. It just comes out when I’m fighting for my breath, the stuff like vibrato and placement. I enjoy a really good musical, but the problem is a lot of it is pretty cheesy. It’s become a jukebox musical thing — pop tracks tied to a silly story. But yeah, I’m a huge fan of Sondheim and Bernstein, and if I was ever offered a great role I’d give it a try. Maybe later in life I’ll try writing something for the stage.
I ask because Girl has a dystopian rock opera-feel. The 1984 / Big Brother references and Cabaret-esque German on “Weird World.”
I’m talking directly about the powers that be in the music industry.
Allie X wears MIKIO SAKABE jacket and pants, MAISON BLANCHE shirt, GROUNDS shoes, ZANA BAYNE tie, and ANDY WOLF glasses
CLICK HERE to Order Reserved Magazine’s Issue 9 with ALLIE X on the cover to read the full interview and see all the images from the shoot.
Talent: Allie X | @Alliex wears @mikiosakabe and @andywolfofficial
Written by Juice Caballero | @juice_caballero
Photographed by James Mountford | @jamesmountfordstudio
Stylist: BJ Panda Bear | @bjpandabear
Hair: Barbara Lamelza | @barbaralamelzamakeup using @intelligentnutrients
Makeup: Rachael Vang | @rachaelvang using @ritueldefille and @imageskincare
Location: Room Beverly Center | @roomservicebc
Special Thanks: David Angelo Miller-Robinson-Vulin | @davidmillerrobinson
