Interview with Alice Merton

I was excited to get on zoom with Alice Merton recently, and we chatted about all kinds of things. From her songwriting, to getting back to concerts, to the insane world events swirling around us. She was incredibly friendly and open – and I can’t wait till she is able to come back tour the United States again. Check out her new album S.I.D.E.S. and if you are in Europe – she’ll see you in the Fall.

Alice Merton Interview

Aimee:
So, first question, can you just tell us a little bit about your history, little quick snippet of your career?

Alice:
Sure. Okay. How do I summarize everything? I grew up in various places in the world. Hence the reason I wrote the song “No Roots,” and released that five years ago. I have been making music since I was 17, been playing music since I was five. But properly writing songs came much later. I put out an album 2019 called Mint, it was my very first album. And then, the pandemic came and now we’re here. I just put out my second album called S.I.D.E.S., which talks about the roller coaster ride I had, that a lot of people had, in the pandemic. The reason I called it S.I.D.E.S. was because I really felt like I discovered various sides about myself through the pandemic. It’s a very introspective album – figuring out how you think and how you feel, and feeling very lost. I found myself in a very dark hole that was very difficult to get out of. Writing this album helped push past that. And [laughs] there’s your summary.

Aimee:
Great. There you go. So, Mint was on repeat for me for a long time. I have listened to S.I.D.E.S., but I haven’t really a chance to dig into it because it was just released, what, a week ago?

Alice:
Oh, yeah.

Aimee:
First of all, it’s a really long album, 15 songs.

Alice:
15 songs. That’s what everyone keeps saying, it’s a long album. I keep wondering, when did 15 songs become a long album?

Aimee:
I think it’s partly because everybody’s been putting out five songs at a time. I’m older so 15 doesn’t seem that long, but it kinda is. And I mean, is it because of the pandemic or… What led you to that?

Alice:
To be honest, I didn’t put that much thought into how many songs go on. I wanted certain stories to be told on the album. I felt it was more of a storytelling thing rather than like, “Oh, is this going to make the album too long?” So, I saw it from that perspective. And there were two songs on there that aren’t really songs, in my opinion, they are more like interludes. One is “Breathe In, Breathe Out,” and one is “Shiny Things,” where I feel like it’s just a mind blurt, a mind fart, where I wanted to say something. But, I get what you mean. It’s longer for what’s being put out now, but for me to explain the story of everything that happened in that time, it felt right.

Aimee:
Good for you. Love it. And then, I want to also touch on the fact that… How has your international upbringing affected your career and also your outlook and your songwriting?

Alice:
I would definitely say it has put things into perspective, especially regarding the writing process. Sometimes I write about just that topic itself, about moving around, because a lot of the times, style-wise, I think it’s very hard for me to stay in one lane. I was introduced to so many different styles of music and I feel like I get very restless and sometimes the moment I start writing something, that’s going in the same direction, I get panicked. This album describes me and my personality in a really good way in the sense that it’s very… You have got “Mania” on there, and that’s darker, but then you have got a really soft ballad, like “Everything,” that’s very drifty and floaty. So, yeah. I definitely would say it describes my personality…

Aimee:
Love that. Well, I have to say, looking into your history [German-born English-Canadian], I’m actually first generation American from Germany. And I was reading that you had picked your German back up and I embarrassingly… I used to be fluent and now I have lost most of it it. I was wondering if you ever write or perform in German, or any of that aspect comes into it?

Alice:
No. I mean, I lived in Germany… I moved to the UK last year, but I have spent a lot of time in Germany and I get asked this a lot, “Will you ever sing in German?” The problem is I see myself foremost as a songwriter and I feel like when I’m writing music, it’s difficult for me to be as honest as when not I’m speaking in my first language… I mean, obviously I can be honest when I speak German, but I can’t use the same wording, it’s very different when I’m speaking German than it is when I’m speaking English. I feel like I can just be myself when I’m speaking English. So, it is much easier for me to write in English.

Aimee:
It is also a very harsh language. It’s very abrupt.

Alice:
It is quite harsh, yeah. It sounds very harsh.

Aimee:
I enjoy that actually, but again, I can’t imagine trying to write songs in German.

Alice:
Some people do a great job of it.

Aimee:
Oh, sure. Of course. Of course.

Alice:
Yeah. I just don’t think I would do a good job.

Aimee:
Yeah. So, to switch topics a little bit, I love your videos and they feel very cinematic to me. Is that an aspect that you really enjoy doing, or putting thought into that? And describe that process a little bit.

Alice:
Absolutely. I feel like whenever I write a song, I almost always have an image of how the video should be or something visually that inspires me. And I think those two are very close together, music and the imagery around it. So, I have really enjoyed that with this album. We put out a lot of videos for this album, I think it’s been way more than what we did with the last album. But that’s just because I really love diving into the directing world. I think for almost every video, I created the concept, I mean, together with a director, but some of them even without a director. And it’s just been so much fun to kind of give the music a visual component to it.

Aimee:
So, it looks like you’re doing a couple festivals and then you’re going to tour Europe. You’re getting back on the road. I know you were just out with Bastille. How is it and are you having fun? And what are you looking forward to? All that good stuff.

Alice:
I am having fun. It’s been a really beautiful experience going from two years of nothing to then suddenly full-on everything’s back to normal, but at the same time not. It’s hard to describe this feeling at the moment. I’m really excited to be back on stage and performing these songs live for the first time, but it’s bittersweet as well, because there’s so much still going on in the world. We keep saying like, “Oh, Corona’s gotten better.” But now I read in the news today that the sub variants are almost just as bad as the original ones on the lungs. And then, you still got the war in Ukraine. We were going to originally do two shows there and then three shows in Russia and then you’re like, “Oh wait, no. There’s a war going on. Does music even matter at the moment?” I feel like I’m trying to push all this negative stuff to the side so that I can let myself be excited about the positive stuff. But at the same time, it’s like, how far can I push it to the side until it is so big that it just bounces back?

So, yeah. Each day is different. We will have days where we are, as a band, super focused and we are loving playing at a festival. We had a weekend recently, where we had three festivals in one weekend and it was great seeing people’s faces again and people were just distracted by all the mayhem that’s going on in the world at the moment. But then, you have got these moments in between shows where you come back to the mayhem and you are very confused and scared and lost. And so, today is definitely one of those days where I’m very confused because I feel like the world can be beautiful and it’s beautiful, but then five pieces of information are enough to make me rethink everything. And yeah. So it’s…

Aimee:
Well, yeah. I mean, honestly, as an American, before I got on the call, I’m sure you have heard that the Supreme Court has turned over Roe v. Wade and cut down Americans’ abortion rights as of this morning. So, yeah. That happened right before this call.

Alice:
They… cut down… abortion rights. Are you serious???

Aimee:
Yeah. Sorry to dump that on you. So, I was having this morning of trying to prepare for this interview and just being in a state of shock. I mean, we had hints and we knew it was coming, but yeah. So now, I’m going to be like, “so the day I interviewed Alice Merton was the day…” Anyway. I’m sorry.

Alice:
Honestly, but doesn’t it feel so mad sometimes? I feel like we just live in a mad world sometimes, it’s just… Ugh. And then yes. There’s moments where you’re like, “Oh, just drown that out and focus on being in the moment and you can’t influence everything,” but at the same time, it’s starting to get really big, this pile of nonsense. You keep thinking it’s going to get better, but it’s not.

Aimee:
I know. Okay. So, I have one more question for you, and this is going to be a doozy after what we just talked about. What is your favorite thing to do for fun or to relax?

Alice:
How do I answer this question? [laughs] What do I like to do for fun? Not read the news. That’s a simple one.

Aimee:
Right, exactly.

Alice:
Honestly, the biggest thing that brings me joy when I have time is baking because I feel like I’m only focused on the ingredients and the actual process of putting things together and I seem to drown out everything else.

And then, obviously music. Music is something I love doing and just frees my mind. And I feel like I got a lot better at that during the pandemic. I stopped thinking about like, “Oh second album, does it have to be successful? Does it not? Will people care? Will people listen to it?” I feel like, because there’s so much that’s just out of our hands that we can’t control, I became very relaxed with that. I have really been enjoying the music process.

Aimee:
That’s great. I love it. So, this counts as one of the weirdest interviews I have ever done. Sorry about that.

Alice:
That is OK. I still had a really lovely time, even though it got very dark and sad.

Aimee:
But I feel that way too about music. And so, that’s been nice for me too, to get back to that. So, hopefully I get to photograph you the next time you’re…

Alice:
I would love that. You’re in Denver, Colorado, right?

Aimee:
Yeah.

Alice:
We played at the Bluebird last time in Denver, which was a lot of fun.

Aimee:
Great venue. So, have a great time on tour and all the good things.

Alice:
Focus on the good, I guess, but yeah. The bad is still very much present, but what can you do? There’s one song on the album that means a lot to me because, as we were talking about these dark times, during the pandemic, it was a very dark time for me, which is why a lot of the album is quite dark and sad. But there’s one song and at the very end of the album called “The Other Side” and this song helped me to get to the other side. Every time I listen to it, it reminds me that, even if I’m not there, I know at some point I will get there. And so, it’s this shimmer of hope that I feel like I want to spread to other people as well. That song really helped me get to start to see the other side, so…

Aimee:
Well, I’m going to listen to that right now.

Alice:
Good. If it helps you, I’m happy. If it somehow helps anyone, then I have at least did one thing right on this album.

Photo by Danny Jungslund

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