ALIE Opens Up About Grief, Growth, and the Making of “Closer To Losing”
- Isabella Basile
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
ALIE’s creative world started in a small French bedroom filled with poems and half-formed stories, and it’s only grown wilder and more ambitious since. After cutting her teeth in a garage-rock trio and even hitting stages like SUPERSONIC in Paris, she followed her curiosity all the way to New York to study cinema and make films of her own. Now back in France, she’s carving out a solo identity that fuses her filmmaker’s eye with her love of shimmering, emotionally honest music. Her songs balance breezy pop rock and surf-kissed melodies with lyrics that dive straight into the heart of lived experience, drawing inspiration from artists like Clairo, Phoebe Bridgers, and Big Thief while still sounding unmistakably her. We sat down with ALIE to chat about her latest release, "Closer to Losing."
IB: Hi ALIE, we are so excited to chat with you today!
AI: Hey, thank you so much for having me !!
IB: You previously stated that you began your artistic career with poetry. Do you still write poetry?
AI: I admit I write less poetry than I used to. I hate everything that I write, so I get easily frustrated with it and have to take breaks. But you know, every time I get back to it I remember why I like it so much, so I’d say it’s a love and hate relationship haha!
IB: Who is your favorite poet, and how have they inspired you?
AI: My favorite I think, is Emily Dickinson. She’s so cool. She has inspired one of my unreleased songs, actually.
IB: On the same note, would you care to share one of your poems with us?
AI: I can!! I have to put a disclaimer though, it’s not very good haha. This one is called How strange.
How strange
How the brain works
How strange hearing your voice
I wasn’t there
But once my eyes are closed
The hard wooden floor
Swallows us both
And my room is filled with stains
Shaped as your hands
as your thick glasses
It grows and grows
It’s spreading all over the place.
How strange
How the body works
I shiver and fall down
When I imagine walking in your house
I see the pictures
The faces
But I’m not there
I’m not there
It doesn’t matter now
Did it matter then ?
For you, for me, for everyone else.
But still I found it strange
How I’m unable to forget
To move on and never talk about it again.
IB: Poetry and songwriting go hand in hand. Do you believe your music would be different had you not been a poet first?
AI: I think so, yes, and with writing in general, as I write a lot of short stories as well, and did a lot when I was a kid. I think it helped me shape my songs as stories and to distance myself a bit. When I want to write a song about something that has happened to me or a specific feeling, I find it really difficult to do because I'm not used to talking about it at all or to even acknowledge how I feel, let alone put a word on it. To write poetry and short stories helped intellectualize my thoughts and recognize how I felt. It’s like it gave me that step back to access to my inner self.
IB: You moved from France to New York to pursue cinema. When you returned home, did you experience any change in your artistry?
AI: Returning home after New York was pretty harsh. I had all these amazing memories and experiences, and being back felt like going back to square one. My music, the sound and lyrics changed, I think, in a way that reflected how I felt: nostalgic, yearning, melancholic... Also, moving on my own for the first time occurred a change in how my music sounds. This sense of independence it shows in my approach to making music now, and that you see clearly in live. It feels like it’s just me and my guitar.
IB: Do you blend your love for cinema with your music in any way
AI: Absolutely yes! When I’m writing songs, I'm always thinking of it as a script, almost, like it’s meant to be translated visually. I really do hope that in the future I’ll get to direct a short film with my songs!
IB: You were once in a garage-rock trio. What inspired the genre switch from rock to folk?
AI: Ah, yes, I think this switch occurred with time, and I will say as I got older. I do think I needed to experiment with different things and genres to find what I liked the most. I do love Rock so much, but Folk just felt right. I’m not choosing any genre over another, though; I’m staying open to what comes my way.
IB: In “Closer To Losing,” I hear a banjo towards the middle of the song. Is this an instrument you typically use in your songs? What inspired that instrumental choice?
AI: Closer to Losing was the first time using a banjo, and I honestly loved it. I was listening to a lot of Lumineers at the time, and I really wanted something organic that felt like I was sitting in the woods… The banjo was an obvious choice for me!
IB: I also hear a harmonica that you play. Do you play the harmonica live when you perform “Closer To Losing,” or do you have a backing track?
AI: Yes, I play the harmonica live, it takes a lot of focus, but I get to improvise a lot and it’s so much fun!
IB: How did you write and record “Closer To Losing”?
AI: I wrote Closer To Losing after a sudden loss. It was so unexpected that it made me rethink everything. I had this fear, this anxiety building. To me, everyone I loved was about to die, and I felt so defeated. Recording the song, on the other hand, was pretty fun. It was the first time working with Benjamin Mathieu in Lille, and it was so nice to exchange ideas and take the time to make the song evolve.
IB: I really love the lyric “I can’t help but think about what conversation will be our last.” Can you describe what emotions you were feeling while you were writing this section of the song?
AI: It’s like overthinking about every word and every action, ever. Thinking “I should've said that” when it’s too late, and to me saying I love you is almost impossible, you know? So it’s like anticipating the regrets here.
IB: What is one song you wish ALIE wrote?
AI: A lot of songs, actually…I’m thinking Mitski, Phoebe Bridgers.. But if I had to choose, I’d say Indiana by Adrianne Lenker
IB: What are your future plans in music, cinema, and poetry?
AI: I’m going to keep writing and writing in every medium I can; hopefully, I’ll be back in the studio pretty soon!
IB: Thank you so much for chatting with us!
AI: Again, thanks for having me. It was really nice chatting with you!
Stream "Closer To Losing" below!
Credits:
Composer, Singer, Songwriter: ALIE
Produced by: Benjamin Matthieu
Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Harmonica: ALIE
Banjo, Ebow, Keyboards: Benjamin Matthieu
Drums: Cyrille Hodin
Pedal Steel: Nico Hillary
Bass, Tambourine: Fabrice Poznic