In Conversation with Alaina May
by Rebecca Tregaskis
Singer-Songwriter Alaina May has released her third single ‘Tourniquet.’ Based in New York May took the jump to pursue music full time this year. Since then, she’s been on a journey discovering her sound and ‘Tourniquet’ is the latest installment to this. Echo Mag caught up with May to discuss her latest release, her artistry and what’s up next.
Echo: Could you tell me a little bit about your new single and what that means to you?
I moved to New York about a year and a half ago and the week in which I was moving I was going through a breakup. It was crazing timing, adjusting to a brand new city, it’s just naturally overwhelming. Planting roots here and just figuring out what life looked like on the day to day. So, a lot of that first year in New York was a lot of change and getting over that relationship.
I think for a long time I was going back and forth. Like one day I’d wake up and be like ‘yeah I’m over it’ and then the next day it’s ‘oh I’m so sad.’ It’s just very cyclical and I think the back and forth is super normal and a human thing to experience. The song is kind of about that and then reaching a point where you’re ready to tie things off. I’m not one to forget things but I think it's separating it into a different part of yourself and compartmentalizing and learning to sit in those sorts of things, which was the tourniquet metaphor. I think that’s what this song hits on.
How do you think this release has evolved you as an artist?
I only really started truly pursuing music at the beginning of the year. Throughout the course of the year I started doing it more and then I quit my job. So I’ve been doing it a lot more since then. I think with each successive song I’m writing I’m tapping a little bit closer into what I want to say and how I want to say it. I think Tourniquet is in accordance with that and the most out of these three releases is closest to what I’m trying to say. The songs I’ve been working on recently and in the past few weeks, those are even more so than that. It’s just been fun to experience that evolution. I think the release of ‘Tourniquet’ is tapping more into what I want to say. I left the ‘Tourniquet’ session and was like ‘this is the one.’ Learning my voice as a writer and getting comfortable with that voice ‘Tourniquet’ was a big stepping stone in that process.
What made you take the jump to pursuing music full-time?
I studied finance and business in college just because I come from a pretty traditional family in terms of vocation and job. My parents are in business. So music is something I love and it’s really important to me but I was like ‘I need to have a 9-5.’ Then somewhere over the years it (music) just became everything to me.
When I moved to New York I was working in a finance job until May. So August through May of this past year I was working and started to meet people in the music around the city. I started recording these new songs in January with my friends in Brooklyn. I was really excited about it and then we finally got to the point where we were ready to release ‘casual,’ which was my first single. The song had gotten sent around and my now manager had reached out and was like ‘I want to work with you.’ It was really blind faith. I quit the job when there was nothing concrete yet but I just had to do it…but I’m so glad I did it because since I quit it’s just been insane.
Your songwriting is really emotive, What is the process from you taking those raw emotions and turning it into a finished song?
I've always kind of been a lyrics first writer which I've learned throughout writing with a bunch of people. I get words and phrases stuck in my head. I could just be out and about or whatever and hear someone say something on the train or see something on a billboard and I’m like ‘oh, I like that.’ Usually that coincides with something I’m feeling or experiencing internally. I’ve always gravitated towards telling stories with a lot of metaphors and just as a consumer when I’m listening to music if I hear a metaphor or something that’s told poetically it makes me think about it more and dissect it. If you say something in a metaphor or through figurative language I think it prompts the consumer of the media to think about it more…I like to think about what someone's saying when I’m listening to a song.
Usually when I sit down I have my feelings and my thoughts and then I have a word or a phrase I really like and then I’m just like ‘how can I tell this story?’ in a way that the words are art. I think words are so cool…that’s my favourite way to approach writing.
When you kind of put your music out into the world, like, what's something you really want your listeners to take away from it?
I want listeners to think about it. It’s funny because I know a lot of people who listen to music and it's passive listening. It’s always been an active process for me. When I’m listening I want to hear what the person’s saying and to think about it. I think I want people to listen to my song and think about it. I want it to be more of an active listening experience. I try my best to tell the stories in a way that people can empathise with and see themselves in. The feeling of someone seeing themselves in the situation is, I think, any writer’s goal because I think that’s what connects with people who are listening.
Then I’m always trying to make the production and the instrumentation lift up the lyrics. I think production is so powerful in terms of storytelling. It’s just not the words, it’s how the song sounds that really affects how the song comes across and the message. We have been leaning a lot more into storytelling production…and make it subjective. That’s where I think the figurative language is powerful because it allows you to be subjective and fit it into what happened to you.
You've released three singles now. What's up next for you?
I have another single coming in November. I signed with a label two weeks ago so we’ve been planning out the successive releases. It’s funny because it's really nice having a team now who can advise on when the best release day is and how to approach it. We’ve been planning it out and one more single in November and it's going to be a little more of an upbeat fun track. I’m excited about it. We made it in LA two weeks ago. Then a six song EP coming probably December. It’s crazy now it's already October but the EP's coming…then more music after that. There’s a lot of semi-finished music that we have right now and I’m really excited about that. I thought I was excited about the three singles that are out but these new songs I’m really excited about. I’m excited for people to hear them.
Check out Alaina May’s new single here
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