‘It’s not really conscious. It kind of just comes out of me’: Alicia Clara talks songwriting after latest single

By Meg Richards

“I’ve always wanted to make music. I just never really knew how to go about that.”

Starting a career at the advent of a global pandemic wasn’t always in the cards for Alicia Clara. She was inspired after moving to New York for an internship in college, where the ubiquity of fame and art coming together pushed her to pursue her dreams. 

“I feel like the energy of the city kind of [gave] me this kind of push, where I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll try to make music,” she said. 

When the pandemic hit, however, she had just moved to Montreal and released her first single. 

“I didn’t really have a way to start interacting with the people in the scene that I was trying to get into,” she said. “I really felt like I was a teenager again, stuck in my bedroom, not being able to go anywhere…it was just surreal.” 

She didn’t let this stop her, though. Through the producer of her newly released single, she met her first manager, who was working at a venue in Montreal that has since closed down. Clara began playing shows at said venue — first, by herself on a livestream — then little by little, music fans began to fill up those empty rooms. 

“Weirdly, I think I benefited from the pandemic, because I was meeting a lot of people online, and because everything was online, I feel like there was maybe a bit more of a focus on new artists who just put out something digitally,” she said.

Despite the pandemic halting any fanfare in public, Clara gained traction online, appearing on official Spotify playlists and popular music blog Gorilla VS Bear. When things began returning to normal, she saw the fruits of her labor pay off.

“I remember the first time I went to a big show in person. I had all these people that, like we were following each other on Instagram, but I’d never met them in person, and suddenly they were kind of all there,” she said. “I was like, ‘Oh, wow, this is very strange.’ Like, I’m supposed to know these people now, and I kind of felt like a little animal. I was like, ‘I don’t really know how to act,’ but little by little, things became normal.”

Over the span of just a few months, Clara found success, and a recording of her performance reached the presenter of SXSW. That led to her playing the festival in 2023 for the first time. 

“That was very cool. And I guess validating…just coming out of the pandemic, I was thinking back to 2020, when I saw I was never going to leave my bedroom,” she said. “And I was like, here I am going to Texas for my music.”

This time around, Clara says it feels different, more “intentional.” She has the experience of playing SXSW before under her belt, and is bringing new wisdom to the performance this March.

“I’m also a lot tighter with my band that I’m going with than I was two years ago, because we’ve been playing these songs for quite a while now,” Clara said. 

She also noted the importance of stress management and keeping her cool. One thing she’s going to work into her schedule more this year: meditation.

“When I’m feeling very stressed, I’m like, Okay, you’re gonna sit down and breathe for 10 minutes. So I think I will force myself to…try and re-center.”

She also has her eyes peeled for other artists and potential collaborators. Having never “properly” gone on tour, in her own words, she’s looking to gain some new insight and meet musicians with whom she has something in common with. This will hopefully propel her into what will be her first tour, something she’s looking to put together after the festival.

“I do want to see more European bands, because I did grow up in Switzerland,” Clara said. “I do want to be a bit more connected with what’s going on across the pond.”

Being both Swiss and Canadian influences her work a decent amount. She pulls influence from Montreal artist Helena Deland for songwriting inspiration, Widowspeak, a NYC band, for production inspiration, and a number of Swiss artists — one of which being Soccer Mommy, the Swiss born, Nashville raised indie musician. Clara recently got to see her Montreal show, and described a moment she felt that kinship between them. Clara’s latest single, Nothing Dazzled, was inspired by Soccer Mommy, who played the very song that inspired Clara as an encore.

“That was a weird, serendipitous moment, too. I was like, I’m about to release a song that was inspired by hers, and she finished her encore with the particular song that inspired my song.”

Overall, Clara’s sonic storytelling is completely her own. She’s been compared to Hope Sandoval, frontwoman of the dream pop/shoegaze group Mazzy Star, but her vocals exist in a league of their own, with clear alternative and indie rock influence, and harmonies that lull listeners into her narrative. Her songwriting is deeply diaristic, brutally honest, and haunting. How does she do it? She’s authentically herself.

“I just say things with my songs that are a bit difficult to say in real life,” Clara said. “It’s not really conscious. It kind of just comes out of me.”