There’s a certain type of modern pop music that’s proudly speaking to and representing the underdogs. When pop was once seen to be the music of the general population, it’s now the lifeline and party for the alternative kids. These artists aren’t like Taylor Swift or Ed Sheeran, who have a broad and generally quite safe appeal, because they’re outspoken when it comes to body positivity, sex positivity, sexual equality and the freedom of choice. That freedom of choice often refers to choosing to go out and party, which is a very important thing to do every now and again.
Leading this wave of new pop is Charli XCX: the London pop brat regularly throws basement raves when she goes on tour. Grimes and Azealia Banks are the wild cards. Dua Lipa is the golden child of the charts. Representing the Scandi side of things is Tove Lo, Mø and Tove Styrke, but the latest pop brat to emerge, from Finland no less, is Alma. A frequent collaborator with all of the above, the former Finnish Idols contestant has the Elton John seal of approval and she's getting ready to release her debut album, Have You Seen Her?, on April 5th. She has an upcoming Irish gig, so try to nab a ticket to see her because she's radically different.
I was lucky enough to catch Alma perform at the Iceland Airwaves Festival in November 2018. Her attitude is defiant. With her signature dyed-green hair and a biker leather jacket, she entered the stage like a hip-hop heavyweight, asking her DJ to start the music again because the crowd wasn't hyped up enough. It didn't take long for her to get the crowd at the level she wanted them at, and she worked her way through her singles Cowboy, Chasing Highs, Dye My Hair and Phases (her collaboration with rapper French Montana) that she has been drip-releasing since 2016, stopping and starting songs if the energy ever dissipated.
Pop survival
Tough as nails in her attitude, pop in her delivery but goth-punk in her presentation, she doesn't conform and doesn't take bullshit from anyone. Last year she joined Charli XCX, Mø and Zara Larsson to act as Dua Lipa's back-up singers for a BBC Live Lounge performance of IDGAF, and she told the BBC that they had been teaching her all their tricks of pop survival.
Alma is now based in Los Angeles. She has recently released the singles and videos for When I Die and Summer, two unorthodox pop songs that show starkly different sides to her. When I Die is pumped full of bravado that spills over a tripping beat – the video sees her digging her own grave after she throws an extravagant last supper – and Summer is slow-paced and vulnerable ballad that sees her grasping for the last straws in a fading relationship. Before her album drops, she'll be releasing two more singles and videos, so there's about to be a whole lot of Alma in your ears very soon.
Alma releases her debut album Have You Seen Her? on April 5th and she plays The Academy, Dublin, on March 29th and tickets are €23.60 from ticketmaster.ie
