Alisa Xayalith, who has long been known as the lead singer for The Naked and Famous, has been working on her solo project for quite some time and released her first solo EP Superpowers on November 18, 2022. The EP gave Xayalith an opportunity to explore themes more personal to her that allowed her to be more vulnerable than she could be in the band environment. Noting how making the band’s album, Recover, in 2020 was filled with moments of strife and disagreements with bandmate Thom Powers, Xayalith viewed the solo project as a “lifeboat” because of the overwhelming and claustrophobic nature of the recording that LP. “There were just so many things I wasn’t able to do,” Xayalith explained, “every time I would try something, it would be more that it doesn’t fit within the paramters of The Naked and Famous. I was just like ‘I don’t even think there’s any room for me here to grow, it doesn’t feel good.” Writing sessions with friends in the industry gave Xayalith the freedom to pour her emotions out and “Devil I Know” was the first song that came out of those sessions. It was a revealing song about breaking old patterns that can be toxic, “I feel that was the song where I hung my hat on the beginning of the process of making an EP,” she stated.
Alisa Xayalith spoke with B-Sides host Pete Mar about her debut EP, ‘Superpowers’, how the writing and recording process has been effortless, fun and freeing, how her song “High Fidelity” was used in a viral TikTok video and more.
