BEHIND THE SCENES WITH ALIENBLAZE: AN EXCLUSIVE BST HYDE PARK INTERVIEW

BST Hyde Park is known for gathering some of the biggest names in the music world and offering fans unforgettable experiences with the most mesmerizing performances. However, aside from the bigger names on the main stages, the festival also shines a spotlight on emerging talents and fresh sounds on its smaller stages. Alienblaze is one of the openers for Stray Kids on the final day of BST Hyde Park, performing on The Birdcage Stage.

Before her performance, I had the pleasure of meeting Alienblaze in person backstage. We had a brief chat about her musical journey, inspirations, and what it means to perform at such a big event. Alienblaze speaks about her music with brimming enthusiasm and passion, haring her excitement for connecting with fans and showcasing her unique sound.

Maggie: Alienblaze, is there a story behind your name?

Alienblaze: Yes and no. On the one hand, I just took my Instagram username (laughs). But also, my name is Blaze and as I’ve touched on before—I missed a lot of school around the age of 14 because I was really, really sick, so it kind of led me to feeling very left out. That’s why I decided to take on the ‘Alien’ part of my name because I want to be able to spread the message with my music: ‘When you come to my gig, you are part of that, you are part of the group, you are part of the scene, you are part of it.’ Anyone who attends my events, I want them to feel welcomed and loved.

Maggie: That’s such a nice message. How do you feel about playing at BST Hyde Park today?

Alienblaze: So, so excited. I love playing festivals always, but it’s such an honor to be supporting Stray Kids and Maisie Peters. I love these artists. I’m really excited to listen to the other artists as well that I haven’t heard of before. I’m really excited.

Maggie: I’m really looking forward to your performance.

Alienblaze: Thank you!

Maggie: Who would you say are your biggest influences in music?

Alienblaze: Honestly, I have so many inspirations so we could be here all day. But in short, right now in the music I’m making, I would have to say Chappell Roan, it is a brat summer, so Charli XCX, Billie Eilish. But in the past and still now to this day, I do draw inspiration from bands like The Cure, Bring Me the Horizon, and music from the 70s—obviously I just did a cover that I’m going to be performing today of Slade’s “Coz I Luv You” from 1971. I’m really excited about that because I wanted to do my own completely different version of it. Right now, if I had to sum up my sound it would be a little bit dancy, a little bit alt poppy, kind of Chappell Roan, Billie Eilish, Charli XCX.

Maggie: Love that! That kind of leads to my next question—did you prepare anything special for the performance today?

Alienblaze: Yes. Whenever I play a gig, I always want to cater it so that every single time I play a show, it’s different. So if you are coming to more than one show, you are going to get something different. For today, it’s actually really interesting because Stray Kids recently released “La La La”, which is kind of a funk song, which is the genre that I have been doing in collaboration with a lot of producers. I wanted to tailor myself today so that it had a little bit of my old sound that you can hear on Spotify—like me, but then also the newest sound that I’ve been working with producers on that’s more similar to Stray Kids. I’m also going to be giving out flowers to the audience. I’m going to be throwing out black and purple roses.

Maggie: Oh! That is so sweet! I love that! That would make such a pretty photo.

Alienblaze: Yeah (laughing)!

Maggie: So you recently released a new single “Monaco”, can you tell me a bit more about the song?

Alienblaze: “Monaco” is just—it is what it is. It’s just super chill. I basically got sent a beat by the producers that I worked with on it, $mxle and TSVNEO, and I really loved the beat. So I just did some vocaling over it, which is how “Fame” came about for instance. I am doing other songs like that as well—in collaboration with producers, but I am actually going to be releasing some of my own music soon as well, because obviously the last few releases have been collaborations. So the next release will hopefully be the one that I teased on my Instagram the other day because I love it.

Maggie: I loved that one! This kind of leads to my next question. I was wondering what your writing process is like when it comes to creating music?

Alienblaze: Obviously as I’ve said, with the last few singles, it’s been different, because I’ve been sent beats by producers, the beats already exist, and I just top line them. I wrote all the vocals for them. I thought ‘this is what would fit this’, and then I went to the studio and did the vocals. But in terms of how I’ve written in the past and I am still writing with my own music, it always starts on the guitar. I feel like I actually write in kind of a different way to other people, because I actually always start with the lyrics. The lyrics to me are really, really important. So I believe that I can’t write any other way. I always start with the lyrics, I get inspiration from books, from art, from music, and we go from there. Usually, I just start off with one thing that comes to my mind. But sometimes I actually start with the title, because the titles are really important. Whenever I go on Spotify and listen to someone’s music, it’s the title that draws you in after all.

Maggie: Yeah, definitely. And finally, is there anything exciting to expect for the rest of the year, or if there’s any new stuff coming?

Alienblaze: Lots, lots, lots more new music. And hopefully a headline show.

Maggie: So exciting!

Alienblaze’s performance was a pleasure to watch live, I can’t wait to see how she grows and continues spreading her message through music. 

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