Release of the Week: Alma

What can you tell us about your inspirations and creative process for "America"?

I’d just came back from the US embassy from where I was supposed to leave with my visa. Because of Covid, the officer wasn’t able to give it to me and so I've been stuck in Paris for over a year now.

Immigration has always been a pain in the ass and not only for me, I am well aware of the luck I have, but I miss my family who has been living in the USA for 15 years now, I only see them once a year and I really wanted to move to be closer to them. So coming back from the embassy I was very sad and angry. I’ve been waiting for this appointment, which kept being postponed, for 9 months, and coming back home empty-handed with no visa was such a shock and disappointment.

I sat down in front of my home studio opened Logic Pro and started writing and composing the song. It took about an hour, it was very fast! then I recorded the voices and worked a bit on the production. And that’s it "America" was born! I sent it over to the producer, an Italian guy I met in LA, Alberto Bof, and then a week later the song was here.

Can you tell us a little bit about your journey on streaming and downloading platforms?

It’s always very scary to release a song as an independent artist because you never know if the platforms are going to boost your song or not. They have a lot of power and I was very honored to see my baby "America" on the different editorial playlists from Spotify.

The number of streams can be very impressive sometimes, but I feel like it's hard to feel like so many people are listening to your songs. It's all very digital and I wish we still had the good old 2 singles CD that I used to go buy at my supermarket. The pictures were nice on the covers and the CD was like a decoration piece you kept on your shelf.

With all those new streaming and downloading platforms, I feel like we lost a bit of depth. It's very easy now to listen to a song and then forget about it. There are so many available and almost for free! It’s a bit overwhelming. This mass consumption of the music but hey that’s the way it is now so we have to embrace it and be productive to satisfy our listeners’ ears.

What does it mean to be independent for you?

TO BE FREEEEE to sing and say and produce and release whatever the F we want. This is an amazing feeling. So many endless possibilities.

What do you have planned for 2021?

Releasing a second and a third single (maybe even an EP, who knows), and preparing for the full-length album in 2022!