Rising singer writers Allison Ponthier have a lot to do for her right now – including prominent recommendations from Superfans like Elton Johnwho introduced her in her latest documentary, and Brandi Carlel. But everything did not come up roses last summer, when she learned that she had been dropped from her label, Interscope, after several years of singles and EPS but no full length album. It was a bitter pill, but she does something sweet of the experience with “Karaoke Queen”, her first single as an independent artist, coming out today.
Ponthier talked Amount By making the new single and how it represented a catharsis for her after what felt like a devastating professional setback. As it turned out, it was somewhat prophetic about song-or possibly “manifestation”, as she expresses it-as she wrote it early by being with Interscope, which came with a fictitious scenario at the time and anticipating what it would be like to lose that deal. (Listen to the new track below.)
“I actually wrote the song after I signed my old record agreement,” says Ponthier, “because I did not grow up with much music industry knowledge or people who worked in it around me. So when I was finally able to get my dream to be able to make music full time and have etiquette support, when it was materialized, I was. terrified. It was the first time I was safe financially ever in my life. It was the first time I had my own health insurance. It was the first time I had that stability. And so I was so terrified that the carpet would be pulled out under me, the only way that I really know how to process things is by writing about them. “She brought in two co -authors with whom she felt comfortable to share the anxiety with, Ethan Gruska (written with Phoebe Bridgers and Lizzy Mcalpine) and Micah Premnath.
“I opened the idea of a classic story about the 70s style about a girl who is signed quite young, is dropped by her large label, must move back to her hometown and is embarrassed and must process these feelings until she finally is like the queen of the Karaoke bar,” she explains. “Everyone in her town make’s her feel like the star that she wished that she could have been in one way but is happy to be in another. And yeah, I had this song for forever and loved it fiercely and really fault like a huge part of my songwritement Feel like the right time to put it out – the song wasn’t ready to have its time and now that i’m independent, I can do whatever the heck I want. So when in thought about my first independent release the feeling of actually gets dropped. So in a strange way, either I’m mental or I manifested it, but I’m so happy that I wrote it, because it really helped me to process that feeling. ”
Not everything about the texts turned out to be prophetic, because unlike the young singer shown in the texts, Ponthier does not move home – which in her case would be from New York City back to Texas. Ponthier previously explored that division into one of her interscope singles, “cowboy”, which affected the feelings of embracing being from somewhere else in a new urban landscape … even at home, she also sometimes “others”, after being a queer person in a conservative area.
“I am very lucky that I can stay in the city so far that I moved to,” she says. “But I have been financially supported myself as an adult since I turned 18 and so lost financial stability was a really scary thing. And many people must; I know that many artists have been dropped and have to move home. So thankfully for now, I stay in New York, but it is never outside the table. And I love Texas. But you never want you to move
Another artist, one who may be deceiving himself, may have characterized to be lost by a major as a kind of triumph, in a changing music landscape where many artists thrive when they are out of the big deal they see as their salvation. But Ponthier has no such claim to his first reaction, which did not feel liberating right now.
“I kicked and screamed with my claws in,” she admits. “I post my first single, ‘cowboy’, with a big label, and since I became a full -time music, it was all I had ever known. So it was scary to be lost. Some things happened to move that perspective, because now I know it is the best thing that could have happened.
“One of the things that changed my perspective is that I found out before the night I opened to the Japanese house” in front of a large audience in New York. “I found out in rehearsal for this tour that I was just going to continue. I didn’t sleep just all night. And then the next day I had to play pier 17 for thousands of people, and I had no idea how to get through the show. And while I was lying on the floor in The Green Room, I tried to hype myself. One of my biggest heroes.
“And it was a moment where I had to chill and I was so happy and the time for it could not have been more perfect, because I felt so down on myself and was like,” maybe music is over for me. “Since then, the universe or just a chance has confirmed to me that this was the right thing to do.
She adds, “This sounds like I play it for the camera a bit, but something happened that night there, ever since I have played that show, I don’t get nerves that I used to. You have to do your own opportunities. “And I realized that show was an opportunity, and it was one of the best show I’ve ever had.
The Carlle Cosign got a Turbo boost in January when Ponthier went down to Mexico to perform at Star’s annual girls just Wanna Weekend, where her pool set was one of the hit at the festival. Ponthier cheered to play for a mostly female and largely lesbian audience. Ponthier has lots of LGBTQ+ fans who show up for their usual gigs, she says, but her music is not microtarget on a certain demographic, so she never had really felt right to Mirrored, demographic.
After the festival, Carlley told Amount About her excitement about seeing Ponthier performing up close and in the meat and says she sees her as something similar “a queer sabrina carpenter.”
Ponthier replies now and hears that, “Whatever she said, I’m happy and she can tattoo it in my face.”
She does not feel particularly locked in or even controls a certain genre. Although she has paid tribute to her Texas roots by sometimes assuming colorful Western wear, the country is just a piece of the puzzle. “I feel like something that’s interesting about my project is, even as an opener, I’m opened for straight-have country projects, I’m opened for Alternative/Indie Projects, I’Ve Opened for Pop Projects. High-Energy. What’s Exciting About The Job I get to do is I just be one thing, and I don’t think that we should bee to just be one thing, to be more palatable.
Her inspiration extends from Hayley Williams to Fiona Apple to John Prine.
“For me, I think at the forefront of my song writing, what I grew up with, which is the 60’s and the 70s songwriting. Whether it is country music or something that Carole King or Neil Young, I think that classic songwriting is always inspiration for everything I do, with a modern perspective and with a modern humor. The song. “I think you are everything you listen to, and I listen to many different types of music, and if it comes out of my neck, it will sound like me so I am happily mixing pop, rock, country, and it is fun for me. The spirit of country music is that it is a narrative genre.
Ponthier has a clear sensitivity apart from just the music. “When it comes to my style, I was actually quite confused about who I wanted to be and who I was generally before I started my project,” she says. “The big married that my project has given me is clarity on who I am, and thankag, by the time I release ‘cowboy,’ basic in looked at what things brought me joy. What brings me joy? Claymation brings and ‘Musicals Bring me joy. Bring me joy. Bring me joy. And now campy visuals are really popular and people love them, and that makes me so happy because at the time, in 2020 when in starting out, i was like, I love all these things, and many people did not get it now, I think people can really embrace the era that I love, the fashion that I love, the things that I love Which I love.
“Karaoke Queen” is officially the first single front an upcoming album at full length, although it is not part of the song’s announcement. “The album is coming this year. Other than there is a lot in the air, because I’m an independent girly now. But I have many more songs to come, and I will also tour this year, so I’m pretty excited for both.”
And while “Karaoke Queen” is not exactly a real story – especially not giving up a pro -career part – she had a karaoke experience that was entered into it.
“I actually had a karaoke moment, when I was, I think, 19. I lived in Texas and a girl I had a crush on – it was before I was out – picked me up and said:” I take you somewhere and I say not. “And she took me to a dive karaoke -bar, and at that time I was terrified to sing publicly, but I said,” Why not? And they continued to put on the wrong version of “I will survive”, and it looked like I didn’t know what I was doing, and all the cyclists and cowboys that I was in the bar. Karaokebar.
