Around this time of the year in 2020, things were a lot different for Montreal native Alicia Creti. The then-21-year-old singer was studying finance at Montreal’s Concordia University despite having dreams of being a full-time singer. Four years later, and Creti is now just a couple of weeks away from releasing her debut EP Self/Less.
The upcoming project accounts for the multiple life journeys that brought Creti to this very moment. Whether it’s the up-and-down relationships that are detailed in songs like “Crazy” or the tough conversations she had with both herself and the people close to her. In the end, the upcoming EP’s title track is a moving and eloquently honest ballad that details the unintended effects of being selfish toward one’s desires.
Ahead of the release of Self/Less, Alicia Creti took a moment to talk with Uproxx about her upcoming EP, its latest single, her upcoming tour with Mahalia, and more.
When did you then realize that you could make a career out of your love for music?
It was the beginning of the pandemic, so it was like 2020. I met Amisha Shakar on the internet. I was studying finance at Concordia University in Montreal [and] it was my last year. It’s very strange because I was thinking I had a year left and I was getting anxious in the wrong ways. In my brain, for my entire life, I envisioned myself on a stage. Picturing myself looking into the future, that’s what I saw. It was where I am right now, but what I was actively doing was not that.
My friend convinced me to just post on TikTok and it could go viral. TikTok was a brand new app, so everybody was going viral. It wasn’t like today. I went viral and it got me connected to Amisha. It really just took one person looking at me and being like, “What do you want?” and I was like, “I want to be an artist, I want to make music for the rest of my life.”
In just a couple of sentences can you define “Self/Less” with the way it’s stylized on your new single and explain its meaning?
It’s about a difficult conversation that I had with my brother, essentially just trying to prep him for the fact that I would eventually need to move to LA. It was genuinely one of the hardest conversations that I’ve had because my brother is everything to me. I’ve put him first my entire life and I’ve put everybody first my entire life.
Consequently, I ended up finding myself feeling ultimately self-less. That’s kind of where the concept stemmed from. I was putting everybody before me my whole life and ultimately ended up feeling like I needed an identity. Everything was for other people around me and always being strong for others that I really lost myself. When I started making this project, it was one of the first steps that I took to putting myself first and doing something for me.
It was recently announced that you’ll be opening Mahalia’s In Real Life Tour. What’s something you’re looking forward tour about those run of shows and what’s something you’re nervous about?
I’m looking forward to just being on that stage and I’m so grateful to Mahalia for this opportunity, she’s incredible. I’ve been a fan for a minute. I found her with “Do Not Disturb” and that’s what put me on to her. So the fact that we’re here now is crazy. I’m nervous about being on the road for so long. I’ve never done a tour like this before and I’ve had some issues with my voice during the first year that I was coming to LA. I even got surgery for this because I kept losing my voice. I got sinus and deviated septum surgery. So, I’m a little nervous about losing my voice, but I am prepared for this and I got the vocal warm-ups and the vocal rest that’s gotta happen when we’re driving from one place to another. It’s also a shorter set per night, so it’s not like I’m singing all day long, but that is really my main concern. Making sure that I don’t lose my voice.
What would say is your proudest moment in the process of creating your upcoming project?
I’ve written the project and finished everything and I’ve been sharing it with my family during the process that it was being made. Now we’re finishing the mixes and the masters and that’s when you really see all the songs come to life in their their final form. I’m just proud to be able to share this with my family, especially my nana who’s on one of the tracks on the project. Even sharing this with my brother and my whole family. I think that has been the best moment and all of this, to be honest. It’s brought us closer, I don’t know how we can get closer than we are, I’m close with my family. So yeah, I think that it’s just the connection that the project is allowing for, it’s been really, really special.
What is one message you want to leave with fans as they listen to this song and eventually the Self/Less project?
Don’t let anything hold you back from being your most authentic self, doing what you love, and doing things for you. You have one heart, mind, and soul in this life and it would be a shame if you didn’t put yourself first and I don’t think that it’s selfish at all.
Self/Less is out 2/16 via Atlantic Records. Find out more information here.
Alicia Creti is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.