Alice Kristiansen Enters the Electronic Space in an iEDM Exclusive Interview

Alice Kristiansen has arrived.

The young singer is stepping away from doing YouTube covers and embarking on an epic journey into the electronic space. Break out your tank tops because Kristiansen is heating things up with her second single for the summer. "Lost In Translation" is a track that will stay on your mind long after you listen to it for the first time.

"I was doing music my whole life. It's been a thing I've been doing since I was five years old. My mom put me in piano lessons because they could tell it was something I was into," Kristiansen told iEDM in an exclusive interview.

The singer went into great detail about how she got her break in the music industry. "In my freshman year during high school, I started my YouTube channel. Nothing really happened with it for over a year. Maybe I would get 500 views for a cover," Kristiansen laughed. The tide would soon change in her favor. She continued, "The very first song that started getting attention was an Adele cover. People started watching and I got more comments."

The positive feedback continued to pour in as Kristiansen continued to find her way in the business. Her hard work paid off as a certain Punk'd star gave her a gigantic platform she never expected. Kristiansen glowed, "After the Adele cover, I did a bunch of Taylor Swift songs. I did a cover of 'Wildest Dreams' and Ashton Kutcher put it on his Facebook page. A writer found it, wrote an article on it and Ashton decided to share it. That was nuts!"

Ashton isn't the only guy to have an eye for talent. Teen heartthrob Shawn Mendes has been known to support the singer whenever possible on Instagram. "I was already with my manager and that was when we were like, 'Holy crap. I need to start writing and working on originals.' That was about three years ago. We did a lot of writing to find out where I sit as far as my style goes," Kristiansen explained.

It was the start of a new beginning for Kristiansen as she decided to find her own voice and sound. The singer told iEDM, "There's a lot to learn as far as form goes which makes things so much easier down the road. Once I got into it, I went, 'Oh, this makes so much sense.' Writing is now one of my favorite parts of the whole process which is really nice."

The singer's process would eventually lead to "Lost In Translation." "I think luckily, the way I did the covers--I took them and made them my own. That helped me with my own style," Kristiansen nodded. She elaborated, "Even when I wasn't writing my own material, I was taking these covers and making them into my style. I was developing a style which lead to 'Lost in Translation.'"

"Lost In Translation" was something new and exciting for Kristiansen. The synth-heavy piano lines and haunting percussion added a new element to her already impressive repertoire. "I wrote the song a year ago in Brooklyn. I came into the city for five days. I rented out an Airbnb to write with people. It was good to get in the head space of just writing. Then I would go home and get into the pattern of eating, sleeping and writing all over again," Kristiansen giggled.

"'Lost in Translation' was the first song written in my new phase of writing. I wanted something more bombastic with more production. The whole inspiration from that song...It's funny. When people listen to it, they think it's about a relationship, which it sort of is--but it is more introspective," she winked.

Before going deeper into the meaning of "Lost In Translation," Kristiansen told iEDM how she was intrigued with the electronic scene. "It was after the end of the first session where we all knew I found 'the sound.' I had two phases of writing. The first one was the, 'girl and the guitar' phase. I wasn't happy doing that. We did it because it worked best for YouTube," she said.

Kristiansen was determined to take control of her own destiny. The singer stated, "I was making all this music that I liked and it was good quality music..but it's not something I would listen to myself." She took a brief pause before continuing, "The songs that I wrote were great. But as time went on, we started looking at what I wanted in my career and what I wanted my songs to sound like. Not what people were expecting from me."

What can people expect to take away from her latest single? Kristiansen might surprise everybody yet again. "The whole 'Lost in Translation' thing where I say there is a stranger in my bed...it is actually referring to me. It's so hard. There is a level of separation. When you become aware of it, you psych yourself out. Trying to directly communicate to other people with how you're feeling--sometimes it can just get 'Lost in Translation' and it's hard."

Communication wasn't the only difficult thing for Kristiansen to do. Another nerve-racking experience was taking the first leap of faith to try something different. Kristiansen said, "For a little while, we were scared to do something like 'Lost In Translation' because people who watch my YouTube might go, 'Oh my God. What is this?'" Anytime an artist decides to change things up, questions usually trickle in from the fans. The singer explained, "In the comments section, people think that once an artist starts adding more production, that the music industry devil has influenced the artist. People ask, 'Who is making you do this?' People think you are being controlled by the label once you start trying to do something different."

Kristiansen stressed that the new direction is completely her decision. "It was 100% my choice. I was almost pushing my manager and my team to go in that direction. It was really nice to transition into full tracks. I didn't want to be a cover artist putting out original music," she stated.

The youthful singer realizes she has amazing people backing her up. She made sure to give them love by saying, "I feel so lucky to have a group of fans who are really sweet and really intelligent. Sometimes, I post my opinions on Twitter and everyone has been super cool and smart. I feel really blessed to have a group of fans who I feel that I can really talk to."  Kristiansen then smiled, "They are not just fans that listen to music--they are really great people. I try to talk to them as much as I can because I am so grateful for them to be in my corner."

As for what's next for Kristiansen? "I'm most excited about getting to work, planning a live show and rehearsing, rehearsing, rehearsing," she grinned.

You can follow Alice Kristiansen on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Spotify. All photos were taken and graciously provided by Kevin Jackson Jr. You can see more of Kevin's work by clicking HERE! To check out other exclusive iEDM interviews featuring your favorite artists, click HERE.