Fresh off the release of her latest track “Focus”, we caught up with briefly with pop-synth enchantress, costume chameleon and performance queen Allie X just before her Pride performance in Los Angeles. Allie X is adored by the queer community, and for good reason, being an outspoken ally, who just completed the US pride circuit in Washington and LA. She discussed with us the concept of the ‘X’ identity and the recurring themes present in her music. Following the interview, we were treated to a mind-blowing performance complete with surrealistic face masks, hypnotic graphics, and of course, mesmerising tunes.

Congratulations on CollXtion II turning one on June 9th. With over 15 million streams, how does it feel?

Really good, I wouldn’t say it was the album that broke me through in a major way but I feel so proud of it nonetheless, and I gained a lot of new fans and was able to express myself in a meaningful way, so what more can you ask for!

In your album CollXtion and CollXtion II you explored the concept of the ‘X’ identity. Is this still an identity/feeling that you resonate with?

To me ‘X’ is the possibility of anything, throughout history ‘X’ has meant so many different things in math, literature, science and religion, but what really struck a chord with me was thinking about it in algebra. ‘X’ represents whatever you want it to in math, by taking X on in my own name I give myself the ability to become whatever I want to be. It also makes a statement that I don’t have it all figured out, it’s like ‘Allie Undiscovered’, so anyone that becomes ‘X’ gives themselves the freedom to explore who they are and search for their truest inner in a meaningful way.

The “Paper Love” video has previously been described as depicting a kind of transformation. Is this a concept that you will be exploring throughout the rest of your upcoming album?

Oh yeah, transformation, and the other theme explored in the “Paper Love” video is the idea of someone being kind of destroyed and defaced – that also seems to be a recurring theme for me throughout other songs.

Why does this idea of being destroyed and put back together resonate with you?

I just relate to it, I guess I’m just a sensitive kind of person.

Allie will be doing a special live performance this Friday the 22nd of June at Bootsy Bellows in West Hollywood, and will be performing at Lollapalooza in Chicago on August 2nd.

Photography by Lloyd Galbraith, interview by Sahar Nicolette.