First Slovenian female afrobeat artist in the history – her music made it to Top 100 Nigeria, Best of Nigeria 2024 and official Spotify playlists, and her music video has been played on MTV Base West, HipTV and SoundcityTV.
Alya Elouissi is an awarded actress and singer-songwriter, originally from Slovenia. Her debut EP has received great reviews and was being aired on some major radio stations in UK, USA, Mexico, Brazil and Slovenia.
Alya Elouissi is successfully making a name for herself on the UK and international music scene. She got the 2nd Award for Best Female Singer at RBE Awards 2018 in London, won 3rd place with her song at Music Festival FENS 2019 and was a selected as an artist for the 42nd Festival Melodije morja in sonca 2023, where she performed with her summer hit.
Alya Elouissi just released her new single, “Can Live Without You.” Her soulful and neo-soul style, combined with her unapologetic approach to storytelling, brings a unique and fresh perspective to the music scene. With themes of personal growth and moving on, “Can Live Without You” resonates with listeners of all genders and ages, offering inspiration and motivation for those navigating their own healing journey.
With “Can Live Without You” out now, we took some time to hear from Alya Elouissi. Read below to learn more about Alya Elouissi, the story behind “Can Live Without You,” and what’s to come.
Hi Alya Elouissi! Let’s start with how did you get your artist name?
Hi, thanks for having me! Well, this is literally my first name and my surname, haha. It’s also the name that I use as an actress; therefore, I decided to continue with this name also for my music career. Alya in Arabic means ‘tall, high,’ and Elouissi is a French surname as my father is Algerian.
What city are you from and where are you based now?
I’m from the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana. At the moment, I am based between London and Slovenia for work and life purposes.
At what point in your life did you decide to pursue a career in music? How did you get started?
I’ve been singing since I was six in various choirs, as a teenager, I then started to take individual singing lessons and was writing songs on my synthesizer. My love for music and a career in music has been growing more and more, and in my high school, I made a conscious decision that I want to and will continue to work in the direction of acting and music as my career as well. Many things had shifted when I independently moved to London at the age of nineteen and slowly started to follow my passion for music there. I got connected to many people in the industry, and my first single was released back in 2017. Since then, I’ve just been growing as an artist, singer, songwriter, and actress – with life of course affecting my art and ways of expression.
Has your upbringing played a role in shaping who you are and defining your sound today? If so, how?
Who I am – definitely. I can point out my mother who has always been very supportive and been constantly saying to me to just follow myself and whatever makes me happy, and brings life into my heart. That my inner fire should always burn. My mum has always believed in me and in the process of life. For that, I am eternally grateful to her.
I love music so much and exploring different genres, and the way I sound in them, so I wouldn’t say that my upbringing played a big role in that. Just that I had been singing in many choirs for more than ten years and that has definitely added many skills in my singing toolbox. For example, I can come up with any harmonies instantly, and I’m very punctual as a backing vocalist, especially while working in the studio, so that part of it definitely played a role. But more in terms of the experience and the toolbox that I have now because of it.
How would you describe your sound to readers who may not be familiar with you?
Soulful pop vocals, emotive lyricism, bringing forward the truth and authenticity of life and storytelling.
Do you have any hobbies outside of music? What do you do to stay creative?
Of course. I love to be outdoors in nature, do dance classes, hiking, reading, traveling and practicing foreign languages.
Staying creative – well that really depends on where I am, what’s happening in my life, what projects I’m working on . . .But I guess generally I would say meditating, being in nature, writing and improvising musically on songs while I’m driving or just when taking a shower, haha.
Who are some of your main musical influences?
RAYE, Emeli Sande.
What are some of your future music career goals?
My ultimate goal with my upcoming album is just to reach as many people and their hearts as possible.
Other than that, of course I have career goals, but from my experience, I keep them quietly for myself – as I know that I just have to follow myself and do my work always with highest love, passion and enjoyment and the rest follows and will continue to follow – that may be even beyond my mind and my ‘career goals.’
What’s one of the proudest moments of your music career so far?
When my song, ‘Give Me Your Time’ in collaboration with Romel got TV airplay on MTV and we were on Top 100 Nigeria and Spotify’s Release Radar.
What would you say are the greatest lessons that you’ve learned so far?
Always follow yourself.
Always trust yourself.
If you don’t do this with love, then there’s no point in doing it at all and you can just get a regular job.
Don’t push things, go with the flow and trust the process.
Now onto your release, ‘Can Live Without You.’ What inspired this song?
When I came into the session with Joe (Cook, the producer), I had no idea of what I wanted to sing or write about. He had the instrumental track ready and when I heard it, I got so inspired that I wrote everything from scratch, music and lyrics, as well as recorded all the vocals for this song in one single hour. That’s probably the quickest that I’ve ever done a song. I guess my heart just sang it all out with no overthinking it.
What is ‘Can Live Without You’ about?
‘Can Live Without You’ is a very unapologetic and empowering post-breakup anthem of female power, independence, and resilience and it explores the journey of self-discovery and strength found in moving forward from past relationships.
How did the music video for ‘Can Live Without You’ come about? What was your vision for the video?
Soon after the recording session, I got a vision that I wanted to create a street style ‘one take’ video. We then filmed it on the streets of Brixton in London and in an outstanding Carraro coffee shop. The idea was also that the camera is one of my exes, who bumps into me in this coffee shop, but I no longer want to play those games, and through the song I tell him – well what he deserves to hear, although he keeps following me and expects me to again long for him (again). It’s kind of an ‘I’m done with you, your behaviour and similar men’ love letter song, haha. All the elements in this music video are also very powerful symbols, from my special socks, diary, smudging sage, hummingbird necklace, heart tattoos – to awarding myself a gold medal.
What message do you hope fans take away from your music and from ‘Can Live Without You?’
Don’t put yourself down for anyone or anything anymore, especially in relationships. Cherish yourself and live your fullest life first, the rest will follow – and people who deserve you will then automatically come to you. Love yourself and be your number one in your life as you truly are the most important thing and should cherish yourself with 100% love.
What’s next for you? Are you working on any upcoming projects, or do you have any upcoming shows that we should be on the lookout for?
Apart from my acting projects and upcoming new releases, I’m working on my upcoming album with very transformative stories from my last two years and this album is my biggest musical project so far. The new journey will definitely start with this album. I don’t have the release date yet, but as soon as I do other dates (including touring) will also follow.
Where can we follow you on social media?
You can follow me on all social media under my name Alya Elouissi and thank you so much for reading this interview, below are also my links:
Website: https://www.alyaelouissi.com
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6aGLzKV6pclUjeufiZe89a
Facebook: https://facebook.com/alyaelouissi.OFFICIAL/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alyaelouissi.official/
Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUEK1UKuenigEorFQcYegug
X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlyaElouissi
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@alya.elouissi.official
Before you go, let’s ask you something random. What is your favorite food?
My favourite food is sushi. But, I should probably never go to all you can eat sushi ever again, haha.
Thank you for the great interview; wish you much continued success!
