What’s your stage name and where are you from?

Alya Elouissi. I’m half Slovenian, half Algerian, and originally from Slovenia.

What’s the story behind your stage name?

This is literally my first name and my surname that I also use as an actress.

Describe your musical journey in three sentences.

In 2019 I released my debut EP My Love, which received great reviews and was being aired on some major radio stations in England, USA, Mexico and Brazil. In 2022 I started working with Dallas Records Slovenia and have been releasing my music in Slovenian language through them. In 2024 I released my first afrobeat song Give Me Your Time in collaboration with London singer Romel and producer Slic Vic and became the first Slovenian female afrobeat artist in the history; the song made it to Top 100 Nigeria, Best of Nigeria 2024 and official Spotify playlists to name a few, its music video was being played on MTV Base West, HipTV and SoundcityTV.

Share an interesting experience you had while creating your latest track.

I wrote the whole song from scratch, music and lyrics, and recorded all vocals in one single hour during a very creative and productive session with producer Joe Cook in London. That’s the quickest and most productive I’ve ever written a song. The creative flow in the studio was just fully on.

What message do you want to convey through your music?

My aim is to convey the truth of every song in this beautiful, transformative and uplitfting art of music.

Tell us about a challenge you faced during production and how you overcame it.

A funny challenge was mixing with Joe (Cook, the producer) via a Whatsapp video call, but it was actually very productive, helpful and we definitely saved a lot of time as I was in Slovenia for other work purposes, and he was in England.

If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be and why?

RAYE. I love her storytelling, truth, rawness and emotive lyricism through all her music, love her artistry, voice, musicality and songwriting.

Where do you see your music taking you in the next year?

I’ll be releasing my upcoming album that I’m working on and finalising right now. So it will be releasing, promoting and touring with the album.

What’s the next big step for you as an artist?

Releasing my upcoming album that consists of my stories from my life from the past 2 years. Every story is captured in a separate song, every song is its own journey and with every song I’ve “phoenixed”.

Where can we hear/watch your most recent work?

On my Youtube channel, please feel free to subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@alyaelouissi.official