Didn't Aleksiah Tell You? She's Batsh*t Crazy

Tight-lipped. Half-sweet. Razor-blade between my teeth.

So begins pop-icon-in-the-making aleksiah’s latest single Batsh*t, which debuted on all streaming platforms on Wednesday, October 23rd.

Cowritten and produced by industry veteran Konstantin Kersting (of Tones and I Dance Monkey fame), the mischievous ditty is short and sweet, contained but hinting at the capacity to be unhinged. A playful sensibility has definitely always been a through-line throughout aleksiah’s body of work.

“[Batsh*t] is about being so obsessed with somebody that you lose your sanity and do some questionable things, something I think every person has experienced at least once,” aleksiah says of the song. “Batsh*t is reckless, unserious, and fun, three things that I wouldn’t usually describe myself as, but I think I would like to embody a little more between my orthopaedic shoes and 10 pm bedtime.”

aleksiah first burst onto the music scene in 2022 with the release of her single Fern, a pop banger which sees her being so consumed by infatuation that she seems to be seriously contemplating eating up her crush and licking her fingers afterwards. The track has surpassed a million streams on Spotify alone.

May of this year saw the release of her debut EP, Who Are You When You’re Not Performing? The tight collection of songs solidified her as a local pop mainstay and earned her a slew of SA Music Awards.

I ask her if Batsh*t marks the beginning of a new era for her.

“I think it does. My last EP, which I love so dearly, was a big learning curve for me - learning what I liked about my writing and what maybe I would like to bring out more in my writing. I think this new era is just me having a bit more of a poke at myself and a bit more fun. This new body of work is just going to be fun and dance-y and pop-y, something that I've wanted to do for a while.” She previously felt hindered by a sense of shame when it came to her desire to make “silly dance pop music.” 

This shame comes from coming of age as an artist in the Adelaide music scene, where she feels that some of her peers have harboured a certain “ew! pop?” sensibility. “I think my entire life I've been unabashedly a pop girlie. I love pop music. I love how manufactured it is. There's a formula, and I think that's so interesting.” 

Her embrace of her own pop sensibilities is quite timely - pop as a genre this year is, after all, having its cultural moment. 

“It's so having its moment,” aleksiah agrees, her cherubic curls bouncing. “And I love that, I love how it's not looked down upon anymore.” She has spent the last year and a half finding herself and her sound and has come to some steadfast conclusions. “I think I don't want to be ashamed of it anymore. I just want to be like, this is what I like to make. I like to make silly, unserious pop songs, and that's what I'm going to do.”

The release of Batsh*t has been accompanied by added dates to her ‘You’re Never Getting Rid Of Me’ tour. Just off the back of opening for Lime Cordiale alongside Ball Park Music, aleksiah will be hitting the road in November, joined by queer indie pop/rock Ixaras as a support.

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In light of this upcoming stint on the road, I ask if she enjoys the constant state of travel and transience that is touring.

aleksiah has asked fellow musicians the exact same question. “Most people love it, and I respect that so much. Love that for them. Touring is really hard for me,” she says. “I'm definitely an introverted person. I like being in my own home. I like my bed. I like my seven step skincare routine.” She is lucky, at least, to never be without her boyfriend when on tour, as he happens to be her bassist. She specifies additionally that her drummer and guitarist are two of her “best friends in the world.” They have managed to become a little family.

“I feel very grateful that my band is so fucking lovely. Touring and playing shows is also just such a fucking cool experience, because you get to meet all these people that somehow know you, but you've never been able to make a connection with them, and now you get to. I would say I do love touring, but in small doses.”

aleksiah definitely started off viewing performance, and the reality of being perceived onstage, as terrifying, until realising that her audience was “not here to boo me, not here to berate me, not here to look down on me. They're here because they want to listen, because they enjoy music. And I think as soon as I developed that way of seeing it, I didn't feel so worried and scared of performing anymore. I do enjoy performing, and I do enjoy playing shows. It's more the constant travelling around: playing. bus. club. Bus.”

Songwriting is ultimately closer to her heart than performing - it is definitely the artistic medium that she finds more cathartic. “It's the initial thing,” she says of songwriting. “That's the first time you actually put the words down and get the feelings out. She compares it to “writing the book” as opposed to “reading the book in the bookstore at the signing. Do you know what I mean? It’s still your words, right? You'd hope to think your feelings hadn't changed that much from when you first write the song and when you first perform it, but it's definitely a retelling of the story,” rather than the immediate unfolding of a story.

“Songwriting is my favourite thing in the world,” she states emphatically. “Not that I don't love performing. I do love performing. But if I had to choose between the two, I would hands down, straight away, choose being behind the camera and writing, because it's just my favourite thing in the entire world.”

From the age of twelve, aleksiah wanted to be a songwriter rather than a singer. She wanted to write “solely” for other people. She grew up singing in church with her nonna - it was still a hobby she loved, but it was “never” her “direct passion.” Then she had a career-plan-altering conversation with someone while she was studying music at university. “They were like, you can't just be a songwriter, not not in today's economy. And I was like, Oh, all right. Well, okay, what do I need to do?”

Thus performing became her pursuit. She is now in front of the camera holding the microphone, instead of merely wielding the pen.

“But I'm hoping once I get a firmer standing and I learn a bit more about the industry, I can just do more writing, because it's my love.”

I wonder if the music industry can be a frightening place for her to navigate.

“It can be.” She indicates that she’s had to thicken her skin over the past couple of years. “If you don’t have a strong and healthy way to process things, it can be hard and tricky sometimes.”

Does she think she’s gotten to a point where she’s learned how to better protect herself mentally?

“Definitely not,” she says, and then laughs at the immediacy of her answer. “There’s a lot of stuff going on.” She indicates to me the blotches of red criss-crossing her arms. “I’ve currently got hives because I’m so stressed.” She pitches her voice up, plasters her face with a smile. “I’m fine!”

The level of stress she experiences throughout press cycles in particular has led her to some realisations about what she needs as an artist and a person. “I’m getting to a point where I’m like, ‘Okay, I need to stop. I need to have a think to myself. I need to really express boundaries. And I’m glad it’s happening so early on in my career.”

Much has happened within such a concise span of time. I wonder, through all of this, if she still feels like the same person who wrote Fern, or if she feels radically different.

aleksiah gives several answers at once. “She’s still there. I haven’t changed that much. I know more now. I’ve experienced so much more.”

Tickets to various stops along aleksiah’s ‘You’re Never Getting Rid of Me’ tour are available on her website, and Batsh*t is streaming everywhere now.