During her time on ‘The Voice Italy,’ Alessia Labate said she “met a lot of cool people but it has nothing to do with the actual industry, it was purely television.” Which, totally understandable. Now she’s off the small screen and onto bigger and better, like her latest single, “Conversations with Myself.” We talked about the inspo behind it, keeping sane during various lockdowns, and more in the following back and forth…

Kendra: Being from a musically inclined family, did you know early on that this was going to be a path you followed and did that then take some pressure off of you when you in fact did move for your career?

Alessia Labate: I always knew I wanted to do music but wasn’t brave enough to dedicate myself fully in it until I moved out at 18. I wanted to go to Uni, but I’m glad I didn’t.

Kendra: Let’s talk about “Conversations with Myself.” Your single that dropped in March. An amazing addition to the pop realm that you penned before the world took a drastic turn last year when you were abroad. Where were you visiting and what about that location ignited a creative spark in you?

Alessia Labate: I wrote the song in Bucharest, it was my first trip to the HaHaHa Studios and I was full of energy and wanted to give my best every session. The day I wrote “Conversations with Myself” I was with Serban Cazan, he has multiple #1 hits in Romania, and I let his chords inspire me. We wrote the melody together and I wrote the lyrics by myself, it was a natural process, I really needed to put out those words.

Kendra: When it came time to record, you did so with R I V I E R A. What was it like working with them, and what do you feel they brought out in you when recording?

Alessia Labate: I actually recorded there in Bucharest with Serban, we kept the demo vocals because they had the right attitude and vibe, even though I spell a couple of words weird, like “Sorry” in the pre; we liked it like this.

Kendra: During the various lockdowns during COVID, remaining on the healthy side of sanity was hard for so many around the world. From reading to jogging to music, we all had to find something – anything – to keep our heads right. For you, it was music. Were you spending as much time creating your own as much as you were listening to records that perhaps lifted your spirits?

Alessia Labate: My coping mechanism was working like CRAZY, sometimes not eating and not taking showers for days and that helped me out in some weird way. Some records kept me alive, I started listening to foreign music a lot, especially Swedish music. My memories are not too clear though, it feels like ages ago. The more I spend time into this pandemic the more I feel I tend to forget about the past.

Kendra: By the time this interview is seen by more than our eyes, the video for “Conversations with Myself” should be out. It will feature you fighting with your ego. That scenario made me think of the impact social media has had on society, and the idea that we all have at least two sides; real life and online. With the majority of us spending so much time online in the past year, do you feel like many are going to struggle with their online egos when trying to assimilate back into reality?

Alessia Labate: That’s an interesting take on it! Yes, I feel like we struggle with ego A LOT, on-and-offline. We should learn to love ourselves deeply a little more and be a little less proud. Pride fucks up a LOT of things.

Kendra: It’s getting a little easier with the vaccine rollouts, but it’s still kind of hard to have a definite answer when it comes to future plans given the current state of everything, but as far as what you can control when it comes to your career and creativity – what do you have planned in the coming months for yourself?

Alessia Labate: I planned out a couple of things but we don’t know what the future has got in store for us. I hope I’m gonna be able to make those happen safely.