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Alt-pop star Allie X: ‘Performing is a lifelong addiction – I realised I could make people love me’


After a decade creating off-kilter bangers for BTS, Troye Sivan and others, fans say she’s been overlooked – but few realise she has been facing secret health issues. Now she might finally be about to have her own breakout moment

Like a lot of her world-building alt-pop peers – artists such as Charli XCX, Rina Sawayama and Caroline Polachek – 38-year-old Canadian Allie X, real name Alexandra Hughes, has a complex relationship with her fanbase. The song in question, You Slept on Me, playfully skewers her fans’ concerns, as well as ramping up a persona keen to devour the industry: “I’m an icon hunny / This isn’t a chore / And I need to make money / So give me yours.” “I want to make a life for myself where I can walk around with my head held high and express the truth of who I am.” There’s still a hefty dose of mystique, however – she’s loth to explain the meanings behind her lyrics, describing the galloping, body horror epic Off With Her Tits only as a parody of “some really dark, torturous thoughts that won’t leave me alone”.

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