On the Rise
Alissic

Salls was thrust into a life of travelling the globe, which also gave her a chance to experience a multitude of cultures and countries. But as the years went on – including meeting her husband and father of her soon-to-be-born twins, Bring Me The Horizon's Oli Sykes – there was a key part of her life still missing.

Salls has always felt creative – with no outlet for expressing this innate yearning. She found that she was going through the motions with modelling and it all began to feel wrong. "I remember being in castings and being like, Oh my god, this just feels horrible," she remembers, "I don't want to do this anymore."

In 2019 Salls decided to put pen to paper. Having wanted to be a singer since she was young, she’s also adept at painting, drawing, and video work – which is why it’s no surprise that her process is a heavily visual one. Creating her demos came easier than she realised; layering her vocals over beats and music – even in its simplicity – gave her the freedom she’d always craved.

Growing up she was surrounded by her dad’s love of classic rock but her musical DNA feel into place when she discovered Avril Lavigne and Linkin Park, and their alt ilk. Above all, it was Björk – and her 1997 album Homogenic – who’d profoundly inspire and influence Salls’ career as Alissic. “I always felt like she was an alien,” she laughs. "I connected with the music straight away...and the cover as well, it just doesn't look like she's from this planet. Is this person even real?"

The development of Alissic has come from Salls’ metamorphosing personality: "Since I was young, I remember going through styles every month,” she smiles. She's a creative explorer, intrepidly indulging in the whims that manifest: “I'm never gonna be the same thing for ages. I'm always going for how can I make it better? How can I make it more exciting? The process is finding authenticity, peeling layers of what does it feel right to me."

This has meant that there's no real through line to Alissic's output. There's an overarching alt-pop sense to her music but by design it dive-bombs through whatever flight of fancy she conjures. The essence of Alissic is giving voice to Salls’ innermost self, fuelling her confidence to explore and figure out these creative threads she’s weaving and what they mean for her on a personal level. “I think I mostly use it to help me, Alissa, to be like, it's okay to express yourself," she tells me. "Every time I'm in Alissic mode, it's like I have to let go of all the fears that Alissa has to be this artist that I always wanted to be.“

The first moment those fears were vanquished came when she demoed her first single “Like”. This was the first track that, from demo to finished product, helped Salls realise her potential. Self-releasing it in 2020 on her own label (Classii Records), from then on, it became an exercise in trusting her gut.

As Alissic’s career began making good ground internally, it was time for it to go wider. Her debut live shows came in 2022, and with them another big challenge. "I was going through so much fear, just being so scared of not sounding very good, not performing right, or just not being good enough," she explains. "That came to the surface so much, but I ended up being brave at the end and stepping in and being myself. So it's been a crazy journey, like an ego death thing, I just had to conquer so much to be able to do this."

During this time, she signed to Ministry of Sound Records. At first it appeared as if everything was clicking into place, but it wasn’t long before she began to lose the freedom that she’d so hoped for. "I felt like I was losing a little bit of my authenticity, of what my goals were when I started," she explains. "I just wanted to make art, and I want to make music purely because it feels right, but towards the end, you're pushing yourself to do 100 other things that are not connected to what you had in mind at first."

Going from self-teaching herself basic production to being thrust into the machinery of the music industry made Salls feel like a fish out of water. While going to London for sessions with songwriters and producers was invaluable, this part of the process presented a brand new set of challenges. “I was still learning and then I’m in the room with all these producers and writers, and it felt so robotic,” she explains. “It's like you're giving a paint brush to someone to finish a painting that you started."

In that liminal space where nothing concrete was on the horizon for Alissic, Salls began to doubt herself. “I was like, Oh my God, what am I doing? Is music even a thing for me, what is this? Should I just paint and forget this? It was a period I was just like, I just have to let go. It will happen and when the time comes for me to release this music and carry on making music it will come. There is no point in all this suffering in my mind.“

In this period toward the end of her time on a label, she went back to Brazil. Searching for clarity, she wound up dabbling with sacred medicines the indigenous communities use, and it was here things began to click back into place: “I really felt like I had blurry glasses on, and someone cleansed my eyes," she marvels now, “it was an insane moment of clarity."

Emerging with a renewed drive, she explains: “I was like, I don't want anything to do with fear and repression. I just wanted to be free.”

When her label was taken over, this allowed enough of a shuffle for Salls to get out of her contract. It would seem that she’d had a sign delivered, aiding her spiritual surrender: "I think it was that feeling of it doesn't matter what happens. I'm just trusting and I think that's just how I take things nowadays.”

2025 is the year the universe has proclaimed her debut EP should finally be released, independent – and free – once more. ARC01: MAIDEN was made nearly two years ago – and who she was then is very different to who she is, and what she's creating, now. “I can tell where my influences were and stuff, but I still love the tracks.”

Throughout this journey, with the universe softly guiding her from above, Salls has undergone multiple transformations; from child to world-travelling model to freedom-seeking creative, establishing herself in an unforgiving world with the help of her husband and close confidant – and all of these roads lead back to her youth.

Salls has realised that it's her child self she returns to. The purity and unfiltered nature that comes with youth is key to her output: “You have no expectations when you're creating, when you're drawing, when you're doing whatever,” she says. And when push comes to shove, it'll all come together. “Sometimes you go through things that are really difficult,” she ends. “But I know there‘s always something else on the other side that will make sense.”