FEATURE: Spotlight: Revisited: Allison Ponthier

FEATURE:

Spotlight: Revisited

PHOTO CREDIT: Julian Buchan

Allison Ponthier

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THIS is an artist…

PHOTO CREDIT: Cider

that I spotlighted in 2022. Allison Ponthier is a tremendous artist who hails from Texas. A new album is due out by the end of the year I believe. Ponthier has released a string of incredible singles and E.P.s. Her most recent E.P., Breaking the Fourth Wall, was released last year. I want to come to some interviews with this artist who everyone should know. These are the most recent interviews with Ponthier. Giving you a sense of what this incredible artist is about. Before bringing things more up to date, there is an interview from 2021 that I am keen to highlight. One that I have sourced before. Ones to Watch spend time with a star in the making. They write the following: “With an allegiance to genuine storytelling and sincere vulnerability, Allison has transformed her coming-of-age dramas into consumable and engaging tracks”:

“Ones To Watch: First and foremost, how are you today?

Allison Ponthier: I'm good. I am getting my entire life ready to go on the road in September and I'm having kind of a cute weekday. It's very normal.

You once said, "A lot of my songs are about being uncomfortable in your own skin but getting to know yourself better." What is it about songwriting that challenges you?

I had written one-off songs for school projects and stuff growing up, but I really didn't start writing until I was 18 or 19. I saw a very specific trend in my early songs, now that I'm looking back, hindsight is 20/20, where I just refused to talk about anything that was difficult. I think I wrote a lot of songs about what I thought would sound cool... and even if I was talking about something I was going through, I put it through this super vague lens. It wasn't until I started writing for my current project that I really became obsessed with vulnerable writing. It's actually really instrumental in how I heal from a lot of stuff now.

But I think what's unique to songwriting specifically is that it begs the question, "OK, but what do you really mean?" It's not like you're just saying everything off the top of your head, you have to think about the deeper meaning and how everything is connected. You do have the opportunity to talk about things in a way that you wouldn't normally talk about them. You can go deeper by using metaphors or connecting dots that just exercise different muscles in your brain, and I think for me, that's been one of the best ways, in addition to therapy, of how I can process a lot of the things that I've gone through or have been uncomfortable to process before.

You're quite openly fascinated by the concept of death. What about death makes you feel so alive, and does exploring it give you comfort?

So, I have always been kind of fascinated with death... I didn't watch my first scary movie, and I didn't see anything that was scary until I was a teenager. When I was younger, I used to be really resentful of that because I wanted to be cool like everyone else... but I was very sheltered growing up. But now, I actually really appreciate it. I think a lot of people experience death, not through experience, which I think is a huge privilege, but a lot of people experience death through scary things, like scary movies and scary stories before they mature. And for me growing up, the way that I kind of thought about death was through the lens of my mom. My mom lost her dad when she was really, really young, so she made a point to go to cemeteries and not think that they are scary... [I] actually think it’s really beautiful and a place for people to heal. I think she always wanted me to feel connected to people even after they've passed away. I really, really appreciate her for that.

In addition to that, I think that now in the year 2021, we have a lot of answers to all of our questions at the tip of our fingers, online. We know a lot about the world and yet, we know so little about death and we know so little about what happens after death. I think that is what is exciting to me, because I don't know if I believe in ghosts, I don't know if I believe in magic or anything like that, but I think death and what happens after death is kind of the closest thing to magic in the real world. I try to make it not super dark or scary.

A lot of your music is rooted in feeling out of place within yourself, which gives it a sense of coming-of-age. So in terms of touring, have you always felt at home on stage, or has it been something you're growing into?

I think I was actually very terrified to be on stage for a long time. I was really, really shy growing up, so I think a lot of my first memories of performing were my mom making me sing for friends and family coming over. I only knew one song, which was "God Bless America," so I would just sing "God Bless America" all the time. But I was really shy as a kid, so even when I did start songwriting, I didn't think I would be an artist. I thought I would just be a songwriter. I still love writing songs for other people, but the main reason I didn't want to be an artist had to do with me being afraid to put myself out there. I feel like now is the perfect time for me to go on tour, because before, I don't think I was ready for it.

That being said, now, because I'm an artist and I have a lot of new things to do all the time, it makes me less scared to do other things that are new. Like being an artist, and making this EP specifically, has really helped my self-confidence... Almost like therapy level, it's helped my self-confidence and my self-esteem. So, we'll see what happens!

So, relating back to your fascination with death. If you could pick one record that by listening to it, would save everybody's soul, what would it be?

Oh my god... low stakes questions, whatever... Oh my god! To save everyone's souls? That's a really, really good question. I have to think about what's a front-to-back album that I really love. I really love John Prine, so maybe John Prine. Um, but let me think. I have a few answers. I mean, I really love The Color In Anything by James Blake. It's really beautiful and it's about depression. I think that James Blake is such an incredible artist because he is really vulnerable. He was very cool when he first came out and now I think he's been very, very good at being more personal and talking about harder things, so I really love that. Man, this is such a hard question... I love it!

Oh! No, no, no. I know my answer now. The Idler Wheel... by Fiona Apple. I love that album so much. When I first heard it, I was like, "I don't know if this is for me," and now it's probably my favorite album of all time. The Idler Wheel is so beautiful. It has "Werewolf," which has one of my favorite lines ever written in history, 'I could liken you to a werewolf, the way you left me for dead, but I admit that I provided a full moon.' Which is so good. It goes through the full gamut of emotion and my absolute favorite song on it is "Every Single Night." 'Every Single Night' has this part where she sings, "I just want to feel everything," over and over and over again. It's the most vulnerable and beautiful song I've ever heard in my entire life”.

In 2024, NYLON chatted with Allison Ponthier. We discovered that she has banked up a lot of songs. Whether many of them will find their way onto a new album very soon is yet to be seen. However, it is clear that this is a prolific and accomplished artist who we are going to hear from for years to come:

“While the summer of Chappell Roan’s domination rages on, there’s another queer, redheaded artist who should be on your radar: Texas-born, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Allison Ponthier, who dropped her debut song “Cowboy” in 2020 and followed that up with three tightly edited projects, the most recent of which, Breaking The Fourth Wall, closed out her EP trilogy. Her intimate look at coping with anxiety and feeling estranged from her conservative Southern upbringing as a gay musician have gained her fans across the country, including Maren Morris, The Japanese House, and NIKI.

You’ll be opening for NIKI this fall. How are you preparing?

She and I have been internet friends for a while, so I was gagged when she asked me to come on tour. We both have coming-of-age themes in our projects, so I'm so excited to tour with her. The last two tours I've done have just been a duo, but this tour is with a full band. There's something exciting about doing it with the full band for this tour.

You’ve talked about your struggle with anxiety in the past. How do you manage your anxiety on tour?

Honestly, this entire job is an exercise in mental health. It's a lot of talking to yourself and checking in. At the first show, I’m always like, “Oh my God, I don't know if I can do it. This is so stressful.” I try to remember that the audience are my friends. It’s hard to do, but even through shaking, crying, screaming, throwing up, you can be like, “I'm excited.” If you remember the crowd wants to connect with you, then you're going to walk out and see a bunch of faces that are going to dissolve your anxiety. I also have a great support system: I have a therapist, I have a girlfriend, and I have my friends.

Can we expect a full-length album from you soon?

I have so many songs; I was going through all of them a couple days ago, and it's like 50, 60 songs. I do think it's time for me to do a bigger project, a big-girl project, some may say. I'm playing an unreleased song called “Everywhere Isn’t Texas” on the tour, which is a song about my hopes and dreams for Texas being a more accepting place, not just for queer people, but for people with different stories.

Who’s your dream music collaborator?

I would love, love, love, love to collaborate with Hayley Williams. I would love to collaborate with Brandi Carlile and Ethel Cain. They're all women in music who are inspired by country music in totally different ways. I want us to form the most insane girl group of all time. It would be crazy, but also maybe open a black hole and heal the earth”.

Variety spoke with Allison Ponthier back in June. An artist who was dropped by a major label was now confronting this. Even though Interscope dropped her, she has huge fans in Elton John and Brandi Carlile. After her album comes out, I know there will be a lot more attention her way. If she is new to you, then I would advise you to explore her back catalogue. She is such a stunningly consistent songwriter. One that everyone should know about:

“I pitched the idea of a classic ‘70s-style story song about a girl who gets signed pretty young, gets dropped by her major label, has to move back to her hometown, and is embarrassed and has to process those emotions until she finally finds herself being the queen of the karaoke bar,” she explains. “Everyone in her town makes her feel like the star that she wished that she could have been in one way but is happy to be in another. And yeah, I had this song for forever and loved it fiercely and really felt like a huge part of my songwriting identity was wrapped up in this song, but it didn’t feel like the right time to put it out — the song wasn’t ready to have its time. And now that I’m independent, I can do whatever the heck I want. So when I thought about my first independent release, I thought about this song because it comforted me through that feeling, whether it was just the feeling of maybe getting dropped or the feeling of actually getting dropped. So in a weird way, either I’m psychic or I manifested it, but I am so glad that I wrote it, because it really helped me process that feeling.”

Not everything about the lyrics proved prophetic, because unlike the young singer portrayed in the lyrics, Ponthier isn’t moving back home — which in her case would be from New York City back to Texas. Ponthier previously explored that divide in one of her Interscope singles, “Cowboy,” which touched on the feelings of embracing being from somewhere else in a new urban landscape… even as, back home, she also sometimes felt “other,” having been a queer person in a conservative area.

She doesn’t feel particularly locked into or even steering toward a certain genre. Although she has paid homage to her Texas roots by sometimes adopting colorful Western wear, country is just a piece of the puzzle. “I feel like something that’s interesting about my project is, even just as an opener, I’ve opened for straight-ahead country projects, I’ve opened for alternative/indie projects, I’ve opened for pop projects. Like, I did Hayley Kiyoko, who had dancers and was really high-energy. What’s exciting about the job I get to do is I don’t have to just be one thing, and I don’t think that we should tell people to just be one thing, to be more palatable. So I’m very happy that I can wear a thousand hats at once, as crazy as it looks.”

Her inspirations range from Hayley Williams to Fiona Apple to John Prine.

“For me, I think the forefront of my songwriting is what I grew up with, which is ‘60s and ‘70s songwriting. Whether it’s country music or something like Carole King or Neil Young, I think that classic songwriting is always the inspiration for anything that I do, with a modern perspective and with a modern sense of humor. I also can’t stop talking about death, loss, home, change, identity. I feel like those are all kind of pillars of what I love to talk about. But for me, I have never gone into a session or gone into writing at home being like, ‘I wanna make this genre of song.’ I think you are everything you listen to, and I listen to a lot of different kinds of music, and if it’s coming out of my throat, it’s gonna sound like me. So I am happily blending pop, rock, country, and it’s fun for me. I think that country music will always be a part of the story element to my songs, and my voice is pretty country just because of where I grew up — and I think that lap steel or acoustic guitar is always gonna be a part of the production world of mine. The spirit of country music is that it is a storytelling genre, and for a long time it was a genre that sparked a lot of change and progress. And so that’s the spirit of country music that I want to keep going and inject into my project, even though it’s not a 100% straight-ahead country music project.”

“Karaoke Queen” is officially the first single fronting a forthcoming full-length album, though that isn’t part of the song’s announcement. “The album will come this year. Other than that, there’s a lot in the air, because I’m an independent girly now. But I’ll have a lot more songs to come, and I’m gonna be touring this year as well, so I’m pretty excited for both”.

I am going to finish now. Returning to Allison Ponthier after a few years, although I would say she is no longer ‘rising’ and is, in fact, established and known to many, there are still some that do not know about her. Her latest material ranks alongside her very best. I am interested to see where she will head and what her next steps are. An album. Future tour dates for sure. I hope that she gets to the U.K. at some point. Allison Ponthier is a talent that is…