X Marks The Spot

Alexandra Ashley Hughes, otherwise known as Allie X, first shot to fame when one Katy Perry tweeted her obsession with the Canadian musician’s irresistible debut single “Catch.” Now, almost exactly a year later, the L.A. transplant is proving she’s got some serious staying power. Her debut album CollXtion I drops this spring, and it’s overflowing with even more of her badass brand of sugary pop that we (and KP) already love. Stay tuned for that soon — Allie hinted on Facebook that the album will be here before you know it — but for now, meet your new pop obsession below.

On Katy Perry’s tweet:
“It was really flattering and exciting. I mean, I listened to Teenage Dream so much and studied it. Just to see a tweet from her was like, whoa…it was dreamlike.”

On all that “x”: 
“The way that I explain it to people is in a mathematical sense, in which X is any variable. Growing up, I didn’t relate to the formulas that were taught to me by my parents, family, institutions, etcetera. But when I added X to the equation of my own life, I was given a freedom that wasn’t there before.

On being a female producer: 
“As a girl in the studio, there are all these preconceived notions about you—that you’re a topliner and a lyricist, mostly—and [producers] aren’t going to use certain language with you because they don’t think you will understand.”

On maintaining a sense of mystery in music:
“Like with any relationship, over time, there will be more of a trust built up, and I’ll be able to reveal a little more. For me, it’s more about being a very thin-skinned and sensitive person, and just wanting to keep my personal life to myself, and let the art speak for itself.”

See more Allie X in the new issue of POPULAR, on newsstands soon!