New Music: Alice Skye

We pick the hottest new live acts so you can tell your friends you heard them first. This week's pick is Melbourne-via-Grampians singer-songwriter Alice Skye.

Ticketmaster New Music is your one-stop destination to discover the best emerging live acts before they explode. These are the artists we’re expecting to make waves in the live music scene, and we want you to know about them first.

There’s something incredibly calming about listening to Alice Skye perform. After growing up in country Victoria – besides the sandstone mountains and wildflowers of the Grampians – she now calls Melbourne home. But it is her origins and roots that you can feel most within her music. Delicate and captivating, it’s easy to get lost in her sound. The future is truly bright for Alice Skye, so it’s about time you get acquainted.

Photo credit: Michelle Grace Hunder

The Story

From the beginning

“My earliest memories of music are being taught things on piano by my big sister and loving Missy Higgins big time. I would write songs but just kept them to myself. There definitely wasn’t a plan to share them at any point.”

What you’ll hear

“In terms of what you hear on the album and what you hear live, I think there’s quite a difference. I play with two of my childhood friends and I think our sound has grown a lot over the past year. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about what genre it is but I’m very preoccupied with lyrics – that’s my focal point in a song.”

Influences & inspiration

“I really love sad songs, they’re my favourite to listen to. Missy Higgins will probably forever stick in my brain as what made me wish I could write good songs. But I’m really inspired by music like The Cranberries, Mazzy Star, and at the moment Lucy Dacus. I love the way they write lyrics.”

For the love of music

“I struggle with anxiety and depression quite a bit – and just a general tendency to feel too many things all at once – so music really helps keep me sane. Both listening to and writing songs helps me process and deal with life. I’m very grateful for it.”

Kicking goals

“Because I never expected this to be my life, almost any time we play live and people show up to watch I’m like, ‘Woah, what is happening?’ But I’ve been noticing people singing along to the words of some of my songs and that honestly blows my mind. It’s the weirdest and nicest feeling I’ve ever felt in my life. Each time someone tells me they’ve connected with something I wrote I feel more encouragement to keep going. Also, personally, I think growing as a musician/person and becoming more confident onstage is a really satisfying feeling.

Essential Tracks

Alice Skye – Friends With Feelings

Friends with Feelings is probably my favourite, and is also the title track of my first album. I wrote it because I was feeling upset about the fact that I’m usually always upset – which is such a vicious cycle. It’s a song about acknowledging the not-so-great feelings, and rather than suppressing them, making ‘friends’ with them.

'Friends with Feelings' - ALICE SKYE