“I’m not that kind of girl, to keep my voice unheard,” lyrics taken from the up and coming new urban pop sensation ALMA’s single “Dye My Hair”, words that we glad she’s taken literally because this soulful singer is going to take the world by storm. Born Alma-Sofia Miettinen on January 17th, 1996 and was co-signed by Elton John, someone who is putting all his money behind her because he believe’s she’s destined for stardom. Alma doesn’t seem quite sure if she wants to be invisible, or the only person you could possibly be looking at, displaying long toxic green colored hair, she still stands fearless with her powerhouse voice.
Auditioning for Finlands Pop Idol back in 2016 she ended up finishing in fifth place, and although she wouldn’t recommend anyone competing in a show like it, she attributes all her success to it. Now signed to Universal Records Alma is collaborating with the likes of Sub Focus and Charli XCX and releasing a collection of viral solo releases. During the TV show Alma managed to befriend one of the shows judges a rapper by the name of Sini Sabotage, and ended up on tour with her. Sabotage’s label boss noticed Alma’s talent, and sent her to a songwriting camp in Helsinki; these songs quickly landed her a record deal. She dropped her first single soon after entitled “Karma” which was followed by the successful “Dye My Hair” which peaked as high as number 5 in Finland. “Karma” was such a strong defiant song which Alma describes as a song for her haters saying “it’s for all the people that ever tried to push me down. I wouldn’t say ‘haters’, but even more like bullies. Just people that were mean to me with no reason.”
Alma saw her fair share of bullying when she was younger, especially when she was 12 one year after she changed schools. The year before moving up to secondary school, she had got an award for being the most popular member of her class, “and the next year I was bullied. So it was a very big shock to me. I’m not the fucking kid who gets bullied.” But Alma says now she’s one of pop’s biggest exports every single one of those bullies are trying to get back into her good books.
Now Alma has a star studded posse which includes Charli XCX, who was in the crowd for one of her London show’s where she said “I would say she’s a friend now – we trashed our Airbnb in LA” and also Alma’s twin sister Anna Livia who also has luminous color hair and is a supportive vocalist for Alma on stage. “We’re not identical but we’ve done so many Parent Trap type trickeries that I can’t even start listing them! We were such a devil team as kids. Sometimes I am the evil one. But also my sister, Anna, can be pretty evil as well if she wants to. I can act evil sometimes but I always apologise afterwards and then act sweet again” said Alma.
Charli XCX has become Alma’s mentor who who co-wrote her new single, “Dance For Me”, and directed the video for Phases. “It’s hard to find people in this industry who you can really trust – but we can talk about anything. It’s like a true friendship” Alma said. Believe it or not both Alma and Charli co-wrote the single “Dance For Me” in what they say was an over the top air BnB in LA. They acquired MØ for the single who they thought would be a good accompaniment for Alma and someone who she saw as a talented collaborator.
Before she releases her debut album Alma drops her first mixtape entitled “Heavy Rules” which for a 6 track project is already displaying absurdly good bangers. “Legend” kicks the mixtape off a party anthem with a pop melody but urban beats and a little bit of an electric guitar to give it that edge. Of course the MØ assisted single “Dance For Me” showcases Alma as more of a sexier diva and it’s one of the three collaborations on the EP. “Good Vibes” would have to be one of my favorite songs off the mixtape, it’s sound is similar to the Diplo and Jack U produced tracks we heard from Justin Bieber’s “Purpose” album. It’s a bittersweet dance-pop song about wanting one last shot of affection before a breakup.
The catchy love songs “Fake Gucci” and “Back2U” once again combine both pop and urban productions and showing off the softer side of Alma’s attitude. The final song “Chit Chat” teams her up with Kiiara and it’s a boppy EDM pop song that is one of her most ferocious and it’s every bit as mouthy and fun that you would expect from these two singers. “Heavy Rules” is a great introduction to an artist who’s going to become a household name quite quickly. From it’s opening track it manages to maintain it’s infectious quality and energy until the final beat.
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