Alessi Rose talks provocative pop, "delulu girls", and her 'Voyeur' EP for DIY's Class of 2026 • Neu • DIY Magazine

Alessi Rose makes no bones about wanting to be a pop superstar, and she believes she’s already identified her secret ingredient. “I think it’s hunger, I’ve always thought it’s hunger,” the 23-year-old singer-songwriter says. “Some artists are like, ‘I knew I was gonna be a superstar from the age of 10.’ I don’t think that was the case with me, because I came from a background where I didn’t have the [industry] access to even think that was plausible.”

Alessi grew up in Littleover, a sleepy suburb of Derby, and moved to London at 19 to study English Literature and pursue music. For two years, she juggled her degree with “four or five [recording] sessions a week”, which she now describes as “living a crazy double life”. She eventually dropped out in January 2025 when seeing 108 live shows before the end of the year on her calendar. “The minute I thought there was even an inkling of a chance that I could be [a pop superstar], I knew I was gonna do everything in my power to get there,” she says.

Since then, the artist born Alexandra Rose Jones has hardly had a chance to look back. After signing a major label record deal, she’s paying “an extortionate amount” to rent her first London flat that is “actually pleasant to live in - like, it doesn’t have mould and rats”. But because she spent most of the past year on the road, she’s barely touched base in it. First she opened for Dua Lipa across Europe, then she supported Tate McRae in North America, and she’s just completed her own huge headline tour. “I’m used to sleeping on a tour bus; that’s my comfort space right now,” she says.

“I stand by my ability to evolve and learn. I think if you aren’t taking risks, you’re not doing yourself service as a musician.”

Today, Alessi is video calling from her dressing room at Manchester Academy, a 2,500-capacity venue where she’s about to play a sold-out headline show. Wrapped in a big fluffy coat, she’s squeezing in this interview between her soundcheck and a fan meet-and-greet. “Manchester is my favourite city, so I wish I’d had my off-day here,” she says. “But alas, I had to go and get my hair done in London.” She laughs at the starriness of this statement, then grounds herself. “That makes it sound like I’m complaining, but it needed to be done! Honestly, it was in a dire state.”

Of course, Alessi’s star isn’t spiking skywards just because she’s hungry and hard-working. She’s built a growing fanbase - who affectionately call themselves the “delulu girls” - with a steady stream of confessional alt-pop gems. She first made a splash in 2023 with the dreamy standalone singles ‘Say Ur Mine’ and ‘Hate This Part’, then released her indie-leaning debut EP, ‘rumination as ritual’, in July 2024. On ‘eat me alive’, its explosive standout track, Alessi captures all the messy desperation of really wanting someone back. “What if I showed up to your glass house with a pocket full of stones?” she sings, pleading.

She levelled up again in 2025 with two entertaining EPs: ‘for your validation’, home to the anxiety-wracked love song ‘oh my’ (“He gives me head while I’m losing mine”), and major label debut, ‘Voyeur’. Released in July, the latter features her best work yet: a sweet and sour alt-pop smorgasbord on which she sings about a toxic relationship (‘Same Mouth’), a vindictive rival (‘Stella’) and unrequited lust (‘That Could Be Me’).

“The minute I thought there was even an inkling of a chance that I could be [a popstar], I knew I was gonna do everything in my power to get there.”

In November, she released an expanded ‘Voyeur’, with three new songs that she describes as more “upbeat” and “radio-ready”: not so much a stopgap as a signpost to the punchier pop territory she’s looking to explore. ‘First Original Thought’ is a savagely catchy banger about a sexy himbo, while the effervescent ‘Get Around’ shows off the singer’s witty wordplay. “I was in the studio with two friends and we were joking about this artist I fancy,” Alessi recalls. “One of them said ‘he gets around a bit’, and I was like, ‘well, can he get around to me?’ Everyone laughed and I was like, ‘That’s got to be a song lyric!’”

However, it’s ‘Falling Forever’ - a “Robyn-esque” electro gem that she wrote with Chairlift’s Patrick Wimberly - that Alessi singles out, dubbing it her most “provocative” song. In what way? “I think a lot of people were like, ‘whoa, that’s really pop!’” she says. “But I stand by my ability to evolve and learn. I think if you aren’t taking risks, you’re not doing yourself service as a musician.” Alessi believes artists tend to get pigeonholed as either “the introspective singer-songwriter type” or “the performer putting on a show”. Going forward, she wants to prove she can do both. “The through line is always me and the way I write,” she says.

Alessi wrote her first song at 12 but really got serious during the pandemic, buying a second-hand microphone to make demos on a battered old Mac. Before she made her big move to London, she was already hustling hard from her Derby bedroom. “I was kind of incessant in messaging producers I wanted to work with. And I was just as pushy about messaging BBC Introducing DJs to get my music played,” she says. “It’s a bit cringe when I look back, but if I hadn’t done it, I wouldn’t be where I am now.”

Now she’s on the brink of a mainstream breakthrough, Alessi sees her background as a low-key superpower. “Being able to write about the mundanity of suburban life is something I’ve always loved doing,” she says. “And I think I’m quite thankful that I didn’t grow up with privilege and connections in the music industry. Yeah, I get annoyed about nepotism - that’s quite a normal reaction, but it’s not going to change things. Where I’m at now, that frustration just makes me want to work even harder to succeed.”

‘Voyeur’ is out now via Capitol Records.

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