When the pandemic hit in 2020, Alanna Royale decided to drive cross country to California. Her journey sparked the beginning of a new album, Trouble Is, out October 6. Around this time, the Nashville singer and songwriter also entered therapy, which helped her unravel deeper truths about herself.
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“Sometimes you have to fall apart in order to find the most real version of yourself,” said Royale in a previous statement. “After giving myself permission to make the kind of record that felt good to me, I was finally able to show all of my parts rather than trying to fit into some kind of preconceived notion of what an artist is supposed to be”
Produced by Kelly Finnigan of the psychedelic soul band Monophonics, Trouble Is — a follow-up to her 2018 EP, So Bad You Can Taste It, and 2014 debut album Achilles — runs through a collection of themes Royale felt compelled to explore with more vulnerable and revelatory lyrics, including arresting outside noises (voices) and listening to her gut on lead single “Run Around.”
A soulful nod to Daptone, jammed with old-school pop beats, “Run Around” chases around a reciprocal love, regardless of the risks — My friends keep telling me it’s only a matter of time / And the heartbreak ain’t worth the weight of you on my mind.
Royale spoke to American Songwriter about moving away from making “another classic soul album,” and facing all her troubles along the way.
American Songwriter: Run through the timeline of Trouble Is, and how it began piecing together since So Bad You Can Taste It EP (2018)?
Alanna Royale: This record really started in one place and ended in a completely different place altogether. I kind of took the swirling, circling map in a cartoon all the way around. I had an idea and a batch of songs and got out to California to start working and it just wasn’t coming together. Various parts of the process needed to be reimagined and that slowed things down a bit for sure because I needed to put it down and reconsider what I was making.
Then I picked the record back up again in January 2020 and wow, another pause! This was a big one and once COVID and shutdown entered the picture, there was yet another significant shift in my perspective. I drove cross country in the first year of lockdown and that was when I feel like this record really got its start.
There were definitely some songs that came from the 2019-2020 sessions, some I felt I had already outgrown, and some new ones that I felt needed to be written and added in light of the strange new world we found ourselves in.
AS: Why did you land on the title Trouble Is?
AR: Trouble Is is a caveat. It’s a limitation. It says that there is still yet another hurdle. I feel like my entire life has been one big caveat. Every win has come with a heavy price tag and when this album was complete, I realized how far I had come through these dark times. I found myself more confident in facing what the trouble is.
AS: Sonically, what did you want to approach differently on this album, and how did Kelly Finnigan help you get there?
AR: From the beginning stages of this album I was a broken record: “I just don’t want to make another classic soul record.” I didn’t want to carry the torch for Sharon [Jones] or Amy [Winehouse]. I wanted to make a fully realized album that reflected my personal tastes as clearly as possible. Kelly has been a huge part of the process in my songwriting overall by just reminding me over and over that the influences I wanted to pull from and whatever genre-bending I wanted to do were simply up to me. Every time I said I wanted to do something he said “Dope. Let’s do it.” His willingness to explore really liberated me.
AS: Are you the same songwriter you were when Achilles came out? How has that whole “process” of songwriting changed for you since then?
AR: Absolutely not! There’s been a million steps along the way and persistent growing pains that have pushed me to where I am now. I’m really out of a fog. Before these sessions, I had a mouth full of cotton. The thoughts, emotions, and stories were there, but I couldn’t get it out clearly. I’ve come out of this album with a clearer, more concise vision. I know how to edit and I can comfortably work with other writers because we can speak the same language.
AS: As you spent more time with these nine songs, what were some underlying threads you discovered? Where does the single “Run Around” fit in the bigger picture of Trouble Is?
AR: One hundred percent the most glaringly obvious part of this process is that I went to therapy, had the hard discussions, did the extremely difficult and painful work, and came out the most fully realized version of myself I have ever known.
“Run Around” is a really interesting piece of this puzzle because where the rest of the record is darker and heavier in their themes this song is wildly exuberant and joyful. It is a song of struggle in its own right though. It’s about following your gut and your heart towards something that feels good, even when the rest of the world is telling you “no.”
We are absolutely bombarded by external chatter these days and it is quite a feat to find your voice much less act on what you’re feeling. It might not work out in the end but that’s your journey and your story. Following your heart is one of the bravest things you can do.
Photos: Alanna Royale / Courtesy Hundred Yard PR
