ON THE RISE
Alli Fitz, also known as Allicattt, is a long time content creator and musician who has consistently built a community around bold personality and passion for music. Beginning with a Vine account, she quickly grew from a short form clip artist to a full blown releasing musician. Now almost 10 years later she is a thriving Pop musician releasing her newest project, “When We’re Together”, along with a beautiful music video.
Fitz began her creative career with a Vine account in 2014, but her love for music began much earlier. “I have always been involved with music,” she explained. “My dad used to buy me instruments to learn and practice on.” It was this support that created the basis for the career she has today.
As she grew up, music became more than just a hobby, leading her to pursue a degree in Theater, get onto content sharing platforms like Vine, and really start communicating with the world around her.
Fitz’s first project, a song titled “Fill The Void” was released in 2017, when she made the switch from short form videos to a full musical production. Now seven years later, she has a full discography, and a collection of energetic, honest and fun Pop music.
Now, her latest project is receiving lots of support, and has even landed her in the top 5 of The Upcoming 100 chart.
Usually Fitz’s music is the embodiment of a strong single woman, but she is always one to write from the heart. Recently this solo star has found someone that she can dig into her emotions for. You can hear this energetic passion in her newest single, “When We’re Together”.
“I always write from the heart,” Fitz said. “My music comes from somewhere authentic and I always put my real emotions into what I make.”
The best way to really see where Fitz’s emotions lie would be to check out the song’s new music video. The video does nothing but add to the song, with a Euphoria-style energy and the high emotional pull of being around someone you love. And for a little bit of an easter egg storyline, Fitz suggests fans check out the video for her single “Falling Star” beforehand.
Following the recent release of the “When We’re Together” music video, Fitz is excited to share more of her new music with her fans. “I am planning to release a few more songs over the course of this year,” she said, encouraging fans to keep an eye out for what is to come.
“I am really excited to get back in the studio after “When We’re Together,” Fitz explained. “I’ve been writing a lot and there is a lot of music that I can’t wait to put out.”
Be sure to stay tuned in to Alli Fitz on various platforms for new music, visuals and social posts.
ON THE RISE
Blossoms caught up with NME to discuss competing with The Beatles and Johnny Marr for this week’s Number One album. With ‘Songs From The Wedding Cake’ in the running, the band also explained why making things themselves remains such an important part of their work as AI becomes more common.
The Stockport group put out their sixth album last Friday, October 2. By the midweek update, it was sitting at Number Two, between The Beatles’ expanded edition of ‘Rubber Soul’ and Johnny Marr’s latest solo album, ‘The Age Of Everything’.
“It’s mad, to be honest,” singer Tom Ogden said to NME about the chart race. “Liverpool on one side, Manchester on the other and Stockport in the middle. If you’d told us this 10 years ago, when we were releasing our debut, I wouldn’t have believed you. But I mean, we’re in good company aren’t we?”
Discussing the stories behind the album, Ogden described ‘Songs From The Wedding Cake’ as “about being married and all the everyday stuff that comes with it”. He married Katie Donovan, the sister of Blossoms drummer Joe, in 2021. Married life has since given him a new appreciation for what he describes as “the extraordinary ordinary”.
“Saying the wrong thing in an argument, losing your wife’s no claims bonus, crying at the Kardashians, it’s all in there,” he explained. “The album is named after Stockport Town Hall, which everyone round where we live calls the Wedding Cake, and it’s where I got married, so it couldn’t be much closer to home.
“The last album [‘Gary’, 2024] had a song about a stolen fibreglass gorilla, which everyone loved, and that gave us the confidence to bring the same playfulness to this one, just with more personal subject matter this time.”
Alongside tracks that came out of writing sessions with Declan McKenna in a hot tub, the album reflects the band’s desire to stay involved in every part of the creative process.
“It started with the recording,” Ogden explained. “We made the album with Shawn Lee, playing live straight to tape, and once you’ve done it that way you can’t really go and fake everything else. We sat down as a band and picked the colour palette, and everything visual followed from that. We had body scans taken of ourselves and cake toppers of the five of us 3D printed, put them on a real cake and photographed it. I’ve directed and edited the videos, and the sets are all built by hand, no green screen. For the pop-up shop on launch weekend, a local artist hand-painted the album cover for the sign outside.
“It’s more work, but you end up with a world that’s yours, and I think people can tell when a band’s had its hands on everything.”
With AI tools and digital effects becoming increasingly widespread, that approach feels particularly relevant. For Blossoms, though, the motivation is simple: “the fun is in the making”.
“Tape doesn’t let you cheat and neither does a real cake,” Ogden said. “If a set’s a bit wonky, it’s because one of us or our mates built it. I think the more stuff gets generated, the more people want to know a human being actually did it. We’ve been in this band together for over 10 years, five lads from Stockport, and that isn’t something you can ‘prompt’.”
Maya Jama also appeared in the video for the album’s first single, ‘Meet Me In Love’. Her appearance came shortly before the UK launch of Celebrity Traitors, where she took on the role of a traitor alongside a cast that included Richard E Grant and James Acaster.
“She was brilliant,” Ogden recalled of working with Jama. “We’d met her at the MTV EMAs in Manchester a couple of years ago, so we took a chance and sent her a DM …and she said yes. Next thing she’s in a theatre in Cheadle miming my vocals while a load of people dressed as me serenade her. She got the idea straight away and was a proper laugh about it.”
The conversation then turned to whether he thought Jama could take home the win on Celebrity Traitors.
Ogden joked: “As for Traitors, she spent a whole day pretending to sing my song and I almost believed her, so I’d say she’s got every chance.”
Fans can listen to ‘Songs From The Wedding Cake’ now. In November, Blossoms head out on a UK arena tour with The Royston Club. Tickets and further details are available here.
Before the tour begins, the group is also scheduled to appear on SNL UK on Saturday, October 24.
