Alisan Porter On Touring, Songwriting After Winning The Voice, and New Album In The Works [EXCLUSIVE]

Singer, songwriter, actress, vocal coach, mother, and chicken mom Alisan Porter is about to embark on The Ride Tour. Following Boston x Following Backstage writer Samantha Davidson had the opportunity to chat with Porter about her new EP and upcoming live shows. Catch Massachusetts native Alisan Porter live at The Cut in Gloucester, MA on November 30 and City Winery Boston on December 4. 

Following Boston x Backstage: You’re about to kick off The Ride Tour this Saturday. What makes you excited to bring these songs to life on the road?  

Alisan Porter: Everything! When you're me, you wake up in the middle of the night, and you put a song in a voice memo. Then you bring it to the band, and then you record it, and then you put out the album, and then you're like, “Oh gee, what’s next?” Luckily, I met an amazing booker, and we've just been waiting for the right time to get back on the road. The band has been so excited. We love these songs, and we love to play. What better way to start it off than in Massachusetts, in my hometown? People that I love and family are around. I'm most excited because when you start a project like this, this is the goal. 
To see it through to the stage. I think I'm just most excited to finally be able to do that. 

FB: That sounds amazing. You started to talk about recording a voice memo as the beginning of your songwriting process. Your EP, The Ride, takes the listener on a beautiful and vulnerable journey through the highs and lows of life. How did this project evolve while writing the songs and how did you evolve as a songwriter in the process?

AP:
Usually, I'm going to make a record and write a bunch of songs to see which ones I like. COVID took us out of this world a little bit. We can't play shows, so how are we going to stay afloat? I'm married to an artist, so it was teaching, coaching, and working with other artists. After that, I would wake up in the middle of the night with these songs in my head. I put them in a voice memo and bring them to the band. It wasn't like, “Who's going to fund the project?” It was like, “Let's just get in the studio and let's just make this record ourselves.” There were a couple of other songs that were half-songs. “Bleedin’,” for example, is a song that I wrote with Shoshana Bean and my friend Kylie Rothfield, who was also on The Voice. We wrote it for Shoshana, and there was a moment when one of the girls sent the voice note of it and was like, “What are we doing with this song?” There wasn't really this dark moment yet on the EP, so this was a perfect thing to put in to show the highs and lows, the loss of love, and then finding love again.

Things like that kept happening where it was like I wasn't really in charge. I was going with the flow of the project. I’m my own boss, so I got to put it together however I wanted to. We worked at some great studios with some amazing people, and it really just took its own form. We were six songs in and I was like, “You know what? This feels complete to me. This feels like it's its own thing. Let's just put out a bunch of singles and an EP and start working on an album.” 

FB: That's so exciting. You’re a seasoned singer, having won Season 10 of The Voice on Team Christina Aguilera, and an actress, having starred in Broadway shows like A Chorus Line. How does touring music that you wrote compare to these other experiences?

AP: There's just nothing like it. I love doing other people's work and I've done such great shows. I've loved those times in my life, but nothing is more accurate and secure than telling your own story. I really do love to story tell, talk, and explain the songs and where they come from. I think I pull from the acting and musical theater side of myself in that way. Being my own artist and telling my own stories that are all true and have all happened, and then being able to express them how I sing is always my ultimate favorite. It doesn’t compare. It's always been my number one. It's always been my favorite. 

FB: It sounds like it's very satisfying to be able to convey your emotions like that through song.

AP: Yes. I really love being myself. I like playing myself better than a character.

FB: There is a beautiful Americana and country-pop flare to these songs. How did you find your style as an artist? 


AP: Before The Voice, I wrote my first major record, which was Who We Are, and it was in that style. I think The Voice took me on a journey that sort of made me question that. Whether it was because maybe there was this opportunity to write and sing a little differently after The Voice. But I've always gone back. “Deep Water” and even Pink Cloud, the album, are very Americana-heavy. This particular EP and I think this record circled back to where I started. Who We Are to me was the most authentic body of work that I had ever done up until The Ride. It's sort of like this circular journey back to who I actually am. 

FB: I love that you returned to the genre you enjoy writing. 


AP: Totally.

FB: You are also a vocal coach, offering both private lessons and most recently ending your fourth season coaching on The Masked Singer. Before becoming a mentor, what invaluable advice did you receive from mentors like Christina that has stuck with you?

AP: My job when I'm coaching anyone, be it a young kid or a celebrity on The Masked Singer, is to find how to bring out what is the most authentic. What is the most you? I think when I'm working with anyone, I'm never really trying to shift or change how a person sings. I want to shift and change how they feel and how to support them bringing out the best of themselves. 
There's always little technique and technical things here and there. Personally, as a coach, I'm more of a vulnerability instructor. When I'm singing, I want to tell the story in the best way possible. When I'm teaching somebody, it's the same. How do you convey this in a way that only you can? How do we bring that out of you in the best way possible? 

FB: Thank you again for your time today. This one is a fun and light question. I'd love to know what a perfect day would look like to you. 

AP: Oh my gosh, I am a Gemini, so get ready. I wake up, have a very foamy, frothy Americano, and hang out with my chickens. I have three chickens that I adore. I spend time with my kids, go to the studio, and work on a killer song. Come home, hang out with my husband, watch Harry Potter, and go to bed. 

FB: That sounds wonderful! We are excited to see all the content that comes from these shows in Boston and the rest of the tour.