Alice Phoebe Lou

BIOGRAPHY

Alice Phoebe Lou’s fifth album Shelter is about “forgiving the world and forgiving yourself” in order to create a place of safety. She began playing music as a busker after moving from South Africa to Berlin in 2012 and falling in love with a lifestyle that could be so self-determined. Over time, Alice has slowly learned to follow her own instincts and write without fear of judgment.

Her debut album Orbit came in 2016 and saw Alice “piece together the possibility” of music turning into a proper career while 2019’s Paper Castles cemented her as a talented musician to watch. 2021’s Glow and surprise follow-up Child’s Play allowed Alice to go “super deep and vulnerable. I think people really connected with me speaking about personal, painful, tragic things that sometimes feel too embarrassing to say out loud,” she explains. “Those two albums felt like a reckoning.” 

By contrast, Shelter is a celebration. “It’s much more self-assured and direct,” says Alice. “That’s an exciting energy to bring to the table.” At times, Shelter feels like a purge while other moments across the lush record capture a second coming-of-age. “I continually strive to show people the beauty of being vulnerable and feeling all their feelings,” she explains. Still fiercely and successfully independent, Alice Phoebe Lou hopes young people “can be inspired by the fact you can do things unconventionally,” with Shelter a defiant soundtrack in choosing your own happiness.