Alison Sloan, acting senior, is working on her second album.
Sloan began writing music in the fifth grade.
“Guaranteed it probably wasn’t good music, but it was music,” Sloan said. “The first song I ever wrote I performed in the fifth-grade talent show, and I was bullied a lot, and all of a sudden all these kids were like ‘oh hey, that was really good.’”
Since the fifth grade, Sloan has released an album called “Mindbody” and has been featured on a song by Johnny Manchild and the Poor Bastards called “One Big Beautiful Sound.”
Sloan’s first album was released on April 5, 2019, and featured eight songs, each one utilizing a different genre of music.
One of Sloan’s songs, “boys will be poised,” won first place at the Oklahoma Broadcast Education Association for music video. The video was directed and produced by Emily Wollenberg, acting senior, Brennyn Seagler, mass communications senior, and Kaleigh Krimmel, mass communications junior.
Sloan said she decided to use a big band sound for the song.
“It’s dedicated to the sacral chakra, which is all about sexual energy and creativity, and so I thought a big band vibe would be the best for it,” she said. “The song is about toxic masculinity and boys who pose on social media as these hyper-masculine versions of themselves, when in reality, that’s not what anybody wants.”
Sloan said the concept for the music video came from beauty pageant competitions.
“I imagined a beauty pageant, but the roles were reversed, so men were conforming to the beauty pageant standards,” Sloan said. “It’s a fun little project that I didn’t know would happen but I’m grateful it did.”
Krimmel said Sloan was easy to work with.
“The music video was actually really fun to do,” Krimmel said. “She was a natural in front of the camera, and she was just herself. That’s something I struggle with, but she wasn’t afraid to be herself, and that’s something I admire. I think as a performer that’s something great to have.”
Krimmel said the song was very catchy.
“We played it about 500 times while filming, but I think I sang it 500 more times after filming it,” Krimmel said.
Sloan is currently working on a new album that will be released April 17, 2020. Sloan said the album will once again feature a variety of styles. This album, however, is dedicated to mental illness.
“I think we have a tendency to romanticize mental illness to the extreme, so now I’ve decided that I want to actually romanticize them,” she said. “Each song sounds like its dedicated to a person, but it’s actually dedicated to a mental illness. There’s addiction, there’s depression, there’s anxiety, there’s obsessive compulsive personality disorder, and I’m really excited to be able to put those at the forefront.”
In addition to songwriting, Sloan said she also enjoys theater.
Sloan said she started acting when she was very young.
“When I was four years old, my mom thought I had too much energy, so she threw me into an acting program and a music theater program over the summer. I really don’t know if this is Stockholm syndrome or if I’m really into it, but it’s probably a good mixture of both,” Sloan said. “I’ve always loved just being able to tell a story and being able to express myself in a creative way.”
Sloan studied abroad in summer 2019 in the United Kingdom as part of a group from the School of Theatre. The group performed their world premiere work “Clowns, Lovers, and Women in Pants,” in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
“The fringe festival was a great experience. There was so much going on, we would perform our show, and then see three more shows the same day,” she said. “Some of the best productions I saw were set up in jewelry stores and storage containers.”
Sloan said she hopes to continue to create after graduation.
“I just want to continue to participate in all art forms,” she said. “I’m kind of cursed with the personality that will not let me rest until I’ve mastered whatever new thing I’ve figured out. I love acting, I love Shakespeare, I love musicals, I love songwriting and film, and I’m trying to find a way to incorporate that into my life for the rest of my life.”
Sloan said songwriters shouldn’t feel stuck in one type of music.
“Just write about what you know. I have trouble finding confidence within my music, but I’ve felt the most confident with my music that is genuine, and not with the ones that I’ve felt like I’ve been pushing a specific genre,” she said. “A lot of people have a tendency to try to conform to one genre because they think that’s what their style is, but feel free to explore all genres.”
Emily Wollenberg is the editor-in-chief of Student Publications and co-directed Sloan’s music video. She was not involved in the writing of this article.
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