GET TO KNOW: vincethealien

For genre-blurring artist, songwriter and producer vincethealien, difficult emotions aren't something to be tidily resolved before they can become music. Instead, his work increasingly embraces the messier process of confronting anger, vulnerability and the uncomfortable truths that can emerge when relationships change without explanation.

His latest single, ‘Poisonous Child’, turns that emotional reckoning into something unexpectedly physical. Created alongside producer MOTTRON and featuring TATISHI/COLDPRESSEDPAPI and BLCKBUTTERFLY, the track contrasts unresolved resentment with infectious movement, exploring the idea that anger can simultaneously consume us and reveal what needs to heal.

So with the new single out now, we sat down with him to discuss his origins and influences over the years.

What was the first band or artist you fell in love with? 

There are so many artists who have meant a lot to me since I was a kid, but the first artist I remember really falling in love with was Sade. When I was six or seven, I remember sitting on the kitchen floor at my grandparents' house around 6 a.m., watching my grandmother make biscuits from scratch while Sade played from the radio on the counter. Her voice soothed me even then.

There's this pain, longing, and yearning in Sade's voice that has always moved me. I obviously didn't have the language to understand any of that as a six-year-old, but I could feel it, and that feeling has stayed with me ever since.

Did you ever form a band when you were younger and if so, what did they sound like? 

In my early 20s, I was the lead singer and songwriter of a progressive rock/industrial band called Vas Defrans. It was such a formative experience for me. We were constantly playing shows and even had the opportunity to perform at SXSW. We also made a self-titled EP with producer Noah Shain, who has worked with artists like Skrillex, Atreyu, and Dead Sara.

Every once in a while, I'll listen to that EP, and hearing it now can be really emotional. Underneath these very abstract lyrics, I hear this younger version of myself desperately wanting to be understood and free from the fear of being who I was. At the time, I was hiding so much of myself that I don't think I was fully able to appreciate what we were creating. Looking back, though, I can see how much that experience taught me about vulnerability, authenticity, and being present in the creative process. Those lessons are a huge part of why making music today feels so much more cathartic, therapeutic, and honest.

What has been your primary inspiration in writing music? 

Beyond wanting to connect with people and build a community where others can feel seen, I think my biggest inspiration is simply trying to understand myself. Growing up, I hid so much of who I was. I found refuge in journals, fantasies, music, and this longing to be understood while constantly feeling a little like an alien…like I was different. There was something empowering about having that inner world, but it could also be incredibly lonely at times.

Songwriting has become a way for me to unpack that. I'm interested in removing some of the layers of shame I carried from those experiences by being more honest with myself and, in turn, with whoever chooses to listen. There are so many versions of me, and I want the freedom to explore all of them. My hope is that by allowing myself to be vulnerable, I can also encourage someone else to feel more comfortable exploring the different versions of themselves, however that looks for them.

What is a song you wish you had written yourself? 

There are quite a few: I Can't Make You Love Me by Bonnie Raitt, My Favorite Mistake by Sheryl Crow, Cranes in the Sky by Solange, I Have Loved Your Wrong by The Swell Season, but one I REALLY wish I'd written is I Get Lonely by Janet Jackson. That song is perfection!

The production alone - the way those snaps and hi-hats move in and out - makes me so excited, but emotionally, it's also incredibly raw and vulnerable. There's no shame around admitting just how deeply you miss someone and how painful losing that love can be. Janet's vocal captures that yearning perfectly.

I could go on forever about that song, but if I'm allowed to cheat and add one more, I'd say Pretty Wings by Maxwell. Another emotionally devastating masterpiece. I'm going to stop now before this turns into a playlist. 

If there was any moment in your career you could relive, what would it be? 

I've been lucky enough to play a lot of shows throughout my career, but if I could relive one, it would be a show I played in Los Angeles called GayGuts. There was something about the energy that night and my connection with the crowd that felt electric. Vocally, physically, emotionally - it felt like I hit this weird, perfect, almost divine height where everything clicked. It was euphoric.

I still look back on that show with so much gratitude because the people in that room made it what it was. If you're somehow reading this and you were there: thank you. You gave me one of my favorite memories as a performer.

Which artist would you most love to share a stage with? 

There are quite a few: Thundercat, Twin Shadow, Björk, Nine Inch Nails/Nine Inch Noize, Solange, Kaytranada, Bakar, St. Vincent... I could keep going. They're all very different artists, but I think there's something about the sonic and visual worlds they create that could exist really beautifully alongside mine. I love shows where it feels like you're stepping into an entire world for the night, and I think any of those combinations could create something really special.

And is there an artist you would love to collaborate with as well? 

I've always had this dream of doing a gospel choir/soul reinterpretation of the entire With Teeth album by Nine Inch Nails. Every time I listen to that record, I hear these alternate arrangements in my head - huge harmonies, soulful vocals, all of that industrial tension still underneath - and it's pretty orgasmic to me, ha.

Production-wise, I'd love to work with Jack Antonoff on a pop-structured industrial rock album with hints of new wave. I'd love to make something weird, experimental, and dance-driven with Matthew Herbert. And then I'd put Chad Hugo and Tricky together with me and make something that pulls from the early 2000s but feels completely modern - desire, glitchy trip-hop, strange drum sequencing, disgruntled sensuality. Basically, I have a lot of albums already living in my head that I would love for these people to help me get out.

Where do you see yourself in five years time? 

There have been many moments where I've wanted to give up on music from the perspective of trying to "make it." I've had to mourn certain ideas I had about what success was supposed to look like and ask myself why I actually want to keep doing this.

So in five years, I hope I'm still in the place I'm in now: creating music because I genuinely love creating music. Of course, I hope that leads to bigger opportunities, larger audiences, more shows, travel, and the ability to keep expanding the worlds around the music. But if the alternative is continuing to create from home, on my own terms, while building with the beautiful collaborators I've been lucky enough to find, there's something really meaningful about that too. More than anything, I don't want ambition to make me forget that getting to create at all is already a pretty incredible thing.

Listen to vincethealien's new single 'Poisonous Child' below.