Yahoo Lifestyle Aliyah’s Interlude Is Not Trying to Influence You
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Aliyah’s Interlude is the sun. Right now, in the universe that is a (slightly overpopulated) glam room on the set of her Cosmo shoot, there are hairstylists, manicurists, makeup artists, and various other players orbiting her like the center of the solar system. And not just because the 21-year-old multi-hyphenate (musician/content creator/actor/stylist et al.) is their canvas for the day. As I do my job to interview her while they’re doing their job—creating bold beauty looks in step with her trademark venturesome fashion—everyone latches on to her every word. They affirm her takes with emphatic nods and the occasional “period” while she outlines her philosophies on fashion, music, and life. “A subscriber once called me a ray of sunlight that radiates toward my audience,” she tells me. “That was one of the nicest comments I’ve ever read. No one’s ever called me the sun before.”
But it’s a sentiment her millions of TikTok, Instagram, and music followers likely share. In 2022, her style identity, #AliyahCore, became somewhat of a movement. Marked by loud colors, furs, Y2K-era accessorizing, and plenty of leg warmers and fishnet tights, Aliyah’s Interlude managed to turn her instinctual approach to dressing into a strong personal brand ripe for expansion. Her character on FX’s The English Teacher is noticeably wearing #AliyahCore-lite in each scene. She was brought in to close the Fall/Winter ’23 MOWALOLA show at London Fashion Week. Then tapped to style stars like Lizzo. Soon after, appearances in a Doja Cat music video, opening for Charli XCX, and gracing the stage with SZA cemented Aliyah’s Interlude’s position in “influencer who made it offline” territory. And it’s undeniable that her musical sound is in constant communication with her flashy style. Present in every track from her debut 2023 single “IT GIRL” to the 2024 follow-ups “Fashion Icon,” “Moodboard,” and “Love Me,” are stirring house beats and self-actualized proclamations. (“It’s literally so exhausting being the most cunt bitch in the world.”)
Now as she continues to claim her space in music and acting, Aliyah Core’s main tenets—originality and confidence—remain the beating heart of every new undertaking. Her manifesto “Aliyah Core today, tomorrow, yesterday, and forever,” which she echoes in songs, vlogs, and Instagram captions, speaks to the trend-cycle-resistant power of being genuine. An ever-growing challenge in an online landscape that seems to support the opposite. But Aliyah’s Interlude wasn’t born with this attitude. While growing up in Georgia, the shy daughter of Sierra Leonean immigrants, it took work to foster the audacious energy she walks through life with today. So she aims to pay it forward through her online content. “For me, Aliyah Core has never just been about fashion,” she says. “It’s about just being who you are authentically. Even though I’m technically an ‘influencer,’ I don’t really want to influence anybody to do anything besides be themselves. You should just be you all of the fucking time.”
I’ve followed your growth online, and while “Aliyah Core” has undoubtedly triggered a movement, I’ve seen you constantly having to defend your ownership of the look. Does it ever get exhausting asking for credit?
The work will always speak for itself. But it’s annoying always being discredited for things you know you started. But I don’t take it to heart. Regardless of who started that stuff, I’m among those that’s made the most iconic impact. So I’m not even tripping.
Despite all the discourse about how you dress, you never lost that hold on who you are. For our generation, fashion “cores” seem to rotate so quickly. How do you keep yourself from being influenced by that?
The endless cycle of trends shouldn’t be a trend. I’m trying to pull out people’s personal “cores.” Like who are you? Because these days you never know.
Does that indifference toward outside influence play into how you disregard the male gaze? You often say you’re not trying to service that with your styling.
I do it for the girls because I feel like women are always more appreciative of fashion. When a woman compliments me, it just gives me way more. For some men, it’s like the more maximalist you are, the more you trigger them. You’d be surprised how many of my haters are men. I know it’s not at all new for women to have autonomy over their style, but it feels like Black women dressing alternatively is uncommon, so bitches are still getting used to it.
In what ways has “Aliyah Core” helped you grow into yourself?
I’m somebody that my younger self would be obsessed with. Everything that I wear now—from my moon boots to my fur earmuffs—is all shit that I genuinely just love—that playful type of energy. It’s just cool to be my fucking self and to inspire my inner child to be free and open.
Are the people who grew up around you surprised by your approach to style today?
They probably wouldn’t even recognize me. I was such an antisocial bitch. I barely talked to people when I was in school. I had two friends, and I didn’t go out. My creative expression today was inspired by always being the black sheep growing up, because I was always quiet in the corner and it was hard for me to make friends. But being in that position made me lean into my creativity more, because I knew I’d be judged regardless. The lack of support made me braver.
My style’s always been alternative. I’ve been thrifting since I was 6 or 7. But back in the South, I just had to get used to being misunderstood and uncomfortable every single moment of every single day. There, when they see you dressing up, it’s a whole thing. People make fun of you. So for me, moving to New York was a new beginning. During lockdown, I did all my shadow work while I had the time to heal. I just stopped giving a fuck about what people thought about me or about what I wore. Now you couldn’t even pay me a billion dollars to care anymore.
Your family is originally from Sierra Leone. I’m Nigerian, and I know how African parents can be about deviating from the norm. Were yours supportive of your creative expression growing?
Girl, hell no. My mom will swear she was though! I come from a religious Muslim household, and my parents were strict as fuck. When I first started dressing alternatively, wearing pink wigs and miniskirts, my parents were mad, and people in my family would send my TikToks to the family group chat! I was getting caught up! I had to move out.
Did your strict upbringing positively impact your work ethic in any way?
It made me a more disciplined person. If I want some shit, I’m gonna get it done. Growing up, there wasn’t shit to do but your homework and watching TV. So that made me really focus on my bigger goals because while I can’t say I never want to live in the South again, I felt like I had shit to prove elsewhere.
How did growing up outside of Atlanta—basically a rap mecca—influence you musically? I know most of the bigger artists from there don’t make music that’s in step with your sound, but it must’ve been inspiring.
Yes. I’d listen to Young Thug, and seeing him wear a dress for the first time was everything. I’d even consider him and Playboi Carti to be alternative artists. But seeing Thug’s look, like his colored skinny jeans, used to be my vibe. He’s one of my biggest inspirations.
For a lot of artists like Young Thug, their look is tightly intertwined with their sound. You began the #AliyahCore movement in the fashion space, but did you then reflect your look sonically when you started making music?
One hundred percent. Whenever I’m making music, I always see it as a soundtrack to my large Aliyah Core world. Fashion inspires my music so fucking much. “IT GIRL,” “Fashion Icon,” even “Moodboard,” all of that was inspired by my fashion.
Who are other artists you look up to whose music and look are in conversation with each other? The ones that present every aspect of their careers as one entity—from fashion to music.
Grace Jones is literally mother. She walks in her truth every single fucking day. And definitely Doechii with her swamp aesthetic, too. I have a six-song EP coming out, and I’m working on a rollout. I look at artists like Doechii and Tyler, The Creator, who create worlds around their new music, and that’s what I aspire to do. For me, this release will mark an entirely new era. It’ll be very fun music that’ll place the listener in the club, just super dance-y.
There’s a lot of sensitivity about the genres that artists, particularly Black ones, get lodged in. People often automatically throw them in the rap or R&B category without much thought. How would you define your music? Would you say it’s alternative?
On some real shit, I would! I make all types of music. I’m grouped into the rap category a lot, which makes sense, because I do be rapping. And I don’t like when people try to distance themselves from the rap genre. It’s the most imitated genre, especially by people outside of Black culture. So you should be proud to be a rapper.
Since you’ve made the pivot into music, have you—as someone coming from a social media background—run into any resistance from the public?
Thankfully, not much. I feel like music is something that I was always meant to be doing. But I lucked out, because I know a lot of times when people make the move into music from social media, they don’t get any type of respect. But if you consider my world and the type of music that I make, it just makes sense. It matches my aesthetic; it matches my outfits.
So if you had popped out making acoustic guitar music like Taylor Swift…
Yeah, people would be like, “Girl, what the fuck?” But I could still pop out like that. I always say to not place me in a box. When I do shit, people are gagged, but it’s never completely unexpected.
Fans know to expect the unexpected. But what do you feel are the most common misconceptions about you?
People think I’m a really extroverted person and I’m not. I can come off as shy if I’m not comfortable around certain people. People expect me to be the same way I am online, but I’m not like that all the time.
But you have to have some semblance of comfort in public spaces to do these big performances. What was it like getting comfortable being onstage?
I’m not even gonna lie, I was a theater kid. I mean, I did it for only one year, but it was tea. So I was used to being on a stage. Plus, I’m a Leo moon, so I will eat that shit up. I love the crowd. And I love it when the crowd gives me energy.
You’re getting into screen acting now, too. I appreciate how your character’s costumes on English Teacher lightly reflect your real-life aesthetic.
I feel like they wrote the character Tiffany with me in mind. They were super cool about letting me bring my personality to her. During fittings, they wanted to know what accessories I had that they could incorporate into her style. Tiffany’s more like me now versus how I actually was back in high school. So it was just like me playing a bolder version of myself. And I got to reexperience what high school would’ve been like in an alternative universe.
Looking forward, what would the dream acting role be for you?
I really just want to do artsy stuff, even if no one sees it. My goal is to be in an A24 production. My favorites are Waves, Beau Is Afraid, I Saw the TV Glow, and Euphoria. As far as directors go, I love Lee Daniels who did Star and Empire. And obviously, I love Sofia Coppola—the way she portrays women is everything.
You worked with her daughter Romy Mars on English Teacher!
You know what’s crazy? I didn’t shoot any scenes with her, but after we wrapped, we had a get-together at one of my friend’s cribs in Atlanta, and she was cool as fuck. She’s, like, 17, but through these projects, you really befriend everybody.
You do seem to know everybody these days. You opened for Charli XCX and joined SZA onstage. Those two come from such different sectors of music—how would you compare those experiences?
The performance with SZA in Australia felt like a fever dream. It was in an arena, and when I was onstage with the crowd singing the words, it just gave me hope. SZA’s so nice and made me feel so comfortable and brave. She’s the type of person who’ll say something super profound in the middle of a conversation, then just keep on talking. She offered so much wisdom, and let me know that what I’m doing is important.
Charli was different because the performance space was more intimate, and it was a week after BRAT dropped. No one knew how big it was going to be. It felt like we were in a club because her energy was so crazy. Everyone was lit and ready to have a good time. She’s British as fuck, and I love her.
What happened with BRAT last summer was so special. What did you glean from that album’s cultural takeover?
Nowadays, TikTok is deemed the number one marketing avenue, but BRAT showed us that you don’t need a bunch of tech interference, just a really good concept and something that’s easy to replicate, and she did that so fucking well. It gagged me.
And you often get the opportunity to collaborate with huge names, brands, and companies. In those discussions how do you stay true to yourself and maintain your artistic integrity?
I think one of my greatest decisions was creating “Aliyah Core.” Because when I show up, people already know to expect me. So I’ve never had to deal with people trying to change me, and when that does happen, I’m not about it. Y’all know what y’all paid for. Black girls are always having limitations put on us in general, and that’s never going to work with me.
First look: Diesel dress, swimsuit, and bracelet. Jiwinaia earrings. Chopova Lowena ring.
Stylist: Cassie Anderson. Hair: Jadis Jolie at E.D.M.A. Makeup: Christyna Kay at Art Department using MAKE Beauty. Manicure: Danny Tavarez at Nail Glam Productions.
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