Alison Segura, also known as Nosila, is a Portland-based artist whose music blends dream pop, R&B, indie, and 80s and 90s pop. Recently, Nosila collaborated with producer Holen on their latest release, which is out now on Armada—despite never having met in person or even spoken on Zoom, Nosila and Holen managed to create a stunning collaboration showcasing their strengths.
Follow Nosila Online: Website // Facebook // Twitter // Soundcloud
The track “Yesterday” departs from Nosila’s typical emotional and dynamic productions by collaborating with Holen (the ambient and downtempo alias of the producer Heard Right, who commonly releases on labels such as Monstercat Silk and Purified). It challenges her to emote through her lyrics, melody, and vocal tone over a production with a consistent, energetic thread throughout. Despite this challenge, Nosila’s lyrics, melody, and tone maintain an emotional and reflective through-line that will resonate with listeners.
As an artist who writes music for herself as much as for her fans, “Yesterday” is a testament to Nosila’s ability to process and deal with difficult emotions through her songwriting.
How did you and Holen first connect and start working on music together?
Ours is a very modern-day music-making story. One of us followed the other on Instagram—I believe the connection is a shared collaborator Leo Islo—then after a while, he asked me to collab.
The funny thing about this whole thing is we’ve never spoken, not even on zoom. We’ve made this collaboration happen with very little communication: he sent the track, I recorded over it, his label gave us the thumbs up, and the rest is history.
How does “Yesterday” fit into your work and musical style?
This song falls outside of my musical comfort zone. I tend to gravitate towards emotional productions with lots of dynamics, so singing over a production like this, one with a consistent energetic thread throughout, challenged me to emote through my lyrics, melody, and vocal tone.
And this is exactly how this song fits into my body of work and musical style: the lyrics, melody, and tone have an emotional and reflective through-line.
You’ve mentioned that you have a background in photography. How does that inform or influence your music and creative process?
I approach photography like I approach songwriting and production: with an open hand. I don’t prefer being exact with art. I like to experiment, embrace the messiness, and push the boundaries of my creativity.
You told me before the interview that your song “Yesterday” was written during a difficult time with your dog’s health. How do personal experience and emotion factor into your songwriting?
At the end of the day, if nobody listens to the music I make, that’s okay because I don’t just write for other people; I write for me. It’s okay if nobody listens to the music I write or record because I don’t create it solely for others.
When I was writing this song, my dog was approaching the end of her life. I sensed her struggle, and even though I hadn’t verbalized it yet, my subconscious expressed it through the song’s lyrics.
Songwriting allowed me to unconsciously process and deal with the emotions and thoughts weighing heavily on me at the time.
Has your overall view on music and the industry shifted as you have continued to build your body of work?
For me, and many others, the Pandemic caused me to rethink the way I approached music. The Pandemic was a harsh reminder that we had limited control over the outcomes of our music careers. The only thing we have control over is the process.
Post-Pandemic, I’ve shifted my focus to finding enjoyment in the process. After all, if something like a Pandemic can come along and take away everything I’ve worked for, then it’s crucial that I love what I do along the way.
Share a fun fact about the writing, creation, or headspace you were in throughout the writing of this song!
Fun fact: I decided on this one to go with my first idea, to more or less ad-lib the entire thing!
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
