K-Pop Crossover: Pop Singer Alus Reveals Her Favorite K-Pop Artists, The Creative Process On 'Relapse' And 'Stilettos' [EXCLUSIVE]

Pop singer Alus is an artist on the verge.

Her new track, "If," a collaboration with producer Jeremih's protege Murf Dilly, was released on Thursday and the major labels have already come calling.

Why does Alus think K-pop fans listen to her music? For the same reason the rising star herself listens to K-pop.

"A catchy melody is a catchy melody," Alus said.

Earlier this week, the singer sat down with KpopStarz to talk about her feelings on Hallyu culture. Alus says it's K-pop artists' work in the studios that won her over.

"The production is really awesome," she said.

Though she feels underexposed to K-pop, living in the US, Alus does have her personal favorites.

"I like 2NE1," she says. "I like the song 'I Am The Best.' I always used to watch that music video. K-pop music videos are incredible. They look so well put together, the details and everything. I love watching the videos. I love Wonder Girls too."

Alus says she hears a lot of her own influences in those groups.

"I'm a melodic person," she said. "I love melodies. So when I hear a catchy melody, like in the Wonder Girls song with Akon. That song is very melodic. I like melodies, even outside of pop music. Melodies are what catch you."

Outside of K-pop, Alus lists Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston as her strongest influences. Though her song "Stiletto" captures a classic soul vibe.

"When I came up with 'Stiletto,' I was listening to a lot of Diana Ross," Alus said.

"You can actually hear it in the record, too. It's got a little bit of a Supremes feel to it. I do love all the divas, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston. Diana Ross is one of those supreme divas that is just an icon in music. I was going back to the 60s."

The singer also returned to a 1960s sensibility for the music video.

"I was really inspired by 'Mad Men,'" Alus said. "I love that TV show. I'm heavily inspired by 1950s and 1960s fashion. 'Mad Men' had that. So I thought, 'let's depict that.' There are cheaters now, but back then it was like it was almost expected. They would go to the office and have an affair with their secretaries and they'd leave and have their whatever affair. So I played on that whole theme, based on the Don Draper character in 'Mad Men,' I just put on all these wigs and played all the girls he was having an affair with."

She also channeled gothic director Tim Burton in her music video for "Relapse."

"I'm obsessed with Tim Burton and I have this dark side where I'm really enticed by this dark fantasy world," she said.

"That's where the inspiration for 'Relapse' came from. I was dancing in my kitchen, I had my MacBook open and I was recording my dance moves and I had this vision for it. I called my producer at three o'clock in the morning. I wanted to play a monk. That's how this guy made me feel. I came up with the idea for the skull makeup, going from this pink, nude face, something pure and holy, that represented how I was before. Then, at the end of the video, I'm in a straitjacket. So you know he really messed with me."

Alus says she wrote "Relapse," which likens a breakup to drug withdrawals, about her attraction to bad boys.

"I was with this guy and it was a huge problem, because it was a toxic love situation where I kept relapsing, kept going back to him," she said.

"I shouldn't have trusted this guy, but it's like that typical [story]. There's always that one bad boy, that one relationship where he's just bad news but he's so enticing. That bad boy thing just kind of draws you back. It was a bad situation, of course, but I let myself go back over and over again. So there was a relapse thing. I was talking to my friends about the situation and when I was describing I was like 'Oh my god, I feel like a drug addict.' You keep going back and felt like I needed rehab."

"When I was writing the song, I felt I could use it to describe the relationship," she added.

"So here I am, searching drug addict references online. 'Cocaine users, what do they feel? What do they do when they go through relapse? How do their bodies feel?' And I used that comparison to how I kept going back and back to the same guy."

Alus grew up in northern New Jersey, about 30 minutes outside New York City. 

"I always found I'm more comfortable and more at home in New York City, she said. I'm more a city person."

She owns a beach house on the Jersey Shore, which she says has a thriving music scene, which she took advantage of while growing up.

"When I was younger, especially on those teen nights, I used to go to [see music] with some of my friends," she recalled. "That's an awesome music scene. You have all these great artists from New Jersey, like Bruce Springsteen. A lot of great artists came from that scene."

Currently, Alus is in the studio every day, when she's not taking meetings, but she always makes time for songwriting.

"Sometimes it's funny how an idea will come to me for a song," she said.

"Sometimes, just a melody will come to my head. I'll sing it into the voicemail on my phone and I can work with it. Sometimes I'll be playing the piano and I'll play certain chords that just make me feel a certain way. Literally, sometimes I'll play certain chords and words will just come out of my mouth, boom. Oh, 'I'm starting the writing process.'

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