Dilshad 0:02

Welcome to the Delicious Dignity Podcast. Let's settle in securely and ever so nicely into the brilliance of our own dignity. Hello lovelies. In this episode, we're exploring how the process or the concept of artist development mirrors soul development, the development of your own soul. If you don't relate to the word artist, insert the word human. Because as Julia Cameron would say, author of The Artist's Way, as she would say, just as blood is a fact of your physical body and nothing you invented, creativity is a fact of your spiritual body and nothing you must invent. So whether you're a creator, an entrepreneur, or someone who's just starting on their spiritual path, or someone who's advanced on their spiritual path, or someone who's just looking to explore their inner life, this conversation will leave you ready. Ready to step into your own special blend of magic. Because what Ali shares most of all in this episode is answering that one question that this entire podcast is based on, which is how exactly do we hold our dignity in a world that seems to chip away at it? How can we navigate that tricky balance between staying true to yourself and thriving in a world that often seems to reward the opposite? So stay with us as Ali Sue is about to show us how creating from spirit, not survival, is the ultimate career move. Let's go to the show. Hello, lovelies! I am so excited to bring this episode to you because this episode is with the lovely, the inimitable Ali Sue. And Ali Sue is someone that I met through an intuition training course. For some reason, I just instantly connected with her and I instantly just loved the way she carried herself. And I was also really interested in the work that she does because she is a songwriter and she also does artist development. But I wanted to read part of her bio so that you can get a sense of just how awesome this woman is. So Ali Sue, also known as the Fairy Song Mother, is an LA-based independent songwriter, lyricist, and executive producer. And she has had over 185 million streams on Spotify and more than 500 million overall digital impressions, if you will. I think she's one of the industry's best kept secrets because her work has even appeared in Microsoft, in Simple Mobile, and a bunch of other television networks like Nickelodeon, Netflix, and Amazon Prime. So this woman's legit. More legit than that. Check the resume. Because even when I first was reading your bio, what really stood out for me is just I was puffing my chest out because I'm like, wow, this woman, look at all the accolades, look at all the awesome stuff she's done with her life. And I just, not that I'm your mom or anything, but I just feel so proud that a woman is doing this in the world and you're using so many spiritual principles to get there and beyond. You introduce yourself and what are you working on, Ali, and what are you doing?

Ally Sou 3:28

Yeah. Thank you for that beautiful introduction. It's hard to beat that, but yeah, my name's Ali Sue. I grew up writing songs. Like I've always been a songwriter. I'd never really considered it as a career until life presented the opportunity by going to school, and I studied and learned entertainment business management and audio production engineering. So that was like my incubator. And then from there graduated, and it took me about seven years of building before I was even able to go full-time. So that was a lot of like side hustles, studio, side hustle, studio. And then was able to go full-time in 2019. Stayed in Toronto where I grew up and basically where my whole career started until 2020, end of 2022. Moved to LA to take the next step 2023. And I've been here ever since. And it's just been like the expansion of my career, of myself, of my intuition, of everything. Like I'm adulting so hard right now. But I'm also like still such a little brat kid in the best way. So it's been like such a great experience moving here because it's just like it blows every door open in terms of opportunities. And like this is the hub of where everything is happening. So there's a lot going on and a lot to sift through and a lot to manage. But it's great that I'm able to catch it, ground it, and build with it as well. So that's where I'm at now.

Dilshad 4:54

So you mentioned artist development. And a lot of people don't know what that is, but I feel like that's the perfect entryway into us discussing how you use spiritual principles in your work. So let's talk about what artist development is first.

Ally Sou 5:09

So I think I have my own definition of artist development, but I think from an industry perspective, artist development is finding a talent that is still fairly green, but you see something in them that you can develop, right? So it used to happen a lot more in the industry where there were these sectors of a label called AR that would scout talent and develop them, like actually write songs with them and introduce them to songwriters and producers and really take time to incubate and develop these artists sonically, what their brand is, what they look like, who their demographic is, how are they going to market them? Like just totally build this 3D character. But as the industry's been changing so much with technology and the digital download, labels don't really have the time or resources or interest anymore to be doing that. As I was coming up in the industry, Spotify started to take over and I saw this blind spot where no one was really developing artists anymore from a label perspective. So what I fell into was doing that and then shopping these artists to labels doing the dirty work for them in a way, because now if you want to get signed to a label, they want to see that you already have stuff going on, right? Whereas before it wasn't always like that. So what I do is I help artists build leverage and visibility by helping them develop their sonic brand, by helping them write songs, curating a team for them sonically primarily. So producers, instrumentalists, engineers, getting them in studios, doing demos, recording their projects, and helping them release those projects into the world to help build visibility to have people interested in helping them go to the next level. So that's where the whole fairy song mother thing comes into place because it's where you get them ready for the ball and fitty boo, and then you send them on their way. And the next thing you know, they're having the best time, and they don't, not that they don't need you anymore, but like you're creating space for somebody else to come in and benefit from those resources now as well. But I think what makes my process more unique is I get in there. Like I, this is like where the spirituality piece comes in, where I'm just like, so what's your soul, heart, and guts look like? Like I think we should start there. Yeah, I think that's makes my service a bit more unique, but it's totally guided by spirituality and also some business and like the thinking brain and the feeling brain kind of work in tandem to make that happen.

Dilshad 7:30

Yeah, so three things that popped into my mind. You call yourself the fairy song mother and that ability to bipity boppity-boo people and totally transform someone, but it's not really transforming because it was who they already were. You just made it more visible, more accessible to the person, but also to the world at the same time. And I just remember us fantasizing about starting our own podcast where we were gonna name it bippity boppity-boo, bitches.

Ally Sou 8:02

And it was a show.

Dilshad 8:04

Yeah, it was all about sprinkling magic on people to bring out this beautiful soul into the world. So that's what that reminded me of, because that's exactly what you do, but from a songwriting perspective. The other thing it reminded me of was this idea of archetypes. And I feel like you make archetypes out of people or you bring out the archetypes in them so that they're more visible. And an archetype was introduced a really long time ago. I forget what the word actually means in Latin or Greek, but basically it was heavily promoted by Carl Jung, who then applied archetypes to psychological concepts, like the archetype of the mother. You could say it's a like a stereotype, but at a psychic or soul level, at the level of the collective psyche. So, what does it mean to be a mother archetypally? It doesn't mean that you're producing kids, although it could be. It could also mean that you're birthing songs. It could also mean that you're birthing artists, it could also mean that you're birthing a painting, it could mean that you're just fertile in a way that you are constantly producing andor creating, actually, not producing, but creating life into the world. It could mean you manage your own garden. There are so many ways that archetype can come forward. And I feel like that's part of what you do with artist development. So I was wondering when you talk about artist development, how do you walk them through the spiritual process of connecting to their soul, their archetype, their psyche? And how do you pull that out of them?

Ally Sou 9:39

I think step one is when you're in a studio session with new people, it's like you got to get deep fast. If you're gonna make someone feel comfortable and if you're gonna make someone create a space to let somebody actually go there, you need to break the ice, at least for me. My process is break the ice in a way that makes it understood that this is a safe space and you're safe with me. And I think just creating that environment, you're setting yourself up for success to get to real conversations and real topics.

Dilshad 10:12

Let me stop you right there, because this idea of creating safe space is a jargon that everyone throws out, but I feel like a lot of people don't know what that means. And I'm so curious to know how do you create safe space for the artist?

Ally Sou 10:28

I think just holding the intention, first of all, as a human, like I hold that when I say hello, nice to meet you, welcome. Like I'm already there, and I think on a subconscious spiritual level, a lot of people can already feel that.

Dilshad 10:43

So you've made yourself the safe space first.

Ally Sou 10:46

First, yeah. And then you make the room a safe space, the material world, you make a safe space. And can I sit down, get comfy, whatever, get them comfortable. And then also what I do is I make an ass of myself first, intentionally, just to be like, I don't care if I sound stupid, I don't care if I say something inappropriate. This is a space where there's no judgment, and this is how you get to good ideas is just by being extremely candid and by being extremely honest. So I'll usually do something whether it's like slightly self-deprecating, or I'll say something really wild, or I'll just say something that's out of pocket, or I'll just do something that breaks the ice to be like, okay, like she's not a narc. You know what I mean? She's not gonna judge me, record me, and put this out to hold over my head later. Like, my only incentive is to make the artist understand that I'm gonna say stupid things. So if you happen to say a stupid thing, that's okay. And it's part of the process.

Dilshad 11:44

I think that's a beautiful. This is we are still just on step one of artist development, but it's so important that I feel like a lot of people they're so externally focused or they are so much in a victim space that they always want to feel like they're not responsible for their own energy and they're not responsible for setting that intention and creating a safe space within themselves so that they can be available to other people. It's always like they're looking in comfort for other people first, which is not a bad thing. We want that community, we want that love. But the idea of starting with yourself as a safe space immediately sets the tone for yourself because now you are a safe space for yourself, and now you're also a safe space for other people. And I feel like so much of talking is done without words. We're all very energetically sensitive, especially creative people. And I feel like that just alone sets the tone. I remember when we were in in intuition training class, we'd start with grounding first, and that's the way I do it, with helping them ground first to create that safe space for them within themselves. And then also starting, we also used to start with a prayer to clean up our energy and set the tone and open the temple. And so there are all these different ways that we did that in the intuition training course. And I think the what you just mentioned about laughter and about making a fool of yourself and just easing somebody. Have you ever heard this story? I can't remember where I read it, but there's a story when Buddha achieved enlightenment, the first thing he did was laugh. And I feel like laughter truly is the best medicine when we want to open up and we want to get into someplace deep. I even sometimes recommend to clients that they should watch a funny movie before a session.

Ally Sou 13:33

And so, yeah. It's serious work what we're doing, but the truth is it's not that serious. No, nothing is, it's not, and let it go. Who cares? When I think just coming in with that attitude of, I care about you, but I don't give a shit about what happens. Like, I don't care. And it's that whole pull and push of masculine-feminine, right? Like you're balancing those two worlds of you're pushing them, but you're also nurturing them at the same time and you're showing them like this is a safe space. Say and do what you want to do. I'll hold it for you and I won't judge you because I care enough to make you feel okay and it make you feel good. But the truth is, I really don't care. There's very little you can say that's going to make me think that you're a monster or a terrible person. And even if you happen to say something that's like incredibly wild, I might think it, but I would never be like, stop this session, get out, you're a psychopath. Well, that's never happened before because it's very rare that those people even exist. So it's like I think we hold on to this idea of this like seriousness, and I need to like it's like the guard, the protection that we walk through life with. And I think my tactic is to just break that guard off the rip. Like, let's just get silly, let's get, let's play. So this is creativity. It should be fun, it should be effortless, it should be effervescent. There's something very light and buoyant about it, and you have to learn how to play with that to even get to the really gut-wrenching, sad stuff. Like you still have to have that open sense of wonder, right? And that sense of childlike wonder.

Dilshad 15:05

The other thing about is have you ever read this book called The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron?

Ally Sou 15:11

Yes, it's like an entry-level book that you get anytime. Like anyone that I know that's in the business is, oh yeah, I got that when I first started writing. It's like a rite of passage in my business.

Dilshad 15:19

Yeah, it really is a rite of passage. There's a distinct before I read Artist's Way and after I read Artist's Way in my life. And there's a quote from that book, which is because so much of what we're talking about today is creativity, songwriting, artist development. There's almost like a, if you want to call it a higher level than that supersedes all of that, which is how much of our soul expression we bring into the world. And she says, creativity is oxygen for our souls, and cutting off our creativity makes us savage. I'm like, oh, that's what Ali Su does. She makes people less savage and more soulful in the cosmic sense. And it's hard, yeah.

Ally Sou 16:00

Sometimes we're writing savage stuff. You need that process to get there and to release it. Like, it's not gonna come from constriction and restraint, it only comes from opening and letting go. And that's like what you were talking about with grounding. That's what I do with humor in those rooms, because you never really know who you're dealing with when it comes to artistry, because it could be anybody with any beliefs and any background. So I can't really show up and be like, let's meditate and get there, guys. They're gonna be like, who is this crazy woman? Some of them might think like that. But yeah, so you just you have to think what's a more practical pedestrian way, if you will, to get to these people quick and set that tone.

Dilshad 16:37

Yeah, and that's part of you creating that safe space is also matching what you know into their language, their philosophy, because spiritual principles can be applied with anything at all. Totally. You could even make it scientific if you wanted to. That's the beauty of spiritual principles. And I think that's why, yeah, grounding with humor is something that I never thought of before. I did this whole grounding on episode, and grounding with humor is a perfect way to ground, I would say that. Yeah, yeah. So that's beautiful. Okay, so that's step one. And I know you don't have a formal process, but if we could put it in a formal process, step one is you creating a safe space within yourself so you don't project onto your client so that they can feel that you're open and welcoming and non-judgmental. You're just someone who will hold them and they too can relax. So you've created that safe space. Now what?

Ally Sou 17:27

And then I would say I just start asking questions. I like to observe a lot in my sessions. Like, I think majority of the people that I work with probably a few times, three, four, five times into working, they'll be like, Oh, you talk a lot. Like, because like those first sessions, like I'm observing so much because I'm just trying to see what the landscape is currently. Where do I fit in? What potential do I see? And does that fit for what they see and what they want? So I think there's I could say the same thing about you, but I'm able to look at potential when I see people. And I think you and I both agree that something that we love to do is help people actualize their potential. And I do that through artist development. But the thing is, sometimes you have to recognize and learn where that person is at currently, regardless of what you see their potential to be. So I'm taking that sort of intake questions, and those are questions like, so tell me a little bit about yourself and what are your goals, because that also dictates what kind of music we're doing. Do you want to be on radio? Do you want to be underground? Do you want your stuff in movies, like what I talked about originally? Like those take different skill sets and formulas. So, like now I'm thinking from a practical, pragmatic side, but then I'm also thinking from the spiritual side of how easy is it to bridge where you're at right now to your goals? So I'm intaking and I'm listening and I'm observing. And I'm just trying to slowly pry by like more questions or acknowledging, affirming, yes, oh my gosh, yes, I love when that happens, or that's so cool that you did that. Good for you. And really finding those verbal cues that's making them feel seen and making them feel important and making them feel like they're special because you can't just be a mediocre artist and succeed. You really have to be amazing and special, and there's nobody out there like you. And that's a truth for everybody. That's what our DNA is. It's not like anybody else's. But when you're looking at like marketing someone, you have to find what that unique thing is that you can put down into a bite-sized three words brand that's going to make sense for the masses. So that's what I'm doing as they're talking. I'm like, oh, that's a cool piece. Like, that's a really cool part of them. Oh, this is a really cool part of them. Oh, I like this aspect of them. I find this to be very interesting. Or, oop, there's something here that they're not ready to talk about, but I can feel that. And I just try to put the mosaic together. And then generally, that's like within a 20-minute conversation, sometimes less. But that's what my brain's doing while I'm asking these very mundane, do you play instruments? Like, how did you learn? I'm like really taking like the metadata of everything that they're saying to really understand. And a question that I love to ask the most is what are you missing in your project right now? What do you feel like you don't have yet? Or what like what do you feel like you haven't said that's just like itching at you in the back of your mind? I still need to say this or I haven't done this yet. And then I think that's a really good way to find a starting point sometimes, is why don't we start there today? Let's try that. And we start writing a song.

Dilshad 20:35

You know what's really funny? Every time I do a session with someone, there are a good majority of people that come to me and say, I don't have any questions. I don't have anything I want to say. And I would just sit there and look at them and I'm like, so you want a session, but you don't have any questions. Interesting. And almost always I have found it's so important to question, to query. It's not even a question, it's not like an analytic thing, analytical thing. It's a portal that opens. And a lot of times when I do intuition work or channeling work, it's a lot of question-answer, question, answer, question, answer because the question becomes the portal. It's almost as if you ask the right question, the answer is already in the question. And so I always encourage people to ask their questions because it doesn't matter even what the question is, it becomes this portal opening, which is what you're describing. Only you're the one questioning them and opening them up in that way to get that juice. And then you also talk about just observing, which is such a I don't feel like we observe enough as a society. And that, if you want to call it, is a feminine skill, if or it's a feminine essence skill. It's the power of receiving, it's the power of just letting the world make an impression on you as opposed to you constantly making an impression on the world. And that's what you do when you ask the questions and you receive how they're saying it, what they're saying. Maybe the content isn't even that important, but it's just the way they move through the content as they speak. You're receiving all those impressions and letting them make an impression on you. And then you're talking about co-creation, really, because you're working with spirit and then you're also working with them in spirit. It's almost like you take their umbilical cord and plug it into spirit, and it's oh, there's your power. When you say you look at potential, I feel like women are so good at that to our detriment. Yeah, true facts. Sometimes we look at potential, and how many women have fallen in love with a man's potential? And I always tell women, I was like, this is your most beautiful skill as a woman. Just use it in a different way. Use it for being an artist. Don't use it to project onto a male as an example. I'm just pulling out these little principles that you're working with: the query, the question, the question as a portal, receiving, co-creation. It's almost like the sacred power of three, you, the artist, and then spirit or universe, whatever you want to call it, teacup. Sometimes I call it the A-word, the asshole. We gotta unpack that. Yeah, I know. That was a long time ago, but I have said some choice words. And then this idea of being able to look at the energy around a thing, it's not yet manifest, but it's manifest in energy form, which is looking at the potential. And then you talked about affirming people, which again, I feel like we don't do this enough, is to give people positive encouragement. There's so much criticism, especially in the online world right now. Everyone pulling out their trolls and their swords to attack people for the smallest imagined slight. And so giving somebody and even giving yourself that ability to say, hey, I noticed that you did this well, or this is something that's really good, pulling it out and giving it back to somebody else can be the most beautiful thing you do for someone. Because a lot of people haven't gotten that enough. It's true at all.

Ally Sou 24:08

And the industry I'm in, it's all about validation.

Dilshad 24:12

That's right. Yeah, go ahead. Speak more about that.

Ally Sou 24:15

Yeah, so I think a lot of people that are drawn to this industry are looking for some sort of validation from their trauma because once you get in here and you just see how messy it is and how unlawful it is, and how it makes no sense, and there's no like security or there's no one looking out for people. You I think any healthy, balanced person would be like, eh, maybe I'll try something else, but there's something that attracts a certain type of people to this industry. And validation is a huge part when it becomes when especially to artists, but for everybody, producers, songwriters, record execs, like everybody, you need to get validated because you're only as good as your last success, and you're only as relevant as your last success, right? So you are constantly searching for this validation, whether it's through streams or numbers or network or performance or who you're working with, like it's everywhere, and it can get very exhausting when you work from a space of validation. And I see it all the time, these artists just running themselves into the ground because they don't feel good enough, you know. But it's like you're blocking what's gonna get you to your goals because you're not working from the right space. You're working from a space of, hey, let me show you how good I am, versus just being great, just be and that's enough to get it'll all start building in front of you. But step one is showing up knowing that you're already there, and the rest is building as you go. It's like the bridge is building in front of you. It might not be there, but you with every step you take, there's gonna be a piece of wood that's catching you until you're at that side. And I think like what can really exhaust people is the validation, especially with artists, because for them to even be considered by a label or anyone that's gonna give them help financially, you need streams and you need numbers. And it's there's this talk now that the music industry has become a tech industry because we're not working from our heart space anymore where you're like, I got goosebumps when I listened to that, sign that guy. It's how many streams does he have? Does he have something viral yet? Oh, and it's like we're not working from the space that actually connects to people, right? And and numbers can be inflated, and that's what they're learning now is a lot of people are using bots and they're inflating these numbers. Like half of the stuff isn't even real. And we're comparing ourselves to something that's not even real. So I think it's really important to remind these artists, and you're validating them. Like, I'm validating you in your skin, I'm not validating you in what you've done. All that will come. I'm validating you in your art, in your taste, in your ability, in your voice, in your vision, in like that's enough to be enough, is simply you. And I think if you can really get an artist believing that in themselves, it's amazing how quick things start to transform and alchemize around them because once they start believing it, they're showing up in the world as that person. And everything is reacting according to that energy after that. So it's really cool to see the artists that I work with not only grow in their numbers and grow from the validation standpoint of the industry, but to become empowered as a person and to really believe in themselves and to really understand like I can do this and I can build a team that believes in me. And I don't need to shrink, or I don't need to change, or I don't need to be somebody that I'm not to make this happen. I as I am is enough to make it happen.

Dilshad 27:54

An episode I'm about to record after this one is one on the prostitute archetype. And the prostitute archetype is an archetype, or you want to call it an energy that we all have. So it's a survival archetype. It's the archetype that we confront when we have to address how much of ourselves do we sacrifice to survive in this world, and how much of ourselves we don't, and how truly liberated we can be. It's like how much of ourselves do we need to let go of? How much of ourselves do we need to change? How much of the numbers, how much of the metrics that we have to get in order to sell ourselves into the world? And you're talking about that portal in a different way, but I feel like this is a question we all have to answer. And I'm so glad you touched upon it because I was gonna ask you, one of the questions I was gonna ask you is how do you navigate a world that is constantly telling you that A, you're not good enough without views, without good TikTok videos, and very little money made because all the big corporations own the songs and you don't have enough money. And there, your industry is so ripe with all the ways you can lose yourself and sell yourself out in a way that very few other professions are like that. And your industry is where you confront the prostitute archetype more than any other that I know of that I'm familiar with. And so I was gonna ask you, how do you do that? How does one grapple with such a big question?

Ally Sou 29:28

I think for me, like when I'm dealing with artists, for example, when I meet them, it's really important to discern and help them understand art as a function of living and art as a business. Those are two very different things, right? And art as a business is not for everybody, and that's okay. And if at any point on this journey you decide that you just want to keep art for you, that's perfect. That's again, that's enough, and that's enough for you to survive. And still be amazing at creating and doing what you need to do. If you choose to take the road to sell your art, you have to learn how to exist in a space with all of these obstacles around you. And you have to learn how to fill the space if you still feel comfortable, even though there's all these spikes and tsunamis and typhoons. Like there's all this crazy stuff happening around you. And you just have to learn how to exist in this chaos and always come back to the sense of self and the sense of home. And you can do that through grounding or knowing yourself or having a very tight community of people that you know and love that will always hold you down and keep you accountable. But for me, the way that I work is like I just see possibility everywhere. Like I just try to keep a winning mindset no matter what. And if there's anything that this life has shown me, is if you believe it, it can really happen. And obviously, like I believe I can fly if I jump off a building. Don't be stupid. But I'm talking about I don't have to sell myself short. Like I don't need to sign a big publishing deal. I can still get a big cut. Like I can still be in rooms with people that are signed to these major labels by staying an independent artist. Like I don't like to think that it's not possible. I like to think that everything is possible. And I like to work from that space. And so when you're dealing with stuff with TikTok, and if you're choosing to be an artist, that's a reality that you have to accept. Because the thing with TikTok is that it's a free resource that can catapult your career into a different stratosphere. And for you to not use a free resource is insane to me because a good marketing budget could be $50,000 or more. And this is a free resource that could do that for you. So again, you have to really ask yourself do I want to take this on? And it's not going to be like every day, yay, TikTok. Like I have artists that probably hate it some days, but then other days they're like, I have to do this because this is work and I'm choosing this as an artist. So you have to get real with yourself and understand that if you're doing it as a business, there are some things that it's going to feel like work. And as fun as it is to imagine and play and create, like sometimes I'm like, I can't believe this is my job. And we're sitting there, should it be Pram Pam or Pam? We're like, what about ra pam? And it's just, I'm like, don't call me mama busy. It's just like ridiculous when you're like thinking about the how fun and free and creative our job is, but you have to also understand that it is a job. And I would say a lot of it, especially today, falls on the artist. So if you're choosing to go down that path, you just have to accept that you need to do things to help propel your career forward, unless you have access to money. And if you do, good for you. But if you don't, like the rest of us, you have to do these things that may not feel great, but they're good for your career. And I think it's about finding the special relationship of how do I use TikTok in a way that's right for me. I don't want to sit in the front seat and play it for my friend and be like, oh, this is my best friend's reaction on my new song. If that doesn't feel real for you, don't do that. Explore and play and study and learn what makes sense for you. I had an artist who hates doing TikToks, but she loves writing and she loves singing. So I said, why don't we do open verse challenges where we take a song that's already out and we write new lyrics for another verse as if you were on that song and this was your verse on it, and it's in the same context and it's in the same hit. And you can go viral that way. So you can find what you like, find how you like to perform, and try to capture that when you're promoting yourself versus trying to fit into something that doesn't feel good for you, right? And that's again about finding possibility and finding potential and making it work for you.

Dilshad 33:49

Two things you said that I feel like everyone can use, no matter what career they're in, is number one, just accept the world that we live in. And acceptance doesn't mean that you agree, it doesn't mean that you like it, it doesn't mean that you have a fondness for it. It just means that you see the world for what it is without resistance, because when you're resisting the whole world, it's just going to block your own creative flow, your own energy, your own vitality, which is one of my favorite rituals to do with people is an acceptance ritual where they just talk about what they accept and not because they like it, but just what they accept. And then working with the systems if you want to work with them, but doing it in your way. I am gonna be honest, I have yet not found a good way that I want to work with TikTok. I can completely accept that's the way the world is built right now. But I found another way for now in which I would like to do my marketing, and that's through affiliates and that's through referral programs. So I'm building my way to that, but I'm not coming at it from a place of resistance because I can honestly say social media has helped me in a lot of other areas of my life, like awareness of hormonal cycles and recipes that I never knew before. So I can't fully resist it. I have to accept that it exists, and then I have to find my own way to engage with it or not. Just that awareness eases the sting of that prostitute archetype, I feel like. And also it makes you like in the positive aspect of that archetype because you're still in the driver's seat. You're not letting the world pull you this way or that way, where you forget yourself and you forget who you are.

Ally Sou 35:27

So, yeah, that was excellent. That makes a lot of sense. It's also taking the power back, it's understanding that I'm doing this for me, not I'm squeezing myself into this space because I have to. Like, even that mind shift is huge. And it's also about understanding what your blind spots are. Like, okay, if it's not going to be TikTok, then what is it? Let's think. What else can we do? We can do grassroots, we can do guerrilla marketing. There's so many other things, like you said, referrals. If it's not TikTok, you just have to keep finding solutions. And having that's what to me, a winning mindset is just find solutions. And I'm not great at networking, I hate it. And that's like the stupidest thing to say from someone who wants to be successful in this career specifically. And I always feel like such a little spoiled brow, and I'm like, I don't want to go to the networking thing because I fucking hate networking. But then what I do is I try to have my own partners or I try to put position myself in other ways or network myself in studio sessions or network myself through referrals, or it's like at some point you still have to find a solution. And you can't just sit there and say it's not for me and I'm too good for it. Like at some point, you just you have to find a workaround. If it's not that, it has to be something else.

Dilshad 36:40

Yeah, and that's perfectly fine. Like it's about not falling victim, and that's what you're talking about. You're still empowering yourself with different solutions. You're not trying to become a victim to your warped sense of specialness or the fact that the world is what it is, you're not becoming a victim to it, you're just finding ways to be more empowered to it. And the funny thing that you said about networking, I have three episodes just devoted to networking and community building that are coming out as we speak. So that's hilarious. If you guys want a deep dive in it, you can go back and look at that. But yeah, I think what you said is especially potent because the next part I wanted to talk about is we're still on your process, right? You talked about creating the safe space, the importance of questioning and co-creation, looking at potential affirming. And from there, we talked about all these different ways in which people are not affirmed and lose their soul. They don't never lose their soul, but they drop pieces of their soul along the way and we recover it or help them recover it. And you talked about how instead of working from a place of validation, we're working from a place of just being and coming from a heart space, which especially in your industry is that has been lost in so many ways. So now what are you doing as you're developing the artist after this?

Ally Sou 37:57

I would say to keep it super simple, is like I'm just chasing the high at that point. I'm chasing what feels good. And I think a way to get there is variety, just trying a bunch of stuff. And you don't write three songs and release three songs. We write 10, 15, 20 songs, and the ones that work, you feel it. There's that biosignature that kind of rises in you, and you're just like, oh, this one's exciting. Like this one gets me going. I love this one. And you listen to that and you chase that. And a lot of it too is trusting your gut and letting the artist just fly free and just say it. What do you think he's? Oh, I don't really think. I mean, just say it. Like, just say it. And we learned when we were studying with Laurianne was first thoughts are true thoughts, right? And that's something that I really try to capture when I'm working because you can get so overthought, and it's important to refine from your thinking mind, but you have to create from your heart space, right? And and sometimes we get it twisted and we start creating from the thinking space, and that's not gonna give you real emotion, right? You can always go back and edit it with your head, but to get the feeling, like you chase the high, you chase the feeling. And that I've I'm actually learning how to think less, which is incredible because sometimes we're like, that lyric doesn't make sense. I'm like, run it. It feels so good. Who cares if it doesn't make sense? Like when you listen to some like rock and roll and you listen to some of these hits of the best hits of all time, what does that sentence even mean? And then you Google it, and there's a four, five, six, seven different interpretations of what it means to different people. And I think sometimes we can get so fixated on the idea of making it so clear and so concise, but a lot of it is just vibes, just let it feel good. Let's just get it to a point where it's resonating, and you're like, ooh, like I felt that. Like, that's great. And I think that's what the process looks like, and you do that over and over again, and eventually it ends up just presenting itself. This like body of work surfaces through all the other stuff that you've been doing. And from there, the brand kind of starts to present itself. And this is where you're getting the different levels of that person, and you can have that conversation and you can start saying, How do we want to roll this out? Because you can't think that I'm gonna get the 360 perspective off of one project. We're taking Polaroids of facets of you, and this is gonna archive your life by the end of your career. You're gonna have the whole story in these snapshots of you, right? So we just need to stay true to the snapshot. We need to stay true to the Polaroid picture of what's happening in this moment. We don't need the bow on it, we don't need the pretty ending, we don't need the happily ever after. If this is you in your menace mode, we need to capture you in your menace mode. And it's just about chasing that high of feelings and getting there and allowing for the artists to express themselves as honestly as possible.

Dilshad 40:57

I love how aligned this conversation is because the way I started this podcast is by talking about how in 2025 I made the commitment to move away from hustle culture and into my feel good era. And that was the promise I made myself. I just want to feel good. I just want to feel good. And so many people interpret that to mean a hedonistic, irresponsible life. And the funny thing is, since I made this commitment, and as I was making this commitment, I lost two jobs because they were just not aligned with me feeling good. And since I made that commitment, I've also started this podcast and all my creativity has been coming. I learned how to paint. And there are just so many things that I've been doing that follows that feel good, but I feel like so many people are scared to make what they think are mistakes when it's really just their feel-good in progress, and they see it as a mistake because it doesn't intellectually make sense. There's no intellectual reason why I should be happy that I lost two jobs. There's no intellectual reason. It's usually a cause for shame and embarrassment and blah, blah, blah. But the truth is I've never felt better. And the truth is that opened me up to so many other things. I feel like what you're saying is you really do you remember Lauriane, our intuition teacher, saying the words the opposite of love is fear, or the opposite of fear is love is something like this, it's something on those lines, or maybe I read it from somewhere else. But what you're doing really is you're asking them to feel the fear and do it anyway. And you're also increasing their love barometer so much that they maybe don't feel the fear as much, or it's not as loud. And that introduces them to create this body of work, as you said, and all these little Polaroids that ultimately actually make up their soul.

Ally Sou 42:47

Exactly that. And it's just so cool when you witness it and you see this person come out of their shell unapologetically. And I think that's the key is to there's so much unlearning we have to do as adults. I think past the age of your brain's formation, which is what after five, like you see, a lot of your brain is imprinted and formed around somewhere in that age. So it's like there's so much that we have to unlearn going through life. And a huge part of that is just especially what I do, is just expression, free expression. And with the day of the internet and the trolls and everything under the microscope, we don't have space for free expression anymore without getting death threats, without getting cancel threats, without being cyberbullied. Like it's crazy how this culture has shifted and it's impacted us on a molecular level.

Dilshad 43:40

So true. Oh my God, say that again. It's impacted us on a molecular level. Our biology has changed, our nervous system. Yes, got to pieces. Yes.

Ally Sou 43:51

It's wild because here in LA, I'll be out sometimes and I'm looking around and I'm with Gen Zs. Like I'm a millennial and I'll be with like Gen Z's or younger, and these kids look cool. Like the style, the fit, like they're just like, who are you? I want to know you. Like, you look cool as hell. But then I'm like watching them. I'm like, oh, so we're not dancing? Oh, so we're not doing this. Oh, so we're not making our fools of ourselves tonight. When I think about how, not to every every generation, like we used to party, but it's true. The way that we used to go out, like we didn't have the pressure of being captured, posted. I might look stupid, someone might cancel me, I might say something. Like we were sweating, our makeup was running, we were laughing, having a good time, falling over. Sure, was it perfect? No. Were we doing things inappropriate? Absolutely. But my point is that there was a freedom of expression when we would let loose. And I think that's almost become like null and void now. And not just that you need alcohol, you need to go out to let loose, but it's like, at what point now can we actually just exist without fear of what somebody's gonna think about what we do? So I really try to capture that at least in the studio. Sure, we're recording, sure, we're writing together, but nobody's gonna hear this unless you want them to. And no one's posting this unless you want us to. So I think it's really important to create without inhibition and without the fear of what if this is horribly wrong in my life is ruined as a result. It seems so ridiculous to say it out loud, but I think a lot of us are functioning from that space.

Dilshad 45:27

Yeah, we are. I still have it every time I put out a new episode or I have an outline, I think, oh my God, who is this going to offend? Oh my God, what are people going to say about this very controversial topic? And I have watched myself not say what I want to say or make it more palatable to audiences, just so that I either don't get attacked or I don't offend people that I didn't want to offend or trigger them. And I've had to constantly work through that with every single episode. And I'm sure a lot of people have had to work on it through their career, all the ways in which they dumb down themselves so that they don't either get attacked or they don't have to face being in some kind of public eye, or they don't have to be thrown under the bus, basically. And so I really this is something we all have to do in our spiritual life is to address our fears and work through them. And I think you have a beautiful way of doing that because the other thing that people don't do is that they don't trust joy. So when you're talking about chasing the high, I can just hear people saying, oh, that's so irresponsible, or oh, that no, I've gone with my joy before and it's hurt me, or that joy doesn't pay the bills, blah, blah, blah. It's not true.

Ally Sou 46:45

It's not. And I think those are judgments that you need to ask yourself: why are you operating from that space of it's not possible? It's because it's triggering to people to see somebody happy and to see somebody follow their dreams and do it and actually be successful at it, it triggers people because they didn't do that and they're not happy and they want, they're feeling unfulfilled in their lives. And it's okay to trigger somebody and you can't take that on as that's your fault. You know, if you're triggering someone by simply being yourself, again, there's always rules to exceptions. Are you saying something crazy? Are you hurting other people? But if you're not like harming other people and you're just like existing and being yourself and doing what makes you happy, if that triggers somebody else, that's because they are not in tune with themselves fully. And there's a part of them that wishes they could have a little bit of what you have. And it may not be the exact same thing. Maybe it's the freedom, maybe it's the being so brave, maybe it's the idea of being fearless and going for what you want. But the truth is like the internet is not real. It's not real, it's not a real place, like it's not the real world. And a lot of what on the internet is also not real. And the people that are coming to you is such a small percentage of the people that are actually on the internet, right? And they say a lot of the times the loudest person in the room isn't always the smartest. Right. So you got to think of that too from an internet perspective. When you do have these trolls or you do have these people coming after you, there's an exponential amount of more people that are watching, and A, either don't care, perfect, B admiring, okay, cool, I'll take that. But like I would almost prefer something in the middle because if you validate the person who's admiring you, by default, you're validating the person that's criticizing you as well. Because at the end of the day, none of it's real, regardless. And they're only seeing you at from their perception and their perceived projections, and it has nothing to do with you as a real person.

Dilshad 48:43

You meant to that, sister. And is there anything else in your process that we missed that you want to talk about? Because I want to ask you a final question.

Ally Sou 48:52

In the process, I would say, like of artist development. Yeah. Outside of you just write the songs and it could take three months, it could take a year, it could take a few weeks. Every artist is different. You work on your own timeline. When you get the songs, you feel it. And you always think that this project that I'm putting out is a stepping stone to get me to the next step. It's you never think like this project is going to be the thing that breaks my career and actually gets me there. You're just constantly thinking brick by brick, step by step. And if you just rinse, repeat, recycle, you just do it over and over again. Eventually something happens where you're in a different level and you're out of the fairy song mother's school of learning and on to the next chapter.

Dilshad 49:36

In following that thread, I was gonna ask you do you have any favorite stories of artist development or any favorite process that you went through with an artist, or any songs that are your favorite that you co-wrote or wrote, or any spiritual principles you used. Any story?

Ally Sou 49:53

Yeah, I wouldn't say necessarily that I have a specific favorite. I think what keeps me in awe and wonder of this industry is the serendipitous element of it. You write a song, six months later, somebody sends it to someone, five months later, this brand just lost their deal with this person. They're looking for the specific song. Like it's just the way that the timing and the pinball sort of effect of cause and effect and how things actually land, it never ceases to amaze me with how random and what can seem like random luck is really like divine timing happening in this whole process. So I've had stories where I wrote a song and four years later I'm getting a call while I'm a waitress saying, we need you to approve this by two o'clock, and it's like 1.50 when I'm getting the message, and I just finished a lunch rush, and it's like a huge movie, Blockbuster Hollywood movie with six-figure payout. And they're like, We need you to do this. I mean while I wrote the song four years ago, never even thought about it. And how it got to this was because one of the writers ended up getting signed to a label, and then the label pushed it to the publishing, and the like blah blah ping, pong, boom, pong, ping. And then next thing you know, it's in this Hollywood blockbuster film, and they need me to sign something within 10 minutes, and I'm like, this person needs a coffee, and I'm like stressing out. So this actually happened to you? Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So that's a part of it that will always fascinate me is just the serendipitous sort of journey that happens with these songs sometimes. And then as far as the artist development stuff goes, I think what I'm fascinated by is just how honest an artist can get. And sometimes you feel I can't believe you just not that I can't believe, but like I'm honored you just gave that to me. And I'm honored that you said that. And sometimes they tell me things for the first time that they've ever said out loud. Or sometimes they share a secret so dark that I not that I feel responsible, but I want to provide for them some type of direction outside of the studio in terms of what you could potentially do to get the support that you need to go through something like this. I think that's the other side of getting real with artists, is you have to be prepared for everything, whether it's the fun times or the dark times. But I live for that. Like I live for the building and the empowering and the community and the holding and the supporting and everything like that. Yeah, it's hard to say one specific story. I feel every week there's something that fascinates me or something that feels like a miracle that happens in this business specifically and my career too. But I would say overall, it's the fascination of timing and alignment because it's preparation, but a lot of it is timing, and a lot of it, I would say majority of it is luck and alignment and timing.

Dilshad 52:45

Well, what a way to end. And I have my favorite. Can I share my favorite with you? Because I love so many of your songs, but I chose this particular song because I feel like it's a good way to end this episode. And this is a song called W-I-T-C-H by Devin Cole. W-I-T-C-H, which being an acronym for woman in total control of herself. And I just want to read you the first two paragraphs. Rumor on the street is that her apples are delicious. The jury said she's charming, but her exes say she's wicked. I swear to God, I saw her howling at the sky. She ain't out to get you, but she's better on your side. And she don't want to be anyone else. She's a woman in total control of herself. It's such a wonder to be under her spell. What a woman in total control of herself. Yes. You can't see this, but Allie snapping her fingers. Thank you so much, Allie, for coming on the show.

Ally Sou 53:53

Thank you for having me. It's been a lot of fun, and I always love chatting with you. I'm glad our souls got to dance today. Can we say our tagline?

Dilshad 54:00

Do you know that? The bippity buppity. Yes. You ready? Let's say it together. Okay. Bippity buppity bitches. Thank you, Allie. Thank you. Okay, lovelies. I hope you enjoyed listening to that episode. As much as we enjoyed creating it for you, you can follow along, Ali Sue's work and her brilliant artistry at Underground Hollywood on Instagram. I will be linking her Instagram in the description as well. Allie is like a diamond to me, you know, with so many different facets to her. So I'm going to be inviting her back to the show to discuss so many other topics, everything from trauma and sexuality to rejection and positivity. So stay tuned for that deliciousness. It's coming. And so, lovelies, may your life be a work of art so rich that your dignity stands firm on its foundation. Much love to you. Bye.