Alyssa Reid

0:06Hey, I'm Elisorit and you're watching MSN Exclusives. This song was written by Billy Stenberg and Josh Alexander, myself and Jamie Applebee, up in LA. And it's really fun to work with Billy actually because he wrote alone, sorry, alone. So to work with him after that whole experience has been really great and he's a really nice guy. So you say he wrote the original? He wrote the original. Okay, so he was a huge writer in the 80s.

0:51He wrote true colors like a virgin alone in pretty much every huge head in the 80s. Pretty much, honestly. Any prolific song that I think back and like eternal flame, like all of the massive hits. So it was really cool to go back and still have that influence and to recreate something modern with it. When you heard that song for the first time, was it presented to you and you were like, I need this song? Or how did that work? The construction of a loan? No, no, no. Well, we can go back to that if you want to. I was talking about guaranteed. Okay. The song satisfaction guarantee. The idea was already kind of there. What Billy does is he's more like a lyric person and then he has like this really awesome sidekick named Josh. And Josh just like all the beats and Billy just sits there with his pen and paper really quietly and he starts writing.

1:41So we were in a session with him and he was just sitting there jotting away on his notepad and then he's like, hmm, I have this idea. He passed around his notebook and it was a really great idea and we just kind of went with it. And so the video reminds me, like I know you worked at Tim Hortons, you got this fast food video. So is that kind of an homage to that or is it just happened to work out to you like the treatment? Well, when I was thinking satisfaction guaranteed and like what comes to mind, obviously like something fast food or like a product obviously. So when I thought of the video idea for satisfaction guaranteed, I wanted to make something really ridiculously funny and cheesy. So I went off like the whole like just satisfaction guaranteed title and we wrote a treatment based off of like, and it's not supposed to be a sexual sentence. It's more funny.

2:29But we wrote the idea based off of like the whole satisfaction guaranteed fast food. I know you've got a good Tim Hortons story about being fired and whatnot, but I know you told that. That's a good story. I think it's a funny story. I've heard you tell. They were good to get fired. Well, but the circumstances are you wouldn't be where you are today if that didn't happen. That's true. I would be in the back of Tim Hortons making chicken salad and donuts. So what was it? What is a crazy story from that time though? Because I'm sure I mean, we've all had our jobs where we've we've worked at places where you see interesting people. Oh, you see interesting things too. Yeah, right. Okay. So give me one. Exactly. You want to know like the disgusting things like disgusting? Yeah, please. Okay. One time I had to clean the bathroom at Tim Hortons and I went in and someone left their tea there on the floor in a cup.

3:14And I was like, oh, so I picked up the tea and then the lid wasn't on properly and it started pouring all over my hands. And I'm like, oh my God, that is not tea. So I peed in a cup and put it beside the toilet. And it was now like all over me. In the bathroom. In the bathroom at Tim Hortons. You're beside a toilet. Are you kidding me? People have interesting fetishes. Peanut cup beside a toilet? I don't want to judge. I don't understand why someone wanted me to be covered in their pee when they could have easily. Like at least pee in a cup and then dump it in the toilet and recycle it. Like there's so many options. Why would you do that to me? I'm glad I asked you that question. That was a good thing. Oh, it's not a good story. No, I like that. On the bright side I was wearing gloves.

4:00That's how it wasn't like skin contact. But I could feel it through the gloves. It's wet. Okay. Time bomb. Like I was telling you before, there's a lot of hard beats on this record. Like it's a, it's a, I'm going to say exactly what I told you before. It's a driving record. For sure. I mean, I'm a pop artist, but of course we want to add that whole edgy thing in. I grew up listening to jazz and blues and R&B, so I like to feel the soul in the songs. And I feel like having that like hard kick and the hard bass, it really helps admit how you're feeling. I mean, when you, when you get really into something, it definitely helps when you're emoting the lyrics with all of it. The last song other than all that hard stuff, the title track is You in a Piano basically.

4:47Yeah. So, we'll come up with that one. That song was written, I think that was the first song written for this album. And it was one of those ones that you just kind of sit there and write by yourself at 3 o'clock in the morning when you can't sleep and you have a lot going through your mind. Is that when you typically write? I am probably useless between the hours of 6 a.m. and 4 and anything past that. I'm like creatively on point, but I can't think between those times. I don't know why. I just think better at night. I think better at night. I don't know why. I guess it's because when you're alone in your house and you're just kind of in your own thoughts, I don't know. There's something about the night time that's when all my creativity decides to come, which is great, except I don't sleep pretty much.

5:34So, that's what happened with Time Bomb. It was one of those, You Can't Sleep, What Am I Gonna Do? I know, let's write a really depressing song and wake up all the neighbours. So, Time Bomb. I hear you write on piano and guitar. What do you typically do to gravitate to? Honestly, it depends on the song. When I have the idea for the song, I'll generally feel if it has more of a groove to it. I'll write it on a guitar. Anything on this record to start on a guitar? Yeah, let it all go, start it on a guitar. And that's one of those more flowy, feel-good kind of songs. So, I enjoy writing on guitar, but when I'm going to write, I usually gravitate more towards the piano, just because I'm better at piano, so I can do more and be a little bit more creative with it.

6:19So, it helps with my writing process to start off on a piano. I totally got off top of there, because it just clued into me when I asked you on the red carpet and all kind of ties. So, I met her on the red carpet two years ago at the Junos, when you're doing that medley of pop songs or dance songs, and I remember asking you, I think our question that night was like, who do you want to collaborate with that's at the Junos? And you had said Jacob from Headlet, love to work with him, and now you're about to go on the road with them. And I actually got to do a song with him too. Oh, on your own? I don't know if you heard of it. It was a song that I collaborated with. Yeah, it was a cover, but we did it for Kids' Health Phone, and all the proceeds went towards Kids' Health Phone, and I teamed up with a bunch of other artists for it. Jacob being one of those artists, so I guess it did come out. And it worked out. So, talk about this tour. How do you envision the show to be for the next month? I guess you must know about it.

7:05Yeah, I'm really excited for this, because it's going to be a little bit different from what I usually do. I get to play a lot of new songs, of course, because the new album is coming out. But I will be able to play a lot of instruments as well on this show, which is not something I typically get to do. In my shows I'll play guitar for a song, or I'll play piano in a loan again or something. But I really get to be more immersed with my instruments on this tour, so I'm excited. Where does a loan against Sitna set? When you know you want to kick it off, or do you want to end it without it just sitting in the middle? I like to end this song. Okay. It was for sure my biggest song, especially with the success in Europe. So it's the song that started at all, so it makes sense to kind of end it off with that. Cool, and we're going to end it off. We do something called Five Questions. Five quick questions. One more answers. Are they scary questions? No. Like questions about the Peacup?

7:50No, they're not about the Peacup. Okay. Road or Studio? Road. Leonard or McCartney? Mmm. Leonard. When you hear a song what usually hits you first, lyrics, melody or rhythm? Lyrics, of course. If someone's never heard Elissa read before, what songs they start with? Time bomb. And in one word, Elissa read. Sick right now. That's the only thing that came to mind. Thank you so much. No problem. Appreciate it. That was a good question. I don't know what that was. Sorry again. There we go. Have you seen what movie is it? I forget which movie. I think it's Scary Movie or something where the guy with the hand and the pie. It is scary. The guy has it really funny and he keeps putting his hand in everyone's food and everyone's like, oh my God.

8:35But that's what that reminded me of because I like T-Rex too. Oh, I like T-Rex too. That's fun. That's a good way to end it. That was awesome.