NEW SINGLE: TIG - ALICE SAYS
Tig trades introspection for distortion on bold new release ‘Alice Says’, produced by Holy Holy’s Oscar Dawson
"Undoubtedly one of Australia’s greatest up and coming songwriters." - Women in Pop
Fresh off being named a Top 10 Global Emerging Songwriter in the prestigious Vanda & Young Songwriting Competition, Mornington Peninsula songwriter Tig returns with 'Alice Says', a sharp-edged, cathartic punk-pop release produced by Oscar Dawson of Holy Holy. Out Monday 1 June via AWAL, the second single taken from a larger body of work due in the second half of the year, arrives following Tig’s announcement of a support slot alongside Kim Churchill.
Trading dreamy introspection for distortion, attitude and release, 'Alice Says' channels a nostalgic bite of Tig’s 90s and early-2000s influences, somewhere between Middle Kids, Killing Heidi and Angie McMahon; while retaining the emotional depth that has quickly earned her a reputation as one of Australia’s most compelling emerging songwriters.
At its core, 'Alice Says' is a conversation between two selves: the confident performer Tig is becoming, and the fearful inner voice that spent years trying to keep her safe. Written as an imagined dialogue with her inner critic, ‘I know you wanna be back in the driver’s seat’, the track captures the chaotic tension of wanting to live a creative life while simultaneously fearing everything it might demand. Playful, bratty, and emotionally unravelling in equal measure, the song turns an internal tug-of-war into something freeing enough to dance to.
"For a long time, I felt like there were two different radio stations turned up to the max in my mind, and I didn’t know which one to tune out,’ Tig explains. ‘One part of me desperately wanted to make music and live creatively, and the other part was constantly trying to protect me from failure and vulnerability. At a point when the internal noise was becoming too much, I wrote this song to try and drown it out. It was my way of yelling back, but also trying to understand what was driving the fearful voice."
This emotional reconciling extended into the recording process itself. Despite being known for softer, intimate songwriting, Tig was determined to make ‘Alice Says’ feel “more punk,” pushing herself toward a messier, attitude-driven performance. To help unlock that sense of release, Oscar rigged her vocals through a gritty amp simulator while she tracked, and loaned her a rare red overdrive pedal that Tig jokes made her “feel like a proper rockstar for a day.” The pair even shifted the song’s key multiple times mid-session to heighten its urgency and emotional combustion.
Reflecting on the song’s evolution, Tig explains: “The early lyrics were a lot more scathing (with a fair few bleep-able words), but I realised through writing that the fear was a part of me I needed to get to know too, instead of destroying it.”
'Alice Says' sees Tig expanding the emotional world introduced through her debut EP Inside Voices by turning internal conflicts into vivid, emotionally charged narratives, tracing the messy space between fear and courage, self-protection and expression, conformity and creativity. Tig has earned praise from Women In Pop, Beat Magazine, Forte Mag, AIR, Triple J Unearthed, PBS and Triple R, while support slots alongside Pierce Brothers, Ainslie Wills, Kim Churchill, Flynn Gurry, Maddy May and Grace Woodroofe have steadily built her reputation as a compelling live performer.
In a full-circle moment, Tig will again join Kim Churchill on stage next month, performing at Melbourne’s Brunswick Ballroom on Saturday 13 June. After first watching Churchill perform as a teenager at her hometown blues festival, Tig credits the experience with reshaping her understanding of what a life in music could look like.
Don’t miss your opportunity to see Tig perform on her biggest Melbourne stage yet alongside Kim Churchill at Brunswick Ballroom this June.
Upcoming Shows:
Saturday 13 June
Brunswick Ballroom - supporting Kim Churchill
6:30 pm: Doors
8:30 pm: Tig
9:30 pm: Kim Churchill
Listen to Alice Says
All links here: officiallytig.com/links