After Eurovision, she has a lot of teenage fans. Alessandra: I’m easy to identify with [WYWIAD]

Mieszko Marek Czarnecki: Are you an example of a modern European woman?

A bit like that. I’m a little bit from the North and a little bit from the South. My mother is Norwegian, my father is from Italy. However, I am not the only one – I have many friends whose parents come from different countries and this is completely normal for them and for me. For a very long time, I didn’t pay attention to the fact that both I and them came from not one, but several cultures. Today, probably thanks to this duality I learned from home, I can see that we bring with us different cultures and different approaches. Instead of saying “I’m right,” we say “this is my view, what do you think about it?” I feel like there’s a lot of contemporary and future in it. Less judging, more listening.

We stop noticing the skin color of our interlocutor.

And we begin to see man. No matter where we come from, where we were raised, what color our skin or eyes are, or who we sleep with, we are human from beginning to end. Neither better nor worse. Just people. That’s why it hurts me when I see people trying to divide us in one way or another and divide us according to origin, sexual orientation or religion. They focus on hate. They are afraid of change, they are afraid of the future, they are afraid of openness and differences. They are afraid of everything they do not know or understand, and the easiest way to respond to this is with force and hatred.

Is this a subject that children and grandchildren can teach their parents and grandparents?

I think so. Young people have always been more open and tolerant than older generations. Although it seems very demanding, for parents or grandparents there is nothing easier than being with their children or grandchildren, listening to their music, going to a concert with them, listening to how and what they talk about with their friends. It will be very revealing for them. And they will stop being afraid.

Nowhere in the world does the Eurovision Song Contest mean as much as in Scandinavia. Exactly a year ago you found out that you would represent Norway.

It was completely crazy. Every newspaper, every website, every television station wanted to write about me and talk to me. Have me on your cover. I expected that interest in me and my music might increase, but I couldn’t imagine in the slightest what has been happening in my life since last year. I’m just starting a tour around the largest cities in Europe because everything coincided perfectly at one point – I had a great song, I did great during the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool, I was well received by the audience. Even though it looks like an accident or a fluke, I see it as the result of my hard work. Piece by piece, brick by brick, I have been patiently building my wall, and now I am starting to climb it.

You’re twenty years old and you talk about patience?

My therapist keeps telling me about it. I have no problem talking about it. Today, young people often need professional psychological support. Much more is placed on our shoulders than they can bear. We cannot say “enough” on our own, we give in to impatience. We are lost and we need help, but few people remember about it. We are often left alone with it all, but we are not alone in dealing with this burden.

So everything that surrounds you is not a dream?

Of course it is! Sometimes I find myself dreaming about this. And at the same time, I dream of bigger and bigger things and I feel that they are becoming a reality every day. I dream of the next steps, of becoming an important voice in the music industry and beyond. Two years ago I was singing in the shower. Today I’m on a tour that I never dreamed of a few years ago. The venues I play are special places. Coldplay recorded one of their concert albums at Rockefeller in Oslo. The barn in Warsaw is probably the most legendary place in the history of Polish music. Sometimes I am afraid to dream because these dreams are starting to come true.

Does a 20-year-old pop artist have a more important role to play than singing pleasant songs?

It definitely has. Do I know what role I have to play? Not yet, but I know life will bring it to me. The most important thing I managed to discover is to be myself and in harmony with myself every time. This is my twenty-year-old truth that I want to proclaim. The higher you climb, the further your voice carries. That’s why I openly talk about the harassment I experienced from my peers, and that although I am far from the figure of a cover model, I want to feel good about myself and I do feel good about myself. Every day I receive hundreds of messages from fans who write how easy it is for them to find what I say, what I sing about and how I sing. I hear all the time that it’s easy to identify with me. Therefore, since I try to be myself at every step and at the same time be close to my peers, it means that not only am I like them, but they are like me.

Can this be reconciled with climbing the career wall in show business?

On the one hand, I am disciplined and I know what I want. I train, I try, I don’t give up. On the other hand, my friends admit that I am very human. I smile, I cry, I am afraid. The girl from the yard. I realized that I couldn’t chase anyone or compete with anyone, because it would lead me nowhere or to nothing, only to shortness of breath, fatigue, and lack of joy. I don’t know how long it may take to understand and accept ourselves – maybe a month, maybe a year, but from that moment we finally start to live a peaceful life in harmony with our own feelings. It’s not about a joyful life, full of excitement, entertainment, madness – it’s about peace and understanding that I live my life as the person I am, neither better nor worse. Just as me.

Is it time for you to give advice to others?

What is it, no. It’s still too much responsibility for me. However, I have many opinions and views that I can share. If you want to listen to them, do so. However, I am far from the view that what I say is the only correct one and therefore you should listen to me. It’s great if you find my attitude and want to use it, but if it doesn’t suit you, maybe it’s time for you to teach me something or share something. Young or new artists certainly learn from more experienced ones, but older ones can also learn a lot of new things thanks to their younger colleagues.

For the thousands of 15-year-olds who follow you on Tik Tok, you have a position that fully entitles you to take a stand on one issue or another.

But I have the right to do so, regardless of whether I have a million or a hundred people following me on social media. Not because I’m Alessandra Mele, but because I’m just human. What we need to learn is to share our opinion without being preachy or presumptuous. It’s not just about what you say, but how you say it. And this is a big challenge for many people.

Is it hard to be honest?

It’s the easiest thing in the world. It’s much harder to lie. When you lie, you forget who you really are. You have to remember every version of yourself. It’s very easy to make a mistake. However, honesty does not mean there is an obligation to share everything. That we must not keep anything to ourselves. On the contrary, it will be even easier for us to be honest if we keep a piece of space exclusively for ourselves, not sharing it even with our closest friends.