Aly & AJ Describe Their New Album as a 'Love Letter' to Fans and Tease Nostalgic Tour Setlist
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Stephen Ringer Aly & AJ
Aly & AJ may have stepped away from music for a decade, but now they're back and on a roll with a new album, With Love From, which dropped Wednesday.
After rising to fame with songs like "Rush" and "Potential Breakup Song" as teenagers in the 2000s, the sister duo took some time to rediscover their musical identity after 2007's Insomniatic album and focused on acting in projects like The Goldbergs and iZombie.
They returned to the scene in 2017 with a string of EPs before releasing 2021's a touch of the beat gets you up on your feet gets you out and then into the sun album, which saw them usher in a new, laid-back California pop-rock sound to critical acclaim.
"It feels like we never left, in a way, but it also feels like a rebirth," Aly Michalka tells PEOPLE. "It's been a very long road for us to get our flowers in a way, but I think we're receiving them now, and we're very grateful for it."
Crafted shortly after a touch of the beat and considered its "sister record," With Love From finds Aly & AJ diving further into their new signature sound with the same creative team. Featuring lyrics about topics from their respective relationships — Aly, 33, is married to filmmaker Stephen Ringer, while AJ, 31, is dating actor Josh Pence — to mental health, the album marks the continuation of a creative stride for the siblings.
Aly & AJ spoke to PEOPLE about creating the new album, reuniting with early collaborators, an upcoming holiday project and what fans can expect from their upcoming tour, which kicks off later this month.
You toured extensively over the last two years with headlining shows and opening slots for Ben Platt in arenas. How was that experience of spending time on the road, and how did that shape up the way you approached With Love From?
AJ: It's funny because when we did the Ben Platt tour and the a touch of the beat tour, we had already written and recorded With Love From. Aly and I have never really played music before it's out in a live setting, and we had an opportunity to play three of the songs before they came out. It painted the way Aly and I really want to start recording our music. There's a different energy when you play live that you don't always get in a studio because of the adrenaline and the instant reaction.
Aly: It guides you to the natural place the song should sit. The more that we can utilize our live show to help inform us on what our next record will be, the better — I think — the shows and albums will become. In a dream world, we would have a tour where we play a bunch of music that's not released, see how it sounds, work it out with the band and then record it. Maybe that's in our future.
When did you start writing this record, and how did you decide to continue within the a touch of the beat world sonically?
Aly: We started in July 2021, and then we recorded everything that December. We wrote for about five months, which is not that long, but we found the collaborators that we had worked with on a touch of the beat to be the right people to go back to. We worked again with Jorge Elbrecht, Yves Rothman, Johnny Newman, a couple guys from The Voids, Ryan Spraker, James McAllister — and Dan [James] and Leah [Haywood], who were the producers of Into the Rush. We reconnected with them after probably 17 years, something crazy. There were really no new people in the camp other than Joy Oladokun.
I actually haven't even told AJ this, but I'll tell you now, and it's in our calendar. We have sessions that I've booked already with James and Ryan in May because of maybe some deluxe situation that's down the road.
AJ: I love it. We also have a Christmas EP in our future that we need to get going.
Aly: Any excuse for us to get into a room to write, we'll be there. It's always something that we look forward to, and it's never a chore to us.
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Stephen Ringer Aly & AJ
A lot of the lyrics on this album talk about a lot of different aspects of love and romance. And you both are in extremely long-term relationships. How did your own love lives inspire the lyrics of this record?
AJ: It's hard because Aly and I are in separate relationships but work as one — and we're sisters. You end up wanting to write about your loved one, but the other sister wants to write about her loved one. So, how do you make the story make sense for other people without you being so married to your own relationship? It's important, even though we're both in really wonderful, balanced romantic relationships, that the writing really can speak to many other people. We have a lot of friends that are also not flourishing in their love lives right now. Sometimes we'll write off the energy that our friends or people we're really close to give us.
I love this record because, to me, even though there are a lot of romantic elements to it, we've learned how to write songs that don't just play into the love format, which a lot of times is the go-to pattern, especially for a pop artist. We've tried to challenge ourselves, so I'm really proud because this album has many ups and downs of positive relationships and songs like "Sunchoke," which deal with mental health. We have a lot of really sweet sentiments on this album that I think a lot of people will be able to relate to.
You're credited as producers for the first time on this album. How was the process different for you this time around?
Aly: Since we started making records as young teens, we were a part of the production process. We were very opinionated on what we liked and how we wanted things to be recorded. We were always there in the studio, which I think is not normal probably for artists at that age. A lot of 14-year-olds are probably like, "I want to go see my friend. I'll catch you tomorrow." But for whatever reason, we really loved being in the room for every part of it.
For this record, we were sitting there listening to the band, and AJ was like, "I really think that we should be in the studio right now singing the vocals live at the same time as the band." I looked at her and was like, "Yeah, sure." I do feel like we've always been producers, and we always wanted to own that contribution that we've made, but we felt like, "This isn't our place. We need to just be humble artists."
On this go-around, we agreed that we've been producing music, really, since day one, especially when it comes to vocal performances. I don't think that we're ever going to turn back from that now, and Yve and James were gracious enough to understand our want in really laying that out and letting people know about it.
Stephen Ringer Aly & AJ
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How did you meet Joy Oladokun and decide to collaborate for "Way of Nature, Way of Grace"?
AJ: We met at Lollapalooza a couple years ago. We were both fans of each other's work, and we wanted to see each other's sets but couldn't. We DM'd about it, and I think there was just a mutual respect. We stayed in touch, and we hung out with her and her fiancée in Nashville and talked about the future of our music.
Aly and I worked with Thad Cockrell in Nashville when we were writing this record, and we were like, "This song would be so beautiful for Joy's voice." Once the song was written, we brought it to her as a guest vocal, and it worked out so well. The dream is that she'll be playing with us at the Ryman on my birthday, which is looking very positive. I'm very excited to share the stage with her. It was a perfect fit and a really special feature, which we've never really done before.
Do you feel like you have a mission statement with this album and how you'd like it to be received by listeners?
Aly: It's a love letter to our listeners, to the people that have been there supporting us since day one, the people that have come on board and rediscovered us. It's a postcard filled with so much appreciation, joy, struggle, heartbreak, change and growth. We've been through so much. We've now been a band for 20 years, and With Love From is exactly the message we want to send to the people that are listening to the record wherever they are in the world.
Stephen Ringer Aly & AJ
What can fans expect from this upcoming tour and the setlist? Are there any songs you're super excited to play or any old songs that are going to be in the mix?
Aly: We really tried to dive into some of the songs that we have not played in a long time. There's a delicate balance of bridging the gap between the old albums and the new. We're playing songs like "Rush" and "On the Ride." We haven't played "On the Ride" in 15 years.
AJ: Also "Division" and "Potential Breakup Song," of course. The whole new album and a lot of a touch of the beat. I'm excited. There'll be act one, act two and act three. From a lighting perspective, it's going to be a really special show. We're working with Marc Janowitz, an unbelievable lighting designer and creative designer. We're all about elevating as much as we can, especially when we're touring this soon from last year.
Tickets for Aly & AJ's upcoming tour are available at the duo's website.
