Alison Stewart: This is All Of It. I'm Alison Stewart live from the WNYC studios in Soho. Thank you for sharing your day with us. I'm really grateful you are here. Coming up later in the show, a company that curates meals based on books. They're called Table of Contents. Chef Evan Hanczor will be our guest. Tomorrow, Author Russell Shorto will be here. His latest book explores the historical context between the Dutch and the English over over the island of Manhattan. He'll be here in studio to talk about taking Manhattan, the extraordinary events that created New York and shaped America. That's in the future. Now, let's get this hour started with Alissia.

[music]

It is Women's History Month, and we have something major planned. All month, we'll be talking to women who make the music that you love to hear, the producers and engineers. It's a series we are calling, Equalizers: Women in Music Production.

According to a USC Annenberg study, in 2022, women accounted for less than 5% of production credits on the Billboard Hot 100 over the previous decade, men outnumbered women 35 to 1. Believe it or not, no woman has ever won the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year outside of the classical music category. Since the award was established in 1975, only a handful of women have ever been nominated.

In the 21st century, there have only been three. One of them is my next guest, Alissia, one of 2025's Grammy nominees for Producer of the Year for her work on songs like Rae Khalil, Jamila Woods, and more. Let's listen to a track she produced called Honey by BJ The Chicago Kid.

[music - BJ The Chicago Kid: Honey]

Alison: Alissia is one of the very few women working in music productions today, joining us for Equalizers: Women in Music Production. Alissia, it's so nice to meet you.

Alissia: Thank you for having me. Hi, everyone.

Alison: Hi. You started at the Berklee School of Music. Very prestigious. You played the bass. When did music production come into the picture?

Alissia: I think I was always a music lover, and I always really was craving and wanting to be able to play everything I was hearing on bass. Obviously I played piano, started on piano before. I was really craving the creating, trying to create songs. I was Focusing on bass a lot. It came around the same time naturally. I was writing and producing people in school, but that later on I really focused on that for a bit.

Alison: I want people to hear you play the bass. We found this from Berkeley. This is pretty great. Let's take a listen.

[music - Alissia]

Alison: That's taking you down memory lane a little bit.

Alissia: Wow. You guys really surprised me, back in the archives. Wow. Wow. Memories.

Alison: When you think about the fact that you will play music, that you played music, piano, bass, how does that help you in your production?

Alissia: I think being a musician and starting off as a musician is always helpful to write songs with people and then later on produce it and develop it. I think it's a great tool to have just being a musician, being able to know which chords to go to for the melodies and things like that. It really helped me, for sure, in my production. I use a lot of live instruments and analog. It's helping me a lot.

Alison: It was a lot of funk in that bass.

Alissia: Thank you.

Alison: Thank you. Do you consider yourself having sort of a basis in funk?

Alissia: I was a huge funk 70s music fanatic when I-- That's what really made me want to start playing bass like Bootsy Collins, Larry Graham, Brothers Johnson, so many of that era. That's really what I wanted to be able to play what I was hearing on bass. Definitely.

Alison: I'm speaking with Alissia, who is nominated for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical at the 2025 Grammy. She's here to kick off our march series, Equalizers: Women in Music Production. Your first Grammy nomination came from your work on Mary J. Blige's song, Love Without the Heartbreak. What did you see as your role in helping out Mary J? This is 2022.

Alissia: First of all, that nomination was incredible. We had two nominations actually, including Album of the Year, which is one of the most important categories. We were all very happy. Working with her was really incredible. She knew what she wanted as far as what she wanted to say and talk about.

I think musically we talked about different things and just inspirations she had music wise. I was working on that also, Anderson Paak. Shout out to the incredible Anderson Paak, who brought me in for that session. We had Just a great time. We really just were vibing and trying to make the best we could make and just have fun with it.

Alison: Let's listen to a little bit. This is Love Without the Heartbreak.

[music - Mary J. Blige: Love Without the Heartbreak]

Alison: I really hear her voice is very front. What went into that choice? It's clearly out front.

Alissia: That's more on the mixing end, but I think when she was singing that song, you could feel-- I was there actually when she was in the booth. She's just the queen, her magic and everything. It's just her whole aura about it.

I think just the decision of keeping her vocals so in front and then the backgrounds more in the back is definitely something that elevates this song. We try to still keep that magic of all the instruments that goes with it. She's incredible.

Alison: You were nominated this year for Producer of the Year for your work on songs from Jamila Woods, BJ The Chicago Kid, we heard that earlier, Rae Khalil. First of all, what's the criteria for the Producer of the Year?

Alissia: I'm not sure. I think it's also just the work, the versatility of the producer and how much-- I'm guessing, and there's not the exact criteria that is publicly written, but what I assume would be to just elevate someone's an artist's vision and musically and really execute it as best as they can as producers. For me, it was really an incredible year. I had the honor of working with a lot of different artists. I was very humbled. I'm still very, very grateful for it, for sure.

Alison: Let's listen to one of the artists. Is It Worth It by Rae Kahlil. What is a production decision in this song you would like us to listen for in this next clip?

Alissia: I think just everything. I think that this song is very powerful. She's an incredible writer and artist. I really had fun with it. I got to record and arrange strings. I love doing that in my production. Most of the instruments, pretty much all of them are played live. I really wanted to keep that magic and cast capture all of it. Listen to everything.

Alison: This is Rae Khalil, Is It Worth It.

[music - Rae Khalil: Is It Worth It]

Alison: Alissia, how did the songs come to you? Did they come to you in the most basic state, or?

Alissia: With Rae, it was something where actually Anderson again reached out and he had just signed her, and she had just signed to Def Jam. He was trying to really develop a new sound for her. I knew Rae from before, and I really loved her music.

I think he just had this vision of wanting to do a song for her where she can really shine as a singer, because a lot of people know her as a rapper. It just came. I don't know exactly how sometimes the magic just strikes. She came for a week, we did a bunch of songs. Especially with up and coming artists, I love to really try to spend time to really figure figure what works for them, try things out.

That's the only way to find out, to just try and just make music and we'll understand what type of song works for them. This one was maybe the third or fourth day we got in, and it was later in the day we had just finished working on another song.

It was late and I started playing actually on my Moog Voyager, the baseline and the chords on the roads. I had these chords I was thinking about. I was like, "That would be really cool if it started like this and then goes into that." She really enjoyed it and she started writing down lyrics and just ideas. That's how it came about.

Alison: She became enmeshed with the song. As you gave her more information, she was able to bring herself to it.

Alissia: Yes. Musically, I was giving her information and she was just writing and thinking melodies, singing with the chords I was playing. It was very natural and very fast.

Alison: I was speaking with Alissia, who was nominated for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical at the 2025 Grammy. She's part of our series, Equalizers: Women in Music Production. Let's listen to another track, Love Takeover by Lion Babe. What do you like about this track?

Alissia: This one and the same with the one you played. BJ The Chicago Kid, it features actually Chloe, which is the amazing artist, and the one with Coco Jones as well. This year was a lot of different types of songs. The one with Lion Babes, they're so amazing. Shout out to Lion Babe. I DJ too, so it makes me want to spin that, brings me into that whole DJ world. The same as the one I did with Kaytranada too. Like the. The more dancy tracks, I'm like, "I can DJ that." We can have fun with it. Love that one too.

Alison: Let's listen.

[music - Lion Babe: Love Takeover]

Alison: Alissia, we have a question from a listener that says, "What does a producer actually do?"

Alissia: Oh, okay. The producer's job is to basically take an idea of a song or come up with an idea of a song together with the artist and make it come to life, really. By figuring out which chords work or really developing the song with the artist. Every producer works differently. I'm very in tune with the writing. I usually play all the instruments and record engineer it myself.

Some producers call musicians, and they say, "We should use this musicians," and they make the decisions on what instruments to use, what type of-- Sometimes they even just tell the artist like, "Oh, we should try this, we should try that." It's really different. It really depends on the producer.

Alison: I always think of producers as it is your job to bring out the best in the artist, whatever that takes.

Alissia: That too, for sure. Musically, obviously. Depends the song. Revolves around the song.

Alison: I read somewhere that you burn Palo Santo in the studio. It's a purifying wood, can relieve anxiety when you're producing, what are other ways that you make the space good for the artist? Make the space good for yourself, let your creativity flow?

Alissia: I think that making music, I see it a-- It's sacred. You have to really be vulnerable when you make music. It's very mental in a way. You have to feel comfortable. You have to feel like you're in a safe space to try different things, especially if you're in sessions with different people or with artists, you always have to make sure there's a good vibe, a good energy.

Palo Santo, I love the smell and obviously the energy around it. I always try to be in a good mental space and whatever that is before the session and before getting with the artist, I always try to either, it could be listening to music and just a meditation, whatever works. It's very personal. I don't know. I always try to listen to music and clear my ears in a way. Sometimes it could be just taking a walk. It depends.

Alison: Every morning, I light a candle. For anything else, I just light a candle. I just want it just for a few minutes, set the intention for the day.

Alissia: Exactly. Whatever works for you and for anyone, really. It's like before you do something-- Again, we're not dealing with numbers. Music is very artsy. Always be in a good mental space. Ideally, obviously, there's good days and then less good days.

Alison: Speaking of less good days, you told Billboard, Alissia you said you face a lot of challenges like, "Stepping into rooms where I'm the only woman in that room. It took a long time for me to gain that respect." What challenges are we talking about?

Alissia: I think, again, like you said earlier, the numbers and women in the industry is very low. Even though we're doing good progress throughout the last few years, I think there's still a lot of women work to be done. Again, I think the challenge is it's just a very tough industry.

The music industry, like I'm sure a lot of the entertainment industry in general is, it's you have to really have thick skin and really be grounded and really believe in yourself first and foremost and really always just trusting your gut and trusting that you got this.

Sometimes it could be very intense in general. Sometimes I would step in a room, and I had that feeling that I had to be twice as better as someone else, another guy, to just prove that I have that respect. That's why I worked really, really hard to-- I'm still working hard. I think those are the types of challenges. Just working extra hard to have that just being a woman, I feel.

Alison: You tell a story about Prince DMing you about a cover you posted online and telling you to keep it up. In our next installment of this series, we're going to have Wendy and Lisa on of The Revolution.

Alissia: Oh, that's her.

Alison: Yes. The first woman ever be nominated in the Grammy category. What message should I pass along to them or a question I should ask them?

Alissia: Just to keep shining, to keep shining their light in this world with their beautiful spirit. Just musically, I would love to hear more music from them, too.

Alison: Our last question for you is, either you can ask what's your favorite album, or what is a song that you wish you produced?

Alissia: I can do both.

Alison: Go for it.

Alissia: I think my favorite album, it's really tied. I would say Thriller and Off the Wall by Michael Jackson. I think a song I wish I produced, just like that right now how I'm feeling probably Overjoyed by Stevie Wonder.

Alison: So good. My guest has been Alissia, who is nominated for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical of the 2025 Grammys. You have been listening to our series called Equalizers: Women in Music Production. Thank you so much for being with us.

Alissia: Thank you for having me. Have a great day.