by Zach Collier
Photos By Clark Clifford | Executive Producer: Celene Anderson | Creative Director: Zach Collier | Stylist: Elizabeth Banks Wertz | Movement Coordinator: Brady Hamilton | Hair and Makeup: Amy Morgan Davis | Photo Assistant: Harrison Trinca | Behind the Scenes Videography: Noah Richmond | Shot at The FIND Lab | Creepy Basement: Taste117
“This shoot? One of the chillest I’ve ever done,” Ari Abdul says, her gaze steady. Her dark eyes are piercing and perceptive.
“I'm usually on the road, so you're in the city for like a day, but you have to go and do this shoot. And it's like, ‘Ari, wear this, do this, pose there,’ and it's like 10 hours long, and you're like, ugh. But no, this was probably the easiest shoot ever, and everyone's so nice. It feels like a collaboration.”
It’s been a long day, and Ari Abdul and I are sitting in the bay window of a cafe in downtown Provo. The Brooklyn-born alt-pop artist, known for her haunting melodies and dream-noir visuals, has had a wild couple of months. She’s fresh off a two month tour with Nessa Barrett. It’s been a packed schedule of shoots, shows, and soundchecks, and after her time here in Utah is over, she’s simply going to pack right up and head to China.
Wild.
Despite the breakneck pace, she’s equal parts precise and present. Ari was studying business marketing before she accidentally fell into a music career with the viral success of “BABYDOLL,” and she feels like a powerful – but grounded – executive. For someone building a soundscape out of shadow and synths, Ari is remarkably warm and funny.
She tells me she grew up skating while we eat our spanakopita. I’m not surprised. Skateboarding is an expressive art just as much as it is a sport, and practitioners are no strangers to pain. To overcome that pain and stick with it to any degree (even as a hobby) you have to be relentless and devoted – not to mention humble. One wrong move and skating will quite literally force you to become a down-to-earth individual.
Ari is definitely down-to-earth. Despite how cool and collected she presents, Ari is incredibly open about performance anxiety. “It's funny, because I love performing in the moment (and I miss it so much when it’s over), but before I go on, I have the worst stress and anxiety ever,” she laughs. “I've never had a show where I wasn't nervous. I'm always like, wow, I think I'm gonna puke before I go out there.”
Still, her love of music always overcomes that storm of anxiety. “It scares me, it's like a switch,” she says with a grin.
“You've seen some of me the last two days – I feel like I'm super laid back, super chill. But when I get on stage it's this massive switch, and I'm so in it. I'm locked in. I'm so in the zone.”
That switch from soft-spoken thinker to magnetic performer is what makes Ari such a compelling presence in alt-pop. Her sound is shadowy and cinematic, with lyrics sitting at the intersection of violence and romantic desire (see her new single “Alive”).
But in person, she’s your coolest friend’s cooler friend – the one who talks about Courage the Cowardly Dog with the same reverence most artists reserve for Radiohead. And that’s not a metaphor. Ari loves Courage the Cowardly Dog.
“Amazing, amazing show. And honestly, it has such a special place in my heart for multiple reasons,” she says, her eyes bright. “The first being because of my upbringing. My grandmother watched me because I was the youngest of three, so my parents were like, ‘Later! We're going to work!” She and her grandma would watch Courage the Cowardly Dog together all day.
“A lot of people remember it and are like, ‘It was too scary!’ But I was so into it, and that kind of made me have a taste for horror growing up. I feel like sometimes my music and my visuals can be on the scary side, and I feel like the root of that was me being a little kid watching <em>Courage</em>.”
Her second favorite cartoon? Adventure Time. “That show was everything.”
Little details like a near-equal love for Courage the Cowardly Dog and Adventure Time is illustrative of the kind of artist and person Ari Abdul is. Juggling the perfectionism that drives her visuals and sound plus the anxiety of live performances while still finding room to appreciate an on-set manicure, horror movies, and the quiet poetry of people-watching.
“I feel the most carefree and clear headed when I’m people-watching,” she says – almost afraid to admit it. “Doesn't it sound strange? I grew up in New York City, so there's always so much going on. It's so easy to get lost in your own world and forget that other people are doing their thing. One of the most beautiful things, in my opinion, is just stopping, staring, and seeing that everyone else is doing that same thing. But they're in different places, or maybe they're in similar places? I love drawing inspiration from seeing people live. Getting real existential and being like, ‘Wow, we're really all doing this for the first time and living our lives.’”
Our photographer gives us the three minute warning before we shoot the final scene of the day.
Ari nods, smiles, and looks out the window.
“There's something so comforting in the idea of strangers and just watching people live."
"That sounds really scary, saying it out loud: I love stalking people!” she jokes. “I don’t mean it in that way. But there's a car driving by right now. I wonder how that person is. They're going somewhere. Where are they going? How was their day? We will never know. And these people will never know that we're in here having an interview for a magazine. So I don't know… I love thinking. I'm just always doing too much thinking.”
There’s something beautifully mundane about that: the dark pop girl making time to notice a stranger’s face through a car window, imagining a whole life behind it. It tracks with Ari’s wider philosophy: an evolving optimism she’s leaned into more as she’s grown.
“I feel like when I was a teenager, I was so cynical. And I was like, oh, every day I'm getting older and closer to death,” she laughs.
“But I feel like this is a better way of looking at the world because every day, whether you like it or not, you change. The moment’s gone. Some people think that’s bad, and I don’t know if I’m overly optimistic – painfully optimistic – but now it always feels like a new beginning. Each day we’re evolving and changing, and I think that’s beautiful.”
Ari Abdul taught me that even when the eyelashes are barely hanging on, the schedule’s packed to the brim, and China is calling, there’s still time to stop, look around, and wonder where we’re all headed.
“Clark’s ready for you,” says our producer.
“It’s time to shoot in the creepy basement,” I say.
“I LOVE THE CREEPY BASEMENT!” Ari exclaims, standing up and putting on her blue-striped leather jacket.
And we’re off.
This conversation took place on April 2, 2025. Ari Abdul has successfully returned from her trip to China. Make sure to follow her on Instagram. Her latest single, “Alive,” is out everywhere now.
