Alicia Moffet wants to plunge fans into all the feels with her new album No, I’m Not Crying

Contrary to the title of her new album, Alicia Moffet isn’t afraid of big emotions, and she wants fans to feel the whole range when they listen to her latest songs.

The 26-year-old chanteuse released her third studio album, No, I’m Not Crying, on May 30. Moffet’s newest LP is the most confident and ambitious project to date for a singer who’s come a long way from her teenage years coming up through reality shows like The Next Star and La Voix during the 2010s.

I caught up with Moffet via Zoom while she was in Saskatoon on tour with fellow Canuck pop singer Alessia Cara. Yes, we know what you’re thinking: the fact that it’s Alessia and Alicia — pronounced aleesia — on tour together is hilarious branding, even if by coincidence. 

“It’s funny, because every time we speak with team members, they never know who we’re talking about,” she says, laughing. “It’s very confusing!”

A native of Quebec City who later moved to Vaudreuil-Dorion with her mother and now calls the North Shore home, Moffet got the last-minute offer to tour with Cara right on time, with her new album No, I’m Not Crying still waiting in the wings. 

It’s been a long time coming, too: Moffet’s last release was the single “Didn’t Try” in February 2023, following the March 2022 release of her sophomore LP Intertwine. She continued touring until early 2024 before starting work on her next album, while also co-hosting Occupation Double with boyfriend Frédérick Robichaud.

We know what else you’re thinking re: the title — it’s hard not to mentally add You’re Crying! to the end of it (a suggestion Moffet laughs at). But make no mistake, the listener will know her feelings are no joking matter.

“It’s really a façade,” she explains. “When you listen to the lyrics, you’re like, ‘Okay, she really is crying.’ I think (listeners) will too, honestly. If they relate to the lyrics, I think some people will cry.”

No, I’m Not Crying is the result of nearly a year and a half’s worth of work. Moffet describes that process as long, but “soft” rather than rushed, and with a great team behind her. Some songs were finished a year before completing the album, to the point where, Moffet admits, she started overthinking them because she listened to them so much.

“These songs that we thought would be singles, you end up listening for a year straight and you’re like, ‘I don’t know — is it still that good?’” she says. “Then you finish it, you start the promo, you listen back and you’re like, ‘Okay, this album smashed.’”

No, I’m Not Crying is Moffet’s first release on the local label Cult Nation — home to Charlotte Cardin — after previously releasing music independently. The album oscillates between confidence and vulnerability. For Moffet, it’s a perfect encapsulation of who she is as a person.

“They challenge each other a lot, these two sides of my personality,” she says. “I could be onstage joking around, jumping around and being super sassy. Then I just have a stand and a mic, and I’m super vulnerable and in my feels.” 

Moffet sees songwriting as a day-to-day exercise. She’ll come into the studio to write about whatever emotion she’s feeling that day. If she’s sad because she’d just had a fight, she can’t bring herself to write a “sassy” song.

“I can’t get into a different headspace for writing,” she adds. “I try to train myself into doing that a little bit. At some point, when you’re not going through any specific emotion, you arrive at the studio and you’re like, ‘I have nothing to say or talk about.’ That’s where you have to dig into old emotions, which I did on this album.”

Opening track and lead single “Choke” wastes no time setting an emotional tone. That song talks of leaving a toxic relationship, and knowing when the final straw comes. (To be clear, she doesn’t actually hope anyone chokes.)

“I wrote it trying to imagine the first emotion when getting fucked over,” Moffet says. “I feel like the first emotion is, ‘Fuck you, I hope you fucking choke!’ 

“But then you come back down, and you’re like, ‘No, karma’s going to take care of it. You’re going to stub your toe. You’re going to burn your toast. That’ll be karma. That’s how I’m going to get you back.'”

Surprisingly, “Choke” — a song transformed from a demo titled “Emergency Room,” with a different lyrical theme — wasn’t initially a contender to be a single. Moffet and her team had chosen another song as No, I’m Not Crying’s lead single before “Choke” was even finished; it was one of the final tracks completed for the album. 

“The Girl” is a “cousin” track to the previous song on the album, “Lay Your Light,” as both borrow cues from house music. “The Girl” was also the hardest song to finish. After being unable to flesh out a demo, it was set aside so they could get a better sense of direction for it upon completing other songs.

“I ended up almost cutting it,” she says. “At some point I was like, ‘I hate it. I hate it so much.’ I remember my producer, Sam, sent me a demo one night. He’s like, ‘Do you like this kind of Drake ‘Hold On, We’re Going Home’ vibe?’ I was like, ‘Yes, that’s exactly what I wanted!’ Then I fell in love with the song again, and we finished it.”

“Indemne” is a piano ballad that’s also the album’s only French-language song. Though Moffet is francophone, she views English as the language she most instinctively writes in.

“One day, I was in my car, and very weirdly, this melody came into my mind and I started singing in French,” she says. “I voice-recorded myself and I was like, ‘This could be good.’ 

“I went to my piano in my house and I started writing it, which is never, ever, ever something I do. I always write in the studio with somebody else… I showed it to the team, and they were like, ‘Well, that’s good.’ That gave me a lot of confidence, because I was like, ‘Okay, I can do it by myself.’”

After finishing this run of dates with Alessia Cara, Moffet returns to Montreal for a fan event and album launch. She plans to head back to the studio to make a deluxe edition of the album, as well jetting off to Cyprus for two months to film the next season of Occupation Double before doing pre-prod for shows she’ll be playing this summer.

Above all else, Moffet wants listeners to feel something when they listen to No, I’m Not Crying, and not be left feeling indifferent. 

“I want them to feel sad when they listen to ‘Hotel W’ and empowered when they listen to ‘Choke’ and ‘Fake’ and scream ‘Lay Your Light’ at the top of their lungs,” she says. “I want them to relate to the songs the way they relate to it, not because I give them the context. I want them to make it theirs.” ■

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Alicia Moffet (@aliciamoffet)

For more on Alicia Moffet, please visit her website. This article was originally published in the June 2025 issue of Cult MTL.

---

For more Montreal music coverage, please visit the Music section.