Alice Merton

Alice Merton's childhood, marked by residence across multiple countries and constant upheaval, fostered the worldly, forward-leaning pop sensibilities that define her work. Her approach also stands out for its crisp, self-assured melodies and a similarly forceful vocal style. After the 2017 breakthrough single "No Roots," she delivered her first full-length project, Mint, in 2019; the album rose to number two in Germany. Merton shared production credits on the next album, S.I.D.E.S., whose pandemic-era themes surfaced in June 2022.

Born in Frankfurt, Germany, and raised successively in Canada, the United States, Germany, and England, Merton studied classical piano and singing as a child in Ontario. During her teenage years the family returned to Germany, where she began playing guitar and wrote her earliest songs. Another relocation took them to England. In 2013 she entered the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg in Mannheim and later completed a degree in composition and songwriting.

Those repeated international moves directly shaped the material on her debut release, the four-track No Roots EP issued by Mom + Pop Music in 2017. One song, "Hit the Ground Running," earned Merton the Jugend Kulterell Prize for Acoustic Pop. Another, "No Roots," reached the top three on the singles charts in France, Germany, and Austria while also appearing on the Billboard Hot 100. By then living in Berlin, Merton placed "No Roots" on Mint, which arrived via Mom + Pop in January 2019. Nicolas Rebscher (AURORA, Balbina) produced the album and co-wrote many of its songs with her. Mint peaked at number two in Germany and entered the top twenty of both the Billboard Heatseekers and Independent Albums charts in the United States.

After a stretch of writing and studio testing, she released the Stephen "Koz" Kozmeniuk-produced single "Vertigo" in April 2021. The track became one of fifteen selections—all co-written and co-produced by Merton with assorted partners—that made up S.I.D.E.S.