Three years ago, Alyssa Reid graced our ears with her hit song “Alone Again” a catchy hit that showed off her powerful vocals. The track went on to sell over a million copies, get certified double platinum in Canada, not to mention reaching well over 13 million hits on YouTube! Now the 20-year-0ld singer is back with a lineup of more hits with the release of her sophomore album Time Bomb.

I had the opportunity to speak to Alyssa for Faze Magazine and while the full article and interview will be in the Spring issue of Faze and online at faze.ca, here’s a snippet of what we talked about.

What have you been up to during the past 3 years?
After we released The Game here in Canada I had a lot of success in Europe so I spent some time there doing press and doing shows. I did a tour with One Direction which was really awesome. Then I finally got to come back and get in the studio which was great. Then a tour with neverest. For the most part

(Obviously I had to ask): A lot of girls would do anything for the opportunity to open for 1D, what was that like?
It was great, they were all so nice! And I went from playing small venues to performing in front of like 75, 000 people so that was a crazy experience.

Where did your new album name, Timebomb, come from?
That song is the most personal to me out of all songs on the album, so it seemed fitting to make the album called that. It’s the most “Alyssa”.

Are there any specific bands or people you look to for inspiration?
I get inspired by everybody that I work with. I got to write in LA with Billy Steinberg who wrote some of the biggest songs in the 80s who really taught me how important the lyrics are.

And your album is coming out on February 11, which is fairly close to Valentine’s Day, does that mean love will be a big theme?
Love is always a big theme in any album because it’s such a big emotion. It’s so universal so it’s kind of hard not to write about love whether it’s about your relationships or friendships or with your family. It’s easy to write about stuff you’re going through or emotions you’re feeling.

Speaking of Valentine’s Day that’s when you start your tour with Hedley, what are you most looking forward to on this tour?
I turn 21 on this tour so I’m really excited that the show is sold out on my birthday and I’m really excited to tour Canada. I’m really excited to tour Canada in arenas, I never got that opportunity in Canada before so it should be really fun.

Do you have any advice for other young aspiring singers?
What happened with me is that I felt like The Next Star was my final opportunity and after that I was just gonna kind of give up and focus on school and I’m really glad I didn’t do that because I wouldn’t be where I am today. You never know when something’s gonna happen; if something’s gonna happen it’s gonna happen so my advice would be to not give up and always keep your eyes open and keep trying.