Singer-Songwriter Ally Salort Makes Her Festival Debut and First Texas Performance at ACL 2025.
Ally Salort is an indie pop singer-songwriter from New Jersey. Salort has gained traction through viral covers, amassing tens of millions of views because of her powerful voice. She released her debut EP “Change of Plans” on July 18th and sat down with Off Record to discuss her amazing journey so far.
ORB: This year has been a big year of firsts for you – first EP, first headline shows, first tour, first festival. What about these new experiences did you expect, and what has been different than you expected?
Ally Salort: I expected to have fun, which I did. It’s been very, very fun. And then I didn’t honestly know what to expect about how many people would be there. I literally thought there would be no one there. So I was just happy to sing and have people know my lyrics.
ORB: Your song “Horror Movie” doesn’t sound like you might expect based on the title. What made you want to bring that idea of a horror movie into your style of music?
Ally Salort: It’s funny because, yeah the song does not sound like anything regarding horror. It’s very light and pretty, but I think that that metaphor randomly really works. There’s actually so much you can work with. It was just fun writing and playing with the many angles of tip-toeing in someone’s mind and then your friends being like, turn around, which is also a metaphor for your friends being like, leave that situation with that person. So I think, yeah, the concept really formed the song.
ORB: Did it surprise you which songs did best from your EP?
Ally Salort: That’s a good question. I actually didn’t really think “Horror Movie” was ever going to come out. I had teased it over a year ago and just kind of forgot about it. And then like months later, I didn’t have anything to post. So I just randomly posted that clip and people liked it. So that one, I was surprised.
ORB: What was it like making the transition from viral covers to original music?
Ally Salort: It’s been a journey. I feel like I’ve been working with a bunch of different people for a long time now, just trying to find what sounds I want to sing because I do cover a lot of different genres. I love singing anything, but, I think singer-songwriter sort of organic pop has been such a great place for me to write lyrics, because I’m very lyric driven. So I think where I’ve landed has allowed me to do that.
ORB: Do you have any songs that changed dramatically between the initial and final versions?
“Tattoos” started out as just kind of guitar and vocals, and we just wrote the lyrics and melody and then when I got the demo back, it was more like a big, fun pop song, which at first I was like, I don’t know how I feel. But then it grew on me and now I love performing it live because it’s so fun.
Check out Ally Salort’s music, available on all platforms.
I am an Austin, TX-based photographer and filmmaker. I moved from Houston to attend the University of Texas at Austin, where I graduated in 2022. I'm a lifelong music lover and spend tons of time attending shows and making music. Some current favorites are Sophie May, Farmer’s Wife, and K. Flay.
