Alternative pop singer UPSAHL will be treating herself to a steaming slice of pizza from Cappy’s Pizza and Subs in Boston after playing to a packed room at one of the city’s tightest venues.
“[It’s] incredible and it’s open super late,” the 25-year-old musician told MassLive. “Anytime I have a show in Boston I go right after. So I’m looking forward to that for sure.”
UPSAHL was introduced to the spot years ago by her friend who went to Berklee College of Music.
The singer — who’s also written for the likes of Dua Lipa, Reneé Rapp and Madison Beer — is usually a cheese or pepperoni connoisseur. But Cappy’s is her excuse to switch things up.
“They have the most insane [stuff],” she said. “They have this Buffalo chicken one. They got all the things. So I experiment when I’m there and just try new [stuff] all the time.”
Aside from taking a bite out of a Boston pie, UPSAHL is mostly looking forward to raging with some of her wildest fans when she takes the stage at the iconic Paradise Rock Club in Allston on Monday night, Sept. 30.
“Some of my favorite shows have been in Boston so I’m really, really excited to be back,” she said while mentioning how she’s been through the city several times either on her own tour or as a supporting act. “I don’t say this about every city, but Boston crowds are some of my favorites just because I feel like y’all just rage in Boston for some reason.”
UPSAHL’s Boston show is part of her Melt Me Down Tour. The 36-date tour started on Sept. 10 in San Diego, California, and will wrap up on Nov. 26 in Paris, France.
The tour follows the release of the singles “Summer so hot” in June and “Tears on the dancefloor” in August. UPSAHL said the latter track was inspired by some of her music idols.
“When we made ‘Tears on the dancefloor’ we were really into [songs] that Timbaland and Nelly Furtado had done. So we sort of just pulled a lot of inspiration from that,” she said.
With lyrics like “Cry me out of my misery/Let it rain, let it pour, let ‘em fall to the floor” on top of a techno-inspired beat, UPSAHL’s aspiration was to craft a song that holds a deeper meaning — but also won’t kill the party.
“That was sort of the goal with ‘Tears on the dancefloor,’ was to make it a little bit fun, a little bit sexy, but also a little bit vulnerable,” the singer said. “I feel like that’s sort of always my goal with my music.”
Born Taylor Upsahl on Nov. 28, 1998, UPSAHL grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. The singer, whose stage name came directly from her surname, started exploring music at a young age.
Inspired by the likes of Gwen Stefani/No Doubt, Weezer and Outkast, UPSAHL’s passion for music was supplemented by her dad being in punk bands throughout her childhood.
“I was just kind of always watching him do his thing, and I was like, ‘Oh my god, I want to do whatever that is,’” she said.
UPSAHL started writing songs when she was 5 and continued throughout her childhood, writing “half decent” songs by the time she was 12 or 13, she said.
The songwriter attended Arizona School for the Arts and played in a talent show that led her to record one of her songs in the studio. From there, UPSAHL became “obsessed with recording and putting out albums,” all while her dad continued to support her music career.
“My band that I had when I was in high school was all of my dad’s friends that he had been playing music with forever,” she said, adding that her dad “would spend days and weeks in the studio with me working on albums.”
“My whole family has just always been a really, really big part of it,” UPSAHL said.
She released a self-titled extended play (EP) under her birth name at age 14. In 2015, she wrote and self-produced her first-ever album, “Viscerotonic” and released her second album “Unfamiliar Light” in 2017.
The musician started releasing music under the pseudonym “UPSHAL” in 2018 when she was signed to Arista Records.
UPSAHL has since released four extended plays — “Hindsight 20/20” in 2019, “Young Life Crisis” in 2020, “Sagittarius” in 2022 and “UPSAHL PRESENTS: THE PHX TAPES” in 2023 — and one album — “Lady Jesus” in 2023 — under the label.
Her writing credits include “Good in Bed” from Dua Lipa’s 2020 album “Future Nostalgia,” “Boyshit” from Beer’s 2020 album “Life Support,” as well as several songs by Rapp, with whom UPSAHL said she’s had the most inspiring writing sessions.
“She’s one of the coolest artists, I think, on the planet and just the way she’s so fully herself in all aspects of her life, and especially in the studio, it’s just the most authentic version of herself it seems,” UPSHAL said. “She just creates such a safe space for creatives and that has inspired me a lot as an artist too because I want to be able to do that in my sessions as well.”
UPSHAL’s sophomore album with Arista is scheduled for release next year. The album’s sound will resemble that of the early 2000s music UPSAHL admired, specifically that of Stefani, Nelly Furtado and Fergie.
UPSHAL is also giving her fans a chance to choose which songs she releases next. The musician has been dropping snippets of tracks on her Discord and letting fans vote on which songs could potentially end up on her album.
“We’re only two weeks into that, but it’s been really, really cool to let them be a part of the whole decision-making process,” UPSAHL said. “I’ve never done anything like it so it’s been fun.”
Fans can also still snag tickets to catch UPSAHL live at Paradise Rock Club on Monday. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m.
