Exclusive Interview: Ellise Reflects on the Enigmatic Emotions of Wrapping her PRETTY EVIL Tour
- Abby Anderson
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
For Ellise, her first headlining tour has been a dream a whole career in the making. After unlacing her Doc Martens and packing up her guitars at the end of the PRETTY EVIL Tour at home in Los Angeles, Ellise joined us to talk about facing the mental challenges of stepping into a the role of a headliner, how building her tour setlist influenced the music that became a part of her sophomore album PRETTY EVIL, and the impact her fans left on the legacy of her first headlining run.
After we fall into an easy conversation about Sabrina Carpenter's new album and Ellise's Saturday plans to speak on a panel at the Assyrian Convention in Anaheim, Ellise reflects back on how far she's come since the last time we sat down to talk after PRETTY EVIL was released five months ago. "It feels like so much has happened between now and then. I feel like it's something that I can't even really explain with words, because I just lived it," she says. "Touring has always been this really mysterious, daunting thing to me because I started so late in my career compared to when most people start to play shows and tour in their career."
But the thing that carried her through? Doing it for the fans. "Getting to have face-to-face time with fans, getting to see the custom nails they would do and the outfits they would make, dress[ed] to themes of the album and all of that, I think it really gave me the affirmation that, 'Wow. Okay, this music is reaching people.' The same way that I had to go through some crazy stuff mentally and emotionally to make this music, people who are struggling ... are finding the music and it's helping them. And seeing that in real life is a really different experience from only really seeing it on social media. So I think it was amazing. It was eye-opening. It was very heartwarming."
But before she could bring that music to fans, Ellise needed to trust her artistry and intuition to bring the world of PRETTY EVIL to the stage. "There were a few things I always knew. I knew I wanted the set to feel heavy and energetic. You don't really have production, you don't have stage design, you don't have crazy lights, so you really have to keep people engaged with what you have, and what I have is me and my band on stage." In building that energy, Ellise leaned on the growth in her discography. "I knew I wanted the set to start with 'PRETTY' and end with 'EVIL', true to the album, true to the overall theme of everything revolving around the album. Mainly, I just wanted to play the album and the deluxe. I didn't want to do too much older stuff because I just wanted it to really feel like The PRETTY EVIL Tour." So when looking for places to fill in her set with older fan-favorites, Ellise looked for songs from her past that matched that heavy, energetic sound: "The only ones were 'KILLER,' 'MASOCHIST,' and '911.' I was like, 'These need to be the fun, high-energy songs people can dance around to.' I just wanted to go with that theme overall sonically." Ellise also playfully walks us through other decisions she made in the thick of the tour, from switching out older 'DOLLFACE' for newly-released 'KEROSENE' to the hilarious debacle of the bruising she developed while playing the tambourine on 'END ALL BE ALL.'
"It was just a really awesome feeling to be like, 'Wow, a couple of years ago, we were just starting all of this, and now we're playing our own headlining shows.' It's a surreal experience. I'm just really proud of everyone and everything we did to get to this point." - Ellise
But for Ellise, the fondest memories on tour weren't in the details of the production of it all, but the people in her life that her music brought together over the span of the 15 shows of the PRETTY EVIL Tour. "The San Francisco show was really special. I'm from the Bay Area, most of my family lives in the Bay Area, and they've all come to see me at my other shows, but this was my first time doing a headliner in front of my dad, my uncles, my cousins - everyone. I think them seeing a bunch of people singing my songs and seeing me be on stage doing what I love was just really emotional for everyone. They've been by my side throughout this whole journey." And to her team, Ellise sees them as another kind of family: "I'm honestly very proud of my whole team. I'm really close with my band and my touring team. I've been on every tour with them, and it was just a really awesome feeling to be like, 'Wow, a couple of years ago, we were just starting all of this, and now we're playing our own headlining shows.' I think the proudest moment for me was just being on stage with my dudes, seeing Hannah, my manager, there, and my whole team. It's a surreal experience. I think I'm just really proud of everyone and everything we did to get to this point."
But it always comes back to the fans for Ellise: "Something that really shocked me was how many people told me they'd been listening to me since 2018. That was really shocking, people being like, 'I've listened to you for six or seven years' - from the very beginning of when I started releasing music. I have artists that I've loved since 2017, 2018 too, and to think that there are people who have literally been rocking with me for that long is a very, a very cool experience." And she acknowledges that they made all the difference in the success of the PRETTY EVIL Tour. "I'm really proud of my fans because every single room on tour, all I heard from fans was really sweet, positive feedback. I saw people becoming friends in the crowd. I literally saw posts of people posting with each other. I genuinely didn't hear of a single fight or someone being rude or anyone being not-chill. So I'm very proud of my fans. I think they were all super sweet, and they created a really beautiful environment and a really safe space in all 15 rooms. And I really applaud them for that because I've been to a lot of shows where that's not the case. So I thank them for that. And I'm really proud of them for that."
And Ellise may be thanking even more fans soon, the best way she knows how: "There may or may not be more tour announcements coming soon," she says with a smile. "I definitely am going to be spending a hefty portion of 2026 just focused on touring. So yeah, keep an eye out."
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