Life. Death. And inevitably being vulnerable to accept all of it.
That’s what singer, songwriter, and multidisciplinary creative Alisson Shore discovered in the time to craft his latest album, MEMENTO MORI. We dove into his vivid mind for a colorful narrative in the brushstrokes of black and white.
For this CLAVEL Curated Cover Feature, we sat down with Alisson Shore to talk about building the album, breaking down its tracks, to breaking himself open even further – sharing what really pushed him to make MEMENTO MORI.
THE ARTIST
“I find creativity in pain. When you look between the fine lines of my lyrics, doon mo talaga masasabi na kapag Alisson Shore yung kanta, masakit.”
A quintessential trait for an Alisson Shore track: it’s bound to hurt. That’s what the Batangas-grown singer built throughout his years as an artist, crafting a collection of tracks in his pocket that he could whip out at any time in order to give you the feels.
Admittedly not contained in the genre of just hiphop, pop, and RNB, there’s just this feeling in Alisson Shore’s tracks that imprints emotion into the back of your mind and hits you in places where you need it to hit. There’s something tragically magical about the way Ali relates with pain and it’s something that all of us can relate to as well – it just fucking hurts deep.
Look no further with his biggest hits, Violet, Urong Sulong, and Polaris – the latter being a unique way to express love by telling a story on what it feels like to constantly long for someone, like what the North Star means to travelers finding their way.
And that’s how Alisson Shore breathes life into his songs, it’s by putting himself in the shoes of not just people, but even inanimate objects as well and giving them the power to feel, making the listeners wonder what it’s like living the life of someone they’re not.
THE STORY
MEMENTO MORI takes you on a 37 minute introspective journey. Scenes of black and white flicker as a POV of Ali’s story is being fed into your subconscious. Directly translated to “Remember you must die”, it’s a symbol of acceptance that everything has an end, especially life itself.
“The story itself is not about love. It’s a psychological album.”
We start the album with the crux of it all: Ivy, visualized as a person with white hair and nondescript face – but in reality she’s nothing more than just a collection of ideas. Ivy is the physical manifestation of all of Ali’s battles with himself – his problems, fears, and anxieties. It frames Ivy as a cheater, a snake, and a poison that perfectly leads into the next two tracks of the album: Lason and Don’t U Say.
Both tracks are thought dumps on what Ali feels, the frustration after finding out that he’s been cheated on. The latter track even shows a cold-blooded snake wrap-up around Ali’s neck as a metaphor for all the pent up problems choking him up. “Pinagkatiwalaan kita so don’t you say that you love me”, Alisson emphasizes on the third track.
But then, a darker turn of events suddenly comes about.
The next chapter of the story starts with what can be said as the end – DOD or Date of Death. It’s Ali’s subconscious settling in that after all the frustration of learning how Ivy cheated on him, he falls into this bottomless pit of misery. Overdosing on alcohol and drugs to numb the pain as Please Magic’s haunting voice looms over the song. Halfway through, the anger intensifies into intentions of harming and killing Ivy, ultimately leading to Ali hating himself the most after all was said and done. All ending in a flatline as it transitions to the sting of the next track.
Reseta and Kapangyarihan both bring a nice back-to-back contrast where Reseta is all of the consequences suffered after the events that had transpired during DOD. It’s a reflection of all these dark thoughts after being rushed to the hospital. On the brink of death, it’s Ali’s mom trying to relay what had happened on the ambulance ride and Ali coming to terms with what had happened. Reseta isn’t the doctor’s note; it’s the mother’s advice.
Kapangyarihan brings to life the power of words as Alisson shares with us what his favorite track of the album talks about: “It’s just plain and simple na words are powerful. It can crush you, it can build you up. It becomes power within yourself.” These words give him the power to reject Ivy and focus on himself.
Sarili Muna brings a different kind of energy, one full of color and hope. “Isa lang talaga yung nasa utak ko na babagay dun sa kung paano yung perspective niya sa buhay.” And that’s where Waiian’s motivational anthems takes this further to show Ali’s character choosing to heal by choosing himself.
Mousai (or muse in English) is the last song of MEMENTO MORI, and it celebrates newfound love. Ali quotes “My muse now and forever is music. Kaya yung Mousai, alay ko siya sa musika. Paano niya ako binuhay uli, kung paano binalik yung sigla ko sa pagmamahal.” It’s a fresh start essentially, a newfound motivation to live life. That’s why its accompanying visuals feature earlier Alisson Shore gig videos on handheld cameras. It’s like reminiscing on what makes you happy and choosing to focus on that.
But with every start, it inevitably would go right back to the end; it’s bound to loop back to Ivy once more.
THE VISUALS
It’s an eerie shift from what we normally expect from Alisson Shore, as we explore his world that’s in black and white.
“Yung vision ko sa kanya visually, it must look like a Bible. Gusto ko palabasin is parang siyang galing sa 1800s; I want to feel like it’s a sense of nostalgia.”
All of the accompanying visuals are contained in settings that give off a discomforting feeling, as if you’re trapped in the between the actual mental battles themselves. It takes such strength to accept that even past hardships can be looked at with a sense of nostalgia.
Alisson Shore doubles this down by also including elements such as biblically inspired drawings for each of his track art, and of course the ouroboros. A snake eating its own tail which is the symbol for death and rebirth, an exact iconography for the album’s messaging. It is also consistent with the album’s religious themes, whether it be Christians associating it with mischief and the devil, to Norse mythology associating the Jörmungandr serpent with the end of the world.
THE PROCESS
MEMENTO MORI was born out of Alisson Shore making sense of the past eight years of experiencing personal issues from COVID to multiple therapy sessions. This album was his light out of the dark tunnel, accepting that the only way out is through.
“Dati iniisip ko kung bakit ako binibigyan ng ganitong mga problema? Bakit ba tayo nakakaranas ng ganitong problems and hardships in life? Parang maling tao ata pinili nyo, bakit sakin ganito? But then again I’m reminded na problems are not seen as failures but as challenges to be the best versions of ourselves.”
And that’s what the essence of the album is, a journey of toughing it out and accepting things happen because they’re meant to happen.
Inspired by Tyler, the Creator’s Chromakopia, Pink Floyd’s The Wall, and Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d City — it’s pretty evident MEMENTO MORI follows the same narrative experience of interconnected songs following a single story from start to end.
THE CYCLE
MEMENTO MORI isn’t just an album, it’s a mirror. One that forces you to look straight into the parts of yourself you’d rather keep buried, but somehow, it comforts you to just let them go. Alisson Shore reminds us that pain isn’t the ending; it’s part of the process. The album moves like a loop of pain and healing, reminding us that even in endings, there’s beauty waiting to be found.
It’s proof that even when life knocks you down, there’s always a way to turn the hurt into something that lives beyond yourself. And when you do find yourself back down in a slump, you’ll always be open to being vulnerable enough to go through the motions all over again.
MEMENTO MORI is out now on all streaming platforms, and as Alisson shared with us to end this in-depth interview:
“Just listen to it anywhere you want. Just don’t listen to it in your car; this is music to be digested like a book.”
In collaboration with SNK ATK.
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