Like the rest of us, Alison Wonderland has self-doubts. Questions that can’t be answered. Wells of energy, the location of which is a mystery.
For Ghost World, her fourth solo studio which drops in full today, Dec. 5, Wonderland brushed aside the self-doubt, got answers, found the rush.
“This one felt like my first album, where I really had so much to say to the world and go hard. The energy was back for me,” she tells Billboard over a Zoom. “I just really had a lot to give in a more extroverted way where the last album felt very introverted. That was how I’ve been feeling. I’ve been feeling so strong.”
Much has happened in Wonderland’s life since 2022’s Loner, which crashed Billboard’s Dance/Electronic Albums tally at No. 3 and started at No. 9 on the ARIA Chart, her third consecutive top 10. Later that year, Wonderland (real name: Alexandra Sholler) launched FMU Records, and, in 2023, revived her darker, more industrial project Whyte Fang, with the release of a full-length album, Genesis.
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Enter, health problems. Fertility issues. Wonderland experienced a miscarriage in December of 2024 that forced the cancellation of several shows, and backlash from gung ho types who didn’t yet know the full story. “This frustration I was feeling,” she remarks, “I went f— this.” She returned home to Australia, and felt “really welcome.” Rediscovered her groove, played more shows. The positivity flowed.
Then, in November of this year, Wonderland brought into this world a second boy. More joy.
Ghost World was pushed back from a scheduled Oct. 15 release date to a pre-Christmas unwrapping, due to production delays with merchandise, vinyl, and other important elements.
Better late than never.
Ghost World is anything but meek. Wonderland’s vision is a punchy one, a journey stretching across 14 tracks including the previously-released cuts “Get Started,” “Again? F—.,” “iwannaliveinadream” and “Heaven” featuring Ninajirachi.
“My aim is to always externally communicate what I’m internalizing. I’m not trying to be a sad sack about it,” Wonderland tells Billboard.com. “A lot of the meaning behind this album was me trying to get excited about where I was again, and I did. Ghost World is really about me trying to find my place. When you’re growing and evolving, you need to still be in love with what you do or you shouldn’t be doing it. I felt a little bit like a ghost. I will always feel that way. I just kinda felt like, what world do I fit in, where do I fit in anymore? It’s easy to feel replaceable.”
Having the break between Loner and Ghost World, and doing Whyte Fang “helped me go back to my roots.” On Loner, she recounts, “I was so isolated. And it was such an internalized album, it was a very different energy. There was something I felt like I was missing.” There was a moment in time when “I was stuck in the middle of the ocean, and couldn’t see any land on either side of me.”
Wonderland came back with a creative recharge. “It also made me really appreciate women, tenfold. I worked with a lot more women on this album.”
Collaborators include Nina Wilson, better known as the three-time ARIA Award winning EDM producer and artist Ninjirachi, plus DJ Dave and Erick The Architect. Wonderland produced the album with Dylan Ragland, MEMBA and QUIX. Ghost World was mixed by Tom Norris and Tristan Hoogland and mastered by Dale Becker.
Wonderland comes alive on stage, and can boast more than 800,000 headline ticket sales across her U.S. tours alone. In 2018, she wrote her name in the history books with a headline spot at Coachella, her fourth performance in the California desert, and has seven-times headlined the “Temple of Wonderland” at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.
She’ll hit the road again next year, in support of Ghost World. “There will be a big tour, I’m excited,” she admits. “I’m a perfectionist. Someone said something a long time ago, you can tell everyone you put everything into this body of work but at the end of the day the only person who will know if you really went there will be you. It sits with me and haunts me anytime I make anything. I think it’s why I push myself so hard. I think about it all the time to this day.”
