A Discussion with Alt Citizen’s Lauren Khalfayan
by Erin Christie
“None of us are in this to be the next Pitchfork or whatever,” Lauren Khalfayan (25), managing editor for the NYC music and culture blog/zine, Alt Citizen, said with a laugh. As things are going, though, they might as well be prepared to be. Since launching, the publication has accumulated a few thousand followers on social media and has had a handful of endorsements from publications such as The New York Times and DIY Magazine, and that’s not even the half of it.
Khalfayan, an Instagram-savvy, self-proclaimed “indie” kid, is Seattle-born and a current NYC-resident, battling the odds just as much as any other young hopeful in the “city that never sleeps.” She’s easy to pick out in the photo pit: typically sporting something uber-chic (from her leopard print coat to innumerable band tees), her curly, dark-brown locks tossed from side-to-side as she dances along to whatever set she’s shooting.
When asked about how she became involved in the “industry” and how she got to where she is today, Khalfayan shook her head and laughed: “I never had the intention of going into music journalism; I don’t necessarily have the credentials for it,” she explained. Before getting involved with Alt Citizen and other NY publications, she graduated from Virginia’s Shenandoah Conservatory with a degree in acting in 2016. After four years in school, a diploma to back it up, and a full-on move to New York to pursue it, though, she realized that she didn’t see herself acting as a career.
She got involved with music by way of photography: she began shooting as many shows as she could, and eventually, began contributing to Alt Citizen sometime in early 2018. Things have gradually snow-balled from there—“I just kept saying yes to whatever opportunities were given to me,” she said, which led her to shoot for Issue 7 of the zine (featuring the Voidz) and to later have a more executive, head position with the publication. “Not to be cheesy, but if you want to do something, you totally can … [The] best advice I could give is to work hard at what you love and don’t be a dick,” she continued.
Music journalism is a competitive game, with new independent publications seemingly popping up every day. This is especially true in an already intense environment like New York City, where it’s “kill or be killed” in terms of finding success and being able to rise to the top of the barrel. For Alt Citizen, though, it’s been relatively smooth sailing. “Maybe it’s indie music,” reflected Khalfayan, “but I feel like if you’re good to people and do good work and try to lift up artists, there are very few people who will want to tear that down.”
Living and working in New York isn’t always comfortable either, and in order to make ends meet, it’s not uncommon that creators like Khalfayan might have to take up odd jobs to keep the rent money flowing—after all, Alt Citizen is completely self-funded. Luckily for her, her “day job” is still within her music niche, having taken up an assistant position at the Julian Casablancas-founded Brooklyn record label, Cult Records. When Khalfayan and Alt Citizen founder, Nasa Hadizadeh, met just over a year ago while she was mailing out zine orders from the Cult office, an opportunity to work for the label (where Hadizadeh is also General Manager) essentially fell into her lap. Today, while she’s not assisting for Cult or managing for Alt Citizen, she can be found trekking back and forth from concert to concert, freelancing photography, and working with Native Sun, the band that she co-manages.
From an outside perspective, projects like Alt Citizen must have been curated by seasoned professionals, highly-trained and backed by sponsors galore. In reality, it’s the work of a few twenty-somethings living in the city, doing something that they love. Khalfayan is the heart and soul of that.