Alexandra Kay, a native of Waterloo, Illinois, began her musical journey at the age of 15, channeling her experiences into songwriting. Initially exploring hip-hop and R&B, she collaborated with notable St. Louis artists, including Nelly and Huey, leading to her signing with Network Entertainment in 2013. Her debut single, ‘No More,' achieved significant success, spending three weeks at number one on the New Music Weekly Top 40 pop chart.
Despite her early achievements, Alexandra felt a strong pull towards her country roots. Embracing this passion, she began recording covers of 90s country favourites, sharing them on social media platforms. Her authentic renditions resonated with audiences, rapidly growing her fan base to over 8 million across various platforms. This online presence paved the way for collaborations with industry legends such as Randy Travis, Tim McGraw, and Jo Dee Messina. Her dedication lead to her releasing her impactful album ‘All I've Ever Known' which saw her play such iconic shows as Hyde Park in London last year supporting Morgan Wallen.
In February 2025, Alexandra released her single ‘Cupid's A Cowgirl,' marking her label debut with Broken Bow Records. This release set the stage for her ‘Cupid's A Cowgirl Tour,' her which commenced on February 23, 2025, in Jacksonville, Florida, and spanned 31 cities across the United States and Canada. As that tour rolls into the UK we spoke to Alexandra about this exciting new phase in her career and lots more besides!
Hi Alexandra, it's lovely to talk to you again. Hope you are well?
I'm wonderful! I'm in Belfast right now. I've been over in Europe for three weeks now, having a great time.
Thank you for coming back over and thank you for giving us your time today.
Of course!
We last spoke in person at Morgan Wallen's Hyde Park show last summer. Did you enjoy that trip and did we leave you with some good memories?
Oh my gosh! I literally left the stage that day and walked over to my agent, Randy, who does all my international bookings and said ‘We are coming back to the UK and absolutely have to do a full tour!' (laughing) Fast forward nearly a year later and here we are!
We touched on the impact of your ‘All I've Ever Known' album back. That album was pivotal for you – as you move into the next phase of your career can you put into words just what that album did for you?
It changed my whole life. It not only gave me an outlet to process me feelings and all the crazy things I was going through at that time but it also took my relationship with my fans to another level and enabled us to get to know each other in personal ways. We just sold out Belfast last night and I'm crying on stage because we are so far away from home but every person knows the words to every song!
No matter what the record does from here on out I think we created something really special and I'm so proud of it.
Your relationship with your fans is fascinating. I see them on social media giving you necklaces – you have the whole coffee cup thing going on too. Where did that originate from?
Back in 2020 I started doing this thing on TikTok that got millions and millions of views where I would make my coffee in the mornings and sing whilst I was doing it. From there everybody called me ‘The Coffee Girl.' Still, to this day, everybody brings me coffee cups – my fans are so great and they put a lot of thought into the gifts.
I don't know how we built this relationship so fast, I think ‘All I've Ever Known' resonated with a lot of people and got to show me in a new light. It showed people that I was a real human going through really hard stuff, just like they were.
Another thing that has happened since we spoke in Hyde Park last year is that you've signed a record deal with Broken Bow / BMG. That's so cool for you.
I did! I did! They are the best label. I could not imagine being anywhere else. I'm working on my second album now and it's been an absolute joy to work with them on this project – they are so caring and they really put the artist first, which is not something every label does.
A lot of people ‘Oh, you were so independent for so long and you waved that flag so high,' and I did but it's been cool to have this incredible team that will push me to the next level now.
I guess they saw in you the resilience and determination that propelled your independent career and liked those characteristics.
Yeah, that's what made us pull the trigger on the actual deal. I had been having meetings with them: they had kept in touch with me for four years and we had conversations on and off all that time – I was selling out thousands of tickets as an independent artists and the streaming figures were great so I wanted to feel like I had taken that route as far as I could before I needed help to get to the next level and access things like country radio. I kinda knew four years ago that this would be where I end up!
I've got a sneaking suspicion that the Jelly Roll shows you did might rank as being one of, if not THE, major highlights of your career so far?
Absolutely unreal! The Jelly Roll show in Nashville and the show in St Louis, which is where I am from! Two huge arenas and two checks off the bucket list. It was the the time of my life and I learned so much from him in such a short space of time so I am grateful and honoured to be able to call him a friend.
Appearing on huge stages with Jelly Roll and at stages like the Stagecoach one – what have you learned and how have you grown as an artist in the last 18 months?
Oh, so much! As the stages get bigger you have to learn how to perform to those spaces and crowds. Performing in a club where everybody is so close and then performing in an arena where everybody is so far away are two very different situations – you don't feed off the energy of the crowd in bigger arenas and you can't see their faces but you still have to connect with them, which is a skill all of its own.
I'm still a student of the craft and learning with each show I do – I'm a sponge around all these major artists and want to soak up as much experience from them as I can.
We've had ‘Cupid's A Cowgirl' from you this year which is a different tone to a lot of the songs on ‘All I've Ever Known' – I'm getting playful, early-Shania vibes from that one……..
Thank you! That's what I was going for! Inherently, Country music is a genre that loves to hang on to tradition, which is something I love about it but that can also mean that it doesn't handle change very well. I did get a lot of comments from people saying that the label is making me change my sound but the funny thing is I'd actually written the song way before I signed to the label – I'm changing my own sound and growing and this next album will be different to ‘All I've Ever Known' because who I was when I made that album was broken but that's not who I am now, right?
This new, bright pink, playful ‘Cupid's a Cowgirl' vibe is different. I have a song out tonight (which is out now, today!) called ‘The Last' which is a love song and that is different for me too. That is where my heart is now. When I sing a love song now people know that I am singing about my boyfriend, Rocko, who is also up on stage with me! That's authentic and very real.
‘The Last' is your new song, out now. It's a big love song. In your ‘broken' phase on ‘All I've Ever Known' there were no love songs – did you find it tricky stepping back into that world of hearts and flowers when writing a song?
What I found tricky, and always have since I started writing songs at 12 years old, is to write about something I am not currently going through. A lot of artists write sad songs as an escape and they have a need to get that out – this is the first time in my entire life that I feel like I have too many good feelings! (laughing) so no, it wasn't tricky putting those feelings down on paper and into these new songs.
What I did find hard was doing it in a cool, fun, fresh way that didn't feel cheesy. I wanted to navigate my way through these new feelings and do it right so it felt authentic to this part of my life right now.
Can you share with us a ballpark ETA for the arrival of the new album?
So it will definitely be out by the end of the year. In a couple of months you guys will start hearing more about the actual details of it. The writing is all done and so anything that I write now will be saved for something like a deluxe version or maybe even the next record – who knows! (laughing)
Now that you are on a major label do you think you might see some of your songs being sent to other artists? Is that something that interests you?
You know, I am so down for that. I also love getting songs from other writers and artists. I have two songs on the new record that are outside cuts, written by other people. I really don't have any ego when it comes to songs – if it's a great song I'll record it and it wouldn't matter who wrote it.
I'm definitely up for seeing some of my songs go out to other artists, although so far, everything that I've written that I've loved I've held onto for me! (laughing)
I see you are playing the CMT Next Women of Country show during CMA Fest week at the Country Music Hall of Fame. I saw that show there last year with artists like Tigirlily Gold and Tanner Adell. Do you get nervous playing those intimate shows still?
I get more nervous playing intimate shows like that than I do the big arena shows. I will be a nervous wreck. You can lose yourself in the energy of a big crowd but if everybody is seated right in front of you, waiting with bated breath for this type of songwriter show I'm like, ‘Oh no!!!!!' (laughing) The good thing about those shows is that people come to them as lovers of songs, right? They either love the artists on stage or the format of the show itself and so are very respectful and engaged.
I love playing ‘The Listening Room Cafe' in Nashville – everybody there knows what they are there for and it's not talking or partying – they are listening the the lyrics of the songs and those are some of my favourite shows to play.
A lot of the shows are sold out but here's the links to Alexandra Kay's UK tour which arrives in Birmingham tonight after starting in Belfast last night. Tickets here.
