Alexandra Kay has quickly risen to prominence in the country music scene, captivating fans with her authentic sound and powerful voice reminiscent of legends like Dolly Parton, Alison Krauss, and LeAnn Womack. Starting her career independently at 22, Alexandra began recording and posting cover videos of 90’s country favourites on her Facebook fan page, going viral multiple times. Her social media success has led to collaborations with iconic artists such as Randy Travis, Tim McGraw, Jo Dee Messina, Gary LeVox, Tracy Lawrence, and Scott Stapp of Creed. Alexandra's remarkable journey reached a milestone when she made her Grand Ole Opry debut on November 19, 2022, and she is set to return for additional performances in 2024 alongside notable artists like Jelly Roll, Cody Johnson, and Warren Zeiders.
In 2022, Alexandra joined Tim McGraw, Russell Dickerson, and Brandon Davis on the McGraw Tour, performing across the United States. She also shared the stage with country greats Tracy Lawrence and Clay Walker. 2023 saw Alexandra making her debut at C2C in London and headlining a sold-out show in Manchester. Her Backroad Therapy Tour 2 and Dive Bar Dreamer tours were both highly successful and Alexandra released her debut album ‘All I’ve Ever Known' in late 2023. She continues to build on her momentum with her latest headline tour and a recent performance supporting Morgan Wallen at his BST Hyde Park show in London where we were thrilled to catch up with her for a chat.
Welcome back to the UK! How did you find it last time you were here?
I absolutely loved it and was so excited that I could come back again. This is going to be my fourth performance here now so I'm stoked about that.
Is there time for sightseeing on this visit or is it a straight in-and-out?
We got the chance to walk around Camden yesterday which was really cool. We went to the market, which was really fun to do.
Before we talk about ‘All I've Ever Known' let's talk about ‘Best Worst Ex' which is a song you did with Julia Cole – the pair of you have been through the relationship wringer since that song!
The song and collaboration came out long before either of us went through anything, interestingly. Julia and I met in Nashville and have been friends for a while. She came to me and said that the person who she co-wrote it with's label doesn't want her to put it out so she sent it across to me and I thought it was an absolute banger! I love that everybody has really clung to it – it's the party song in my set, for sure!
‘All I've Ever Known' is such a powerful album. There's a lot of hurt on the songs on the album – did you find it a cathartic experience to write and record?
Extremely. It was me healing. The way that we sequenced the album starts with a letter to the fans from me and then you kinda watch me fall apart and then come back together again towards the end. We put a lot of thought into every single song and I co-wrote every single song too so that I could keep the album personal to my situation.
It became so personal, actually, that I was worried at one point that people wouldn't be able to relate to it but, thank god, that wasn't the case at all! (laughing) I'm super excited that I could turn my pain into something really beautiful and that I get to watch people have the same cathartic experience listening to the songs that I had writing them.
When you are singing songs like ‘Everleave' and ‘More Than You' can you separate the emotions from the performance of the songs or do they churn up a kind of regressive PTSD?
Now I can. At first, there are plenty of videos of me out on the Backroad Therapy tour falling to pieces singing these songs! I was actually going through my divorce during that tour and no-one knew about it. I was sharing the music and bursting into tears!
I can now ‘be there' in the moment of singing these songs without feeling the same emotions that I did. I'm also so much more happier now – I'm in a new relationship now so can experience the songs for what they are now without the pain intruding.
The last two songs, ‘She Stayed' and “I Can Do Anything' -they couldn't really go anywhere else on the album, could they? They seem to be channeling a feeling of hopefulness for the next phase, right?
They are! That's what they are there for. I actually wrote both those songs with my guitar player, Rocko, who is now also my current boyfriend. Just the two us wrote both of those songs. They were two of the last songs we wrote for the record and we weren't even dating at that time yet either.
I had been almost a whole year out of it at that point and was feeling in a more hopeful place by then. We needed a couple of songs just to tie everything together.
I asked Carly Pearce this question about her '29' project. When you've put so much of yourself into a project that is so personal and painful, is it intimidating to have to think about beginning the writing process for the next album or project?
It's very intimidating, especially being a writer who has written through grief. The reason why I started writing when I was younger was that I just had all these overwhelming feelings. I was going through so much at a young age and I didn't know where to go with it so I kinda just fell into writing because I couldn't handle the grief I was going through.
It's much harder for me to write happy songs, despite how I am feeling because it's what I've always done! Honestly, I'm exploring a new sound and the next record will be a very confident sounding me – someone who now has power over her life and her emotions and her feelings. I'm really excited for everybody to see my growth as a human being on the next record!
When is the ball park estimate for new music do you think? You've hinted on social media that the ‘All I've Ever Known' era might, not necessarily, be over just quite yet?
Yeah, not necessarily, (laughing) but we haven't made an official announcement yet so I can't really talk about it right now! Early next year, however, will be when I am releasing my next project with the new music I was talking about just now. Early next year.
Go check out Alexandra Kay's fabulous ‘All I've Ever Known' album on all the usual platforms right now!
