Alex Ray Interview

Conducted by Bethany M

I am Alex Ray. I have a tortured past. I went to undergrad for music, then became an attorney. I went into big law and commercial litigation. I really missed music. I went through a job loss and some health problems, and music just called me back. Now I am a YouTuber, where I cover music reactions and reviews, and a musician.

Who or what inspired you to start writing music and pursuing it?

When I was a kid, my dad was actually a Southern Baptist pastor. Obviously, there was some religious trauma to unpack there. I sang and played in church. I always loved it, and my dad has a beautiful voice. That was a thing we bonded over. When I got to high school, writing music became a form of therapy. I didn't live in a place that was accepting of mental health problems. I know now that I have bipolar type two. I think how I feel my feelings is really important to me to write songs. I am a child of Taylor Swift. I have Taylor Swift tattoos all over my body. I love that woman with my whole heart. She was a big inspiration to me to just be candid in my songwriting.

What's the song you've written that you feel most represents who you are as a person?

I wrote this song called Messy; it's not out yet. It will be released very soon. Messy talks a lot about the chaoticness of my life, having bipolar. I have manic episodes and long depression episodes. I think Messy encapsulates trying to have your life together as an adult human, functioning in the world, having a job, running errands, but being a mess under the surface and not having your life together. I think Messy just is who I am as a person. We're all kinda messy.

If you have a set songwriting process, what would it usually look like?

I have multiple songwriting processes. I think option one and my most favorite is just me sitting down at a piano and having some really big feelings and just having to get it out through the lyrics. Then I write the song top to bottom, then take it to my producer.
Number two has been happening a lot more lately as I am building my team as an artist. We will be studying. I work with an amazing producer called John Sincliar. He is a member of World's First Cinema, the band. We will be in the studio and just start tapping away at the track, then a melody will come to one of our minds, then create a story around that. While he is tapping away at the track, I am writing melodies and lyrics. Then we converge when it's necessary. I think that's a great way to let the track give you the feelings before you start writing the lyrics. You have to think about what feeling it evokes, then find the story in my life that fits it.

What's one of the most surprising things you've learned about yourself through songwriting and releasing music?

I am not very open to talking about my feelings. It's not that I don't want to, I just internalize a lot of things. Through songs, I look at my lyrics and realize that these are big feelings and I should probably talk to my boyfriend or talk to my therapist. I think I just learned a lot about myself and being introspective and navigating those feelings as I am writing the song. Then reflecting on what I do about this situation, were those feelings valid, or was I just feeling them big because of my disorders.

Do you face any challenges as a small singer-songwriter?

I think the same challenge that every singer-songwriter faces, which is we also have to be full-time content creators and annoy people on the internet to care about us. It never feels good, like you're just throwing your song out on the internet trying to make people care about you who have no reason to. It's not their fault. You get inundated with so many songwriters who are trying to get their stuff to stick. It is just a discouraging reality we live in, in the internet age. Being creative with what content you want to make, finding your niche, and also not just pushing your content, but creating a community with your fanbase.

What has been your favorite part about being an artist?

It is also the community we formed. It is partly because of my YouTube community. I have a YouTube channel and stream on Twitch. We have an awesome community, they're wonderful. Every time concert tickets go on sale, we are all trying to buy them at the same time and coordinating what concerts we are going to and yapping about music. Through my artistry, those people are the people that have shown up to support me more than anything and genuinely love the music I've been making. It is honestly just the connections with them. I am so excited to play more shows in more places and meet them and connect in person.

If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be and why?

Five Seconds of Summer. They're my favorite band of all time. I am a fangirl through and through. I went to like ten of their shows on the 5SOS Show tour. They probably looked at me out in the audience and were like, "oh my gosh there's that blue-haired girl again, maybe we need to get a restraining order." I love them and think their writing is wonderful and so introspective. I love their evolution of their sound over the years. It is so mature. I love that they're really making the music they're supposed to be making right now. If I could even possibly collaborate with any of the boys or them as a whole, that would be a dream come true.

If you had one piece of advice for your younger self, what would it be?

Don't let your feelings get hurt when people don't think your suggestions are perfect. What I mean by that is there are so many times as a songwriter and a person that you're gonna bring someone a song. It might be a friend, producer, or fellow songwriter, and they don't like it and think we can beat that. It always stings a little bit, because you poured your whole heart out into it and they don't think it's the best thing in the world. Now that I've done this process so many more times, you kinda just move on. You know when you can beat the lyric or melody. In the beginning, when you're making songs in your bedroom and pouring your heart and energy, it hurts so bad when people don't show the same energy. It isn't personal. If you surround yourself with people who genuinely care about your career, they're not saying to put your feelings away or not feel—they are saying how you can mainstream or streamline those feelings into something that's relatable to more people. That is what I would tell my younger self.