Q&A: Paris Alexa Plays with Vulnerability and Hard Truths on ‘Wrong Generation’
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY MOLLY PECK ☆
Photo by Kyla Mae
THE EXPRESSION ‘SPEAK SOFTLY AND CARRY A BIG STICK’ embodies Paris Alexa’s new single, “Wrong Generation.” The melody is catchy, and the vocals are smooth, but the backbeat and the lyrics pack a punch. Alexa’s layered vocal harmonies give the tracks a classic, melodious R&B vibe, while her lyrics take a critical look at the state of the world. “Wrong Generation” is a groovy, soulful song about social toxicity and lost connection that asks everyone listening to stand up and take a good, hard look at what is going on around them.
The theme of the song might be big, but Alexa makes it personal. Her lyrics are honest and raw, allowing her to open up about the struggle between being vulnerable and trying to protect herself. “Y’all too damn toxic. I’m way too naïve. I’m walking around with my heart on my sleeve,” Alexa sings in the second verse. She’s able to make her frustration clear while crooning over strings and a steady bass line that blend the hard and soft elements of the track. “When I needed help nobody followed up, but they tell me better keep your followers up,” she intones on the bridge, somehow keeping the vocals silky-smooth, yet sounding disappointed at the same time.
Alexa has plenty of reason to be frustrated with the way the music industry revolves around online discourse and popularity. Now in her mid 20s, Alexa has been working hard toward a solo career since she was a teenager. She is an accomplished songwriter, having worked with artists like Ciara, Normani and Anitta, to name a few. Alexa is also an in-demand writer in the K-pop space. She recently signed a publishing deal with K-pop giant CTGA after penning hits for groups such as Saint Satine, IVE and aespa.
With all of this success behind the scenes, Alexa’s solo career is having a resurgence. She released her debut project, Bloom, in 2018, which received many critical accolades, and another project, 2 Real, in 2020. She had not found consistent momentum until now.
After four years away from releasing her own music, “Wrong Generation” is a triumphant return for Alexa. Regardless of immediate mainstream success, she has come out of the gate with a level of confidence befitting her prolific songwriting career. Alexa is making a statement with “Wrong Generation” that she is ready to put her heart and soul into the music she makes. The themes, lyrics, production and vocals are all aligned on the track, giving the listener a true sense of Alexa’s perspective and sound.
Luna sat down with Alexa to discuss “Wrong Generation,” how she’s feeling about returning to solo work, and all the exciting things coming up next.
Photo by Kyla Mae
LUNA: Would you like to introduce yourself?
ALEXA: I'm Paris Alexa. I just dropped my first song in a long time, and I'm really excited about the response! I talked a little bit about it on my social media, but I'm just really excited about the community I'm building. I'm excited to be stepping back into the R&B space, and even more than when I was a little bit younger.
LUNA: For those unfamiliar with your music, what are some of your influences and inspirations?
ALEXA: My influences and inspirations definitely start with Brandy, like the vocal Bible. Then Jazmine Sullivan, her first two or three albums, and Alicia Keys, very influential. I started playing piano, so seeing her [Keys] composing all her songs at such a young age, and singing with this big voice really inspired me. More modern people would be H.E.R., Summer Walker–I love her deep register–and then some underground people like Amel Larrieux, who I don't think should be underground. Amel Larrieux was a huge inspiration for me, as far as lyricism and subject matter. She was always talking about something very deep and profound, and as a little girl, her songs getting stuck in my head really influenced my pen.
LUNA: What do you love about the genre, and what inspires you specifically about R&B?
ALEXA: There's always this conversation of, “R&B is dead,” and I've always wondered why people are saying that. What about it is not the same? In trying to figure that out, it's helped me to understand what I love the most about R&B, which is the vulnerability. It's like safety, almost. Because you're crooning, or because you're singing out in a way that won't happen in other genres, you're able to have this safety and vulnerability. Whether it’s the subject matter, whether it’s you talking about, “I love this person so bad, and they left me,” there's just this safety that R&B provides to the narrator of the story. I think it's really sacred, and that's my favorite part.
LUNA: You have such a rich background in songwriting and performing. What have you learned from writing for other artists, and how has that influenced your solo work?
ALEXA: I think that writing for other artists has allowed me to carve out what my sound is like. Working for other people has allowed me to understand the real job of songwriting, which I don't know if everyone does. The job of songwriting is about being a chameleon. It's really about leaving your ego at the door, and it's not really about you. It's about how you are going to serve the song, how you are going to serve the story that the artist is trying to tell. When I'm in the driver's seat, when I'm thinking about that for myself, it's made me realize that, “Oh my gosh, my ego is kind of shy!” My ego's a little bit like, “Are people gonna hear and understand the story I'm trying to tell?”
I’ve felt very empowered by playing my new song and having people react to it. I'm excited to see future reactions, but this first song was really made by the little girl inside me, and made me feel like I can say what I have to say; I can speak my truth. It's really been about being intentional. Like, “How am I going to approach songs that are just for me?” Or, “How am I going to approach a lyric that is just for me, or a story that's just for me,” versus for somebody else. It's an ego exercise, if anything. That's been in a good way, and the little girl in me is like really, really happy right now.
LUNA: “Wrong Generation” is your first solo release in about four years. How do you feel coming back from the break?
ALEXA: The climate of the music industry is a lot different from when I first was starting out, so there was a lot I had to learn in getting ready to release this single. My team is amazing, and I'm so grateful that I have incredible individuals whose creativity and strength I can rely on to have us all succeed.
It's been a lot different. Short-form content is supreme now, but ultimately people want to know the artists. People want to get to know me and my journey a little bit better. I think that's better than it was when I was younger. There's a story to tell, and people want to understand; like, “Wait, she wrote all these K-pop songs, so like, how did she get here?” What was the journey? What's the true tea behind that? In the past, I'd be like, “This is work, let me just release songs.” But there's so much power in vulnerability right now, and I'm really grateful for that shift. It's scary, a little bit, but I'm seeing this strong sense of community develop. The more I'm vulnerable, the more it allows my listeners to be vulnerable with me. Watching my subject matters get a little bit deeper has been really rewarding; I think that's the biggest shift.
Photo by Kyla Mae
LUNA: The theme of “Wrong Generation” is very powerful and relatable. Why did you want to write about feeling out of place in the digital world?
ALEXA: I graduated high school in 2016, and that was a very quintessential time for female empowerment on social media. People were using words like “savage” and “unbothered baddie,” and I really aspired to be that. If you listen to some of my earlier music, you can see it. I was very much like, “It's your loss if you move on!”
As I've gotten older, I've just started to shed a lot of those layers. Sometimes I feel like a baddie, and sometimes I'm introspective, like a woo-woo girly girl, and there's beauty in that! I don't know why the theme continues to be safety, but again, I think I just started feeling more safe. I'm also in a healthy relationship, so that's helped me feel safer being like, “Wow, I'm a lover girl.” I don't feel like everybody–even though other people might be–not everybody is saying that.
As I felt more and more safe, I felt more comfortable talking about life in between the moments that we post on Instagram–life in between the happy and the perfect photo app. I was like, “Hey guys, what is going on?” Why does it feel like in order to be in this dating climate I have to like, suit up for battle and pretend to be somebody else, and gatekeep my true personality on the chance that if I’m too vulnerable, I’m gonna get done dirty? I hate that. I really, really wanted to provide a safe space for like-minded individuals, and also for myself.
LUNA: We've talked about songwriting and what you do in the studio, but not about performing. Are you excited to sing “Wrong Generation” live?
ALEXA: I'm really, really excited! I have a couple shows coming up, and that's the time when the songs really come alive. When I'm performing, I’m seeing how people are reacting in real time, seeing how people are taking it. Some people haven't heard the songs, and are like, “Whoa, what did you just say?” So I really can't wait! I feel like it's going to breathe new life into “Wrong Generation.” With all these songs I have coming out, I'm painting this big picture; I see the long view of the live performance and the show, and I can't wait to have all the elements come together. It's so exciting.
LUNA: What’s coming up next for you?
ALEXA: I have another single coming out soon in the summer, which I'm so excited about. I’m a Leo–it's kind of obvious after five seconds of talking to me–and I'm dropping a song in Leo season. I'm ecstatic about it because it pays homage to some of those greats that I mentioned earlier. Beyond that, it leans a little more into the lover girl. “Wrong Generation” is very critical; I'm saying something's wrong with everybody else. This new song is more like, “Something might be wrong with me too, and I'm being loved through it, and I'm loving him through it.”
I think that's what all of us are trying to do in long-term relationships. There's beauty in the back-and-forth, and it's not all Instagrammable moments. Sometimes you argue, sometimes he says something that rubs you the wrong way and you have to address it, and how are you going to get back to that beautiful place afterwards? I'm excited to continue to speak about life in between the Instagrammable moments. There's a lot more stuff coming this year; I can't say everything yet, but there's more stuff coming this year.
LUNA: Is there any message you’d like to give your audience?
ALEXA: I want to continue to make music that makes people think, whether it catches you immediately, and you're like, "Oh, these are my people,” or if you're like, "Wait a minute, like, why is she saying that? Why are we in the wrong generation?” So many people are obsessed with Y2K. They're so obsessed with the past, and we’ve got to ask ourselves why. Can we bring some of those elements back consciously? Can we just decide as a collective, let's lean into the vulnerability a little bit? We're all going through the craziest of times. The only way that we'll be able to get through it is by acknowledgement and community, so I'm excited to continue to cultivate that.
