INTERVIEW: ALEX WARREN

Photo Credit: Cameron Driskill

Interview by Hannah Kitamura

I had the exciting opportunity to speak with Alex Warren about his debut album “You’ll Be Alright, Kid (Chapter 1),” his ongoing tour, and the journey that led him from becoming an influencer to a successful musician.

Hannah Kitamura (HK): I was wondering what your goals are for this tour. You transitioned from an opener, and now you’re headlining your own tour. It’s a sold-out tour, which is insane. I was wondering what that’s like and what you hope to gain from the end of this journey.

Alex Warren (AW): I had really bad stage fright before this. Oh my god, I get so much anxiety and stuff. Genuinely before this tour, I just did not feel like I was good enough to be doing this, to be headlining a show, and because of that lack of confidence that made me struggle. So with this tour, I really wanted to make sure that I was able to not sh-t myself. You know what I’m saying?

HK: Honestly, I get it, too, as an old theater kid.

AW: But theater was a lot easier because it didn’t fully depend on you. If I messed up my part, the show wasn’t ruined. Where in this, I think I put a lot of pressure on myself because the music I write helps a lot of people with loss and stuff, and I want it to be as good, if not better, in person, which puts a lot of stress on me.

HK: I did not know you had theater origins! That’s really cool. 

AW: Best Mad Hatter you’ve ever seen.

HK: I’ll take your word on that. My second question is that in your TikTok videos, I’ve noticed that you and Kouvr really care about your friends and other loved ones, and now you’ve included your loved ones with you on stage for this tour. I was wondering what inspired you to bring them on and have them perform with you and what that experience is like.

AW: Well, my roommates always wanted to do music, and I think I’m really blessed where I’ve had the opportunity to have a sold-out show. So it doesn’t really matter who I ask, and for him to have his first show with me, I think that meant a lot to me, and it meant a lot to him. And bringing my wife and my dogs and my friends just makes touring a lot easier. It’s hell, honestly, but it’s fun when you have your friends and you get to hang out; it’s just like a big road trip.

HK: That’s so nice. I’ve noticed that you’re an artist and a storyteller. You’ve told stories through your past videos, and now, you do so as a musician through your lyrics. I was wondering if you contribute to the visual storytelling aspects in your music videos and if you would ever consider directing one of your music videos in the future.

AW: I used to help direct my old ones. I would come up with all the treatments and everything. It’s not that I don’t want to, it just becomes a huge hassle. There’s a lot on my plate now, where I have to build the show, I have to build the songs, I have to do a lot of the stuff now. I would love to, and it’s super fun, and I did it for a lot of my first songs. But it does get really scary being in charge of budgeting and all those things, and I’d much rather just go where someone tells me to go. 

HK: You mentioned in an interview powered by JBL that you’ve been challenged to transition from comedy TikToks to music-related ones. I was wondering what that transition has been like, and I was also wondering if you found it difficult to be taken seriously as a musician because you did start as an influencer, and there is a discourse surrounding TikTok musicians.

AW: I think it would have been difficult if I didn’t write things that were true about me. I’ve always been very open with how my parents have passed and how that affects me and things like that. I always made music. I always posted singing videos, just on different accounts, so I don’t think it was really that far out of left field. I also waited until all the TikTok musician things kind of happened because I didn’t want to look like I was jumping on. I wanted to be like, hey, I’m actually doing this. And it’s been pretty evident as I’ve stuck with it. I don’t see that it’s really difficult. I think it’s more like, there’s a lot more pressure for me to be good. I’ve done 50 shows now, which is insane. But those first few shows, there’s just videos of me going viral, sounding terrible because I didn’t know what I was doing. I think that it was really difficult to learn how to be a live singer with everyone being like, “Oh, he should have been better.” Now, I have experience. I’m a lot better than I was before, but I’m still learning. I’m still getting better. I don’t have 10,000 hours, and I had that pressure of people being like, “Oh, he should be insane by now.”

HK: Going off of that, you mentioned in an interview that you didn’t want to be pigeonholed with the other TikTokers who have pursued music because you are taking it very seriously. I was wondering, in your own words, what makes you different and your music stand out?

AW: I don’t think I’m any different. I think my music stands out just for how real it is. I write everything. I’m in every room, I’m putting in the hours to really learn it, but I don’t think I’m any different from my counterparts if that makes sense. I truly think that they’re all very talented and everything as well. I think I’m in a unique situation with the things that I’ve gone through, and I write songs that are vastly different than that.

HK: Have you thought about potentially experimenting into a different type of sound or into different genres?

AW: No, I think I’m really happy with where I’m at right now. I like to blend everything, I guess. When you hear pop music, I don’t think you think, oh, Alex Warren, but at the same time, it has elements of folk and it has different elements. I like to make music I like to listen to. I’m obsessed with Mumford & Sons, I’m obsessed with Noah Kahan, I’m obsessed with Shawn Mendes. I’m influenced by my friends’ music, Benson Boone and David Kushner, so I kind of like hearing what they’re doing. It’s a blend of things.

HK: Your love for music stemmed from when you were younger and your dad gave you your first guitar. You would listen to music with him constantly, and you were inspired by artists like Coldplay. I was wondering, is there’s a friend who’s a musician or a dream collaborator that you would love to work with?

AW: I would love to do something with Gracie Abrams. I love her, and I think our voices would sound really cool together.

HK: I’m rooting for that. “You’ll Be Alright, Kid (Chapter 1)” is the first installment of your debut album. We don’t quite know what’s on Chapter 2 yet, but from Chapter 1, was there a specific song that was special, or if any of them resonated with you in a different way, or if they were just a little bit harder to capture, or anything like that?

AW: “Save You a Seat” was really hard because we wanted it to be so perfect. It took forever. Usually, we write a song in six to eight hours. “Save You a Seat” took days, and we wanted it to be so perfect, and there were so many issues with it. Once it came together, it was really nice and it was kind of like a cool thing. Once it started, it went really quick, but it took a long time to get to where it is. And the new album, I have no songs for it yet.

HK: Well, I’m very excited to hear it.

AW: Once I get right off this tour, I’ll spend a month, and I’ll write another album.

HK: And when Chapter 2 comes out, I’ll be right back here.

AW: Yes, please. I love that.

HK: Maybe in a bigger venue! 

AW: We already booked out the next venue too.

HK: I heard, congratulations!

AW: Thank you so much. It will be double the size. 

HK: I was wondering if there are any big challenges that you’ve unexpectedly faced since you started releasing music that you didn’t anticipate facing.

AW: Wow, I don’t know. I think it’s a lot. You have to be a lot more creative. With being an influencer and all those things, there’s just so much you can do. There’s trends, there’s whatever. But with music, you have to pioneer the creativity, where like TikTok, you just jump on a trend. There’s so many people famous for just doing trends, and when it’s a musician, you can’t just jump on things necessarily consecutively, or else people are gonna be like, “Oh, it’s just the same sh-t over and over again.”

HK: I’m assuming you’ve had to change your marketing strategy.

AW: Yeah, for sure. I’ve gotten really lucky with my marketing strategy, just singing at the camera, like lip syncing it, which is great. Truthfully, it’s been really cool to kind of change my thought process and promoting records, but it is something I hope one day I don’t have to do because I feel like it removes the sense of art from it when there’s 40,000 posts being like, “The song comes out soon! Pre-save the song!” It gets really weird.

HK: Do you have any plans for the future in general, after this tour?

AW: I quite literally finish this tour, and I go lock myself in a cabin with my friends, and we write the next album. And then that comes out, hopefully by February, and I start touring again for four to five months.

HK: For Chapter 2?

AW: Yeah, so I’ll be gone again.

HK: Chapter 1 and 2, this is going to be one album together. Do you think that this entire album is almost like a book where it takes on a journey from beginning to end?

AW: I think Chapter 1 is when people ask, “Who is Alex Warren?” I can show them that, and they can learn a lot about me. I think Chapter 2 is “Who am I going to be?” I want to write songs about falling in love, yes, but also what it was like falling out of love with my past relationships. I think “You’ll Be Alright, Kid,” both chapters are what shaped me into me. I think people can listen to the entire record and be like, “Oh, wow, I know this person like the back of my hand.” It’s just me being vulnerable.

HK: You’ve talked about how “Save You a Seat” was one of your most emotional songs.

AW: It’s my favorite song!

HK: So you do have a favorite!

AW: “Save You a Seat” is my favorite song, for sure. Not to perform, but when I look back, I’m very happy with that. “Carry You Home” I feel like you could listen to in 20 years, and it’ll still be like, “Oh, wow, this is a hit record,” which I can’t say for a lot of my songs.

HK: Really?

AW: Yeah! My songs are very niche. You can’t listen to a lot of my songs without either going through a breakup or losing someone in some sense. “Carry You Home,” whether you’re falling in love, whether it’s someone you like, a friend, whether it’s a family member, that person you’re gonna carry them into your life. I think that’s really special, and everyone can relate to that. 

HK: Your fans really connect with your lyrics, and it’s incredibly personal, but somehow, people from any background are able to relate to these songs. I was wondering how performing live in front of your fans has changed your dynamic with them and the meaning of the songs that you’ve written.

AW: I think before, I was like, “Oh, people don’t care about what the song says, it just matters on how it sounds.” Now I realize that my lyrics actually mean something. I always thought my lyrics meant something to me, but I write the songs for me. Realizing that people have taken my lyrics and applied them to their own lives and tattoo them on themselves is crazy. It’s also something where it’s like, okay, people actually care, you know?

HK: It changes that a little bit.

AW: Yeah, for sure. If you get that tattooed on your forearm, I sure hope so.

HK: This is a bit of a segue into a different topic, but you transitioned from comedy to music, and you incorporate comedy in your shows.

AW: It’s like a little stand-up!

HK: Would you consider pursuing comedy separately in the future?

AW: Never. I don’t know. Personally, I don’t think I’m funny, but for some reason, whenever I say something, they laugh. I truthfully just black out. I don’t remember what I say. It’s just me terrified, like the anxiety, and I just say the first thing comes to my mind. I could never recreate it. If you’re watching today’s show, it won’t sound the same as the next show. I don’t say the same things. Each show is a different thing. You can see me today, and you’ll see me tomorrow, and it’s a completely different show because I have no idea what I’m saying.

HK: Well, thank you so much for talking to me today!

AW: Thank you.

This interview was edited for clarity.