LOS ANGELES, CA- Alexandra DeMattia introduces her newest EP, Shoulda Coulda Would, by proclaiming on the album’s opening interlude, “This is the story of losing love, but finding yourself.” From there, the album’s 7 cuts have its singer retelling, reminiscing and reconciling a failed relationship. The hip-hop/R&B swag is strong with this young lady, and this concept album seems to reflect a solid musical direction that the singer is taking.
Alexandra performed for Blurred Culture’s mini-showcase at Madame Siam late last year, and we reached out to her recently to chop it up about her new music, and what it’s taken to get to this point.
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Thanks so much for performing for us last year. It was an exciting night for you, wasn’t it? You were celebrating a birthday, and dropping a new track. Tell me a little about that holiday song, “Christmas Drip” you released. It’s kind of a naughty track, isn’t it?
Yes, it was super fun! Celebrating my 23rd birthday and the release of “Christmas Drip”. The idea for that song kinda started as a joke. For the past half-year, I was working on my ep, and the whole ep is about a breakup I went through so the topics are heavier and hard to sing about. So, I wanted to end the year with something upbeat, fun and kind of inappropriate. I called my producer and was like “can we make a trap Christmas song?”
[LAUGHTER]
… and as soon as he sent the beat over I was like, “how can I write lyrics to this that show where I’m currently in life? ” I feel like right now I’m in a place where I’m not taking anything too seriously (besides my career) so I just wanted to show that and sing about something fun.
The new EP sounds exciting. Will it include all of the singles that you dropped in 2019? Were those three songs (“Blow Your Mind”, “Blame It” and “Vibez”) all part of the breakup narrative?
Nope, those were just singles that have nothing to do with the project. My single “Running” that was released this year is on the EP and that is where the story starts.
Let’s get into your story a little bit. You currently live in West Hollywood, but you’re originally from the east coast, right? What’s it been like to make that jump from Jersey to Los Angeles? Is there anything that you’re missing from home?
I’m actually living in the valley right now. But yes, originally from New Jersey. I moved here at 18 (right after high school) all by myself to pursue my music more seriously. It was so terrifying coming to a massive city like LA from my small hometown in Jersey. The thing I miss the most is my family and my best friends since childhood who are like my family … and the food. You really can’t beat the food on the east coast. But I don’t see myself ever leaving LA. I’ve really adjusted to the lifestyle here and the opportunities for my career have been so incredible here.
Wow. Moving cross country.. solo … at 18? That must have been both terrifying and liberating. Did you have some kind of support group in LA before you moved out? Who were the first people to really give you some direction in the City of Angels? Or, did you do everything independently?
No, I really did everything independently. I didn’t know a single soul here. It was pretty crazy. It took me two years to get adjusted, no exaggeration.
What’s been the hardest part of the journey so far? Did the isolation ever get to you? Any stories/jewels you could drop about those first two years?
The hardest part was definitely … I think as an independent artist … would be the financial side of things. What people might not realize is, I … as a 23-year-old am funding everything myself …. it gets really stressful at times. There was a point where I was working 2 jobs in addition to making music. The isolation definitely got to me. I think when I moved here I was scared to be alone. As soon as I got to LA, I threw myself into a relationship because I didn’t know how to be in such a large place alone and definitely depended on that person a lot and then when that relationship ended, I got into an even more serious one (with the person the ep is about) and depended on him even more. Luckily, since both relationships, I’ve met incredible friends here as well and developed a wonderful relationship with the people on my team. So … I think what I’m learning now, that I would have never learned if I was still in New Jersey living with my family … is that independence is a beautiful thing and you have to work hard for your dreams. Like… I think people may look at my Instagram and be like, “Oh this girl’s cute and she sings and her songs are cool,” but no one actually knows how much work goes into this on my end.
The hustle and grind are real. I noticed in 2019 you dropped an album of covers… at least I think all of the cuts are covers. Can you tell me what inspired to work on that?
Yes, they are all either covers or remixes (me writing new words to the beat of someone else’s song). I did this because I wanted to be creative in my downtime of not recording my original songs. I thought to myself “these are songs that I love and if someone gave them to me how would I make them my own?” It was really fun to get to play around and be creative.
Did you produce them all yourself? And how much “downtime” do you have? Are you still working two jobs? Making an album, even an album of covers must have been very very time-consuming.
I don’t produce I just sing and write. I have absolutely no downtime. It’s actually insane. I am currently working on one job in addition to singing. Things are super busy right now as we are preparing for my ep to drop on the 14th.
Tell me a little bit about your new project. Are there any songs that you are particularly proud of?
I’m super proud of this project. It is the most “me” thing I’ve ever released. It feels so right and special. I fully wrote the project myself and I’ve never done that before, so that was a super cool experience. It allowed me to grow a lot as a writer and heal as a person. The project was fully produced by a friend of mine based in Dallas, Dara JT. Genre-wise, it’s really different. I would describe it as dark pop, r&b, and rap. After ending a long relationship, I was extremely heartbroken and depressed and this EP is a concept album that starts in that place and ends with me learning to love myself. I really hope that other people experiencing what I went through will relate to this and feel they are not alone. I love every song on this project deeply but my personal favorite is called “Never Again”. This song was added after the project was finished and I really couldn’t imagine the project without this song at this point.
What’s “Never Again” about? Care to dive into that story?
Never Again is about a mental breakdown, to be honest. I was trying to make a situation work for months after it was over and it pushed me to the edge physically, emotionally and mentally. I started questioning whether or not I even knew the person I had been with for all this time. I wrote that song in 15 minutes while I was having a panic attack while ending things with this person for the thousandth time.
[PAUSE]
It was a really empowering song for me to write and a real turning point for me where I kind of was just like, “This can never happen again, it’s absolutely breaking me and I need to be strong now and walk away from this and not look back.”
Follow Alexandra DeMattia on Facebook, and Instagram.
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