Arden Alexa turns teen angst into pop gold on debut album HOPE YOU’RE WATCHING

HOPE YOU’RE WATCHING is an ode to teenage melodrama. Energetic, cinematic and three years in the making with producers Simon Jay and Luke Shrestha, Arden Alexa’s dazzling debut record is out April 24. She talks to Headliner about her key influences, the persona she’s carefully curated, and the personal growth that’s carried her from her late teens into her early twenties.

Alexa has garnered millions of streams on Spotify from her music about heartbreak, but don’t mistake her music for frivolous heartbreak pop. She taps into the nerve of teen angst and amps it up in theatre-kid style. She’s still figuring herself out, bringing listeners along for every twist and turn. Behind the theatrics, there’s real vulnerability, and Alexa isn’t afraid to show it.

Your family history in music is fascinating; your dad went from the opera in Syria to progressive metal in the US. How has his career path influenced your musical journey, and do you ever see yourself exploring such dramatic shifts in style?

My dad has influenced me a lot. He grew up in Syria, singing opera and singing in the church. He moved to the US when he was really young, and as he got older, he went back to music and found writing and progressive metal as his passion. In a lot of ways, not only did he introduce me to music really young and encouraged me to write songs, but I also think when he saw how passionate I was, and he really encouraged that – both of my parents really did.

It is very lucky, because I know not many people can say they have the complete and unwavering support of their parents. Would I ever make a big switch, like my dad? I mean, maybe – music is always evolving, and as I'm sure every artist experiences, you're always growing. 

I started off in musical theatre when I was probably around two, and then gradually went into the pop world as I discovered songwriting. I found, especially with this album, I'm continuing to go back to the musical theatre roots, and that's such a foundational part of who I am, and especially who I am as an artist. I think it will continue evolving as I get older, too.”

You moved to L.A. fairly quickly after graduating high school. What pushed you to make the move so young?

I didn't go to college. So after high school, I sat my parents down, and I said, ‘Listen, guys, I really love making music and being in the studio and performing, and I think I'm good at it, and I think I can make something happen with it.’ After the initial “What the heck?!”, they were very behind me. It took about a year of living at home and figuring everything out before I was ready to move to L.A., but I've been here two years, and it's been great.

L.A. is absolutely where the pop music scene is. And I've got to do so many cool shows and meet so many other artists and write for other artists as well! It’s where the heart of the music industry – at least for pop music – is for sure.

From running on the spot to doing press-ups while singing, your “training to be a pop-star videos” are quite popular on TikTok. What other ways do you train to perform onstage?

Obviously, you have to be able to sing well, but I think that being able to perform and entertain is kind of a different skill. That's where I really lean on my musical theatre background to make the performance interesting, so you're not just standing there with a microphone singing away. That's something that I've practised a lot. You’ve got to build the muscle.

In addition to posting a lot on social media, I also do TikTok lives every night of the week. Not only is it a fun way to interact with fans and hang out and play music for them, but it's also a great opportunity for me to practice my stamina. Because sometimes I'll go live for two-ish hours, and it's pretty much just me singing the whole time.

What’s your favourite part about performing live?

I love performing live so much. I grew up onstage, so it really feels like a big part of who I am, and I think there is such a beautiful aspect both as a performer and as an audience member. You feel such a connection with everybody else in the room. 

Even if it's 10 people or 10,000 people, everybody feels so connected by music and by this art. But the bigger part is the connection and the unity that happens in a room full of people who you don't know, and you may have nothing else in common with, but in that moment, you're all there, you're all sharing the space, you're all appreciating this beautiful thing. I think it's a pretty magical thing.

When you’re onstage, do you need to separate yourself from your artistic persona?

That's a big part of my foundation as an artist: it's dramatic, and it's over the top – it has those theatrical elements. That definitely still applies to my day-to-day life. But it's slightly toned down, at least I hope I'm not quite as dramatic! But honestly, the other thing that I love about performing, and part of the reason I am so passionate about it, is because it's a moment for my brain to stop thinking, and I'm really able to be present when I'm performing. I'm not thinking about anything else.

You’ve crafted a soft-vintage, glitzy aesthetic in both your music videos and sound. It’s quite different to your earlier softer indie sound. What drew you to embrace this particular style?

I started releasing music when I was 16. Your taste as you get older really does evolve. A big thing for me back when I first started, everybody said, “You have to find your voice, you have to find your style, and what makes you unique.” 

I was very much still learning myself, and as a young artist, I was emulating what other artists were doing that I really liked. That was part of the process for me to get to where I am now. I’ve become more confident in my taste and my decisions, and that's also played a big part. This album is the first major realisation of that.

You’ve been working on HOPE YOU’RE WATCHING for three years, documenting your late teens to your early twenties. Looking back, is there anything on the record that already feels like a different version of yourself?

I've been having a conversation back and forth with my team for a while about certain songs on the album and whether we were going to include them or not. Some of the first songs that I wrote for the album, I don't identify with very much at all. In the end, I did come to the conclusion that this album, your early twenties [and] late teens are such a time of growth, right? 

And in such a time of change, it is important to include those songs that maybe I don't necessarily identify with as much now, because it is part of the journey. I wanted it to capture my experience as an 18, 19, 20-year-old. I think you have to capture those years. I have to include the very beginning.

Speaking of songs on the album, Thank God is a standout song from HOPE YOU’RE WATCHING. There’s something very Taylor Swift in the vocals and world-building storytelling. Do you find yourself chasing that kind of intimacy in your songwriting, the sense of pulling a listener completely into your world?

Storytelling has always been a big part of what drew me to songwriting. All of the songs on the album are about experiences that I've had. It's very therapeutic for me to songwrite, and with [Thank God] in particular, I was so over the whole situation with the guy that it's about. 

It was such a cathartic experience to write about. I'm really just writing from the heart. And in that particular situation, the whole thing was so ridiculous. So I thought, ‘I'm just going to write a fun song about it,’ and I ended up really loving it.

How do you balance your more vulnerable songs with your exaggerated pop persona?

So often, people try to put women into boxes and say, ‘Oh, Taylor Swift, she only writes about breakups.’ Or, ‘Olivia Rodrigo is only angsty music.’

A big part of what I want to do as an artist, and what I wanted to convey in this album, was that you can have many different sides, and you can have many opposing forces. I have many different aspects of myself. I used to do ballet and basketball – I would be super rough on the basketball court, and I'd go to my ballet rehearsal, in my pointe shoes and very graceful in my tutu. 

I've always felt like it's important to have different sides of yourself, and it's okay to have sides of yourself that contradict each other a little bit; that's what makes you interesting. In my songwriting and in my projects, I am very intentional about that, because that is really something that I want to convey to people, especially the young women who are my listeners and my fans.

As a self-confessed ‘control freak,’ how do you hold on to your creative vision while allowing room for collaboration for the best end result?

It is hard to learn to collaborate with people, and that's something that I really had to learn since moving to L.A. I used to write by myself in my room, and because I was such a perfectionist, I would hate to play the songs to anybody, even my parents. I really hated it, but I started to learn how to share my songs even when they weren't finished. 

I started doing as many sessions as I could and getting the practice of writing and being in a room with other people, knowing you can't control the entire song, you can't control everything. Part of the reason I think I have grown so close with the producers [Simon Jay and Luke Shrestha] is because they were so understanding and supportive of me in this process, giving me a space to share my ideas and share what I wanted each song to be, taking that and really helping me bring them to life. Getting to work with them was a great way for me to learn how to collaborate with other people.

HOPE YOU’RE WATCHING documents a very specific moment in your life. When you listen back to it years from now, what do you think it’ll tell you about yourself? 

Honestly, even now, because I wrote it about a year and a half ago, I listen to some songs and think about how far I've come. Not just in terms of my career and my life in L.A., but also emotionally. I've healed a lot from the place that I was when I wrote [sadder songs on the album]. 

Now I've been able to heal and find people who really support me. I feel so grateful for all the people who have lifted me up and helped me get out of that space. I’m sure I'll feel that even more down the line. But it's always cool to look back on songs and remember where you were when you wrote them and that point in your life. 

What’s the key message you hope listeners take away from HOPE YOU’RE WATCHING? 

It's okay to have depth and growth and have layers to yourself. You can look back on who you were two years ago and feel totally different. That's part of life, and that's part of growing up. It's important to embrace who you are in the moment. 

Ultimately, that's what this album is for me. Each of these songs is a snapshot of a point in my life, and it's just me fully embracing each of those moments. I hope that my listeners can take that and feel that in their own lives, and really embrace each moment.