In Conversation With Lexi Jayde
Photo by Caity Krone
[UNPUBLISHED]: How did you initially find your love for music, songwriting, and singing?
[LEXI JAYDE]: It's always been a very obvious thing for me. I was writing songs at six years old and grew up doing musical theater and my parents loved music. So they always had music playing around the house and I was constantly singing. I was the friend who was singing so much that my best friends were like, “Lexi, you need to shut up.” I was constantly making up my own songs, writing stuff down. But it wasn’t until I got older that I really understood my love for music and how much it impacted my life. As I got more mature and was going through these mature experiences, I used it as an outlet to express my feelings and my emotions, and was able to take those experiences and write them down and make them into songs.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Was there a moment when you realized that making music was the path for you?
[LEXI JAYDE]: The first time I really wrote a song with somebody else. I wrote the song “If I Really Love You” with Danny Spadaro, which was the first song I ever released. And I remember the day we wrote it, I went home and I was bawling my eyes out to my parents because I was just so proud and excited about this one song. It wasn't my first song that I'd written, but it was the first song that felt real to me and true to who I was. That was a moment for me that I'll never forget, hearing back that song and walking home that day and being like, “Holy shit, this is the music I want to make. This is it.”
[UNPUBLISHED]: Do you remember the first song you ever wrote?
[LEXI JAYDE]: Yes! I don’t remember it obviously but I have videos of it and I remember I actually wrote it on the toilet. It was about how you’ve got to risk it all to follow your dreams. And my dad was like, “Why are you writing on the toilet? What are you doing?” And I was like, “I'm more inspired on the toilet! I have to sit down here to write a song.” I think it was called “Believe and Risk Your Dreams.”
[UNPUBLISHED]: Both growing up and currently, who are some of your music inspirations?
[LEXI JAYDE]: There was never really one artist that really changed my music life. I know a lot of people have one person that was an inspiration for them but I really don't think I had that. I just really enjoy music and the process of music and listening to music around the house. I obviously grew up listening to Taylor Swift, Billy Joel, Elton John, Queen, Prince, Fleetwood Mac, all these classic artists. Without even knowing, everybody kind of inspired me in a way. Now specifically, I love Kacey Musgraves, Lorde, old Taylor Swift. I’m still a huge Fleetwood Mac fan, there's so many artists that I'm obsessed with. I've taken my passion for music through so many different things in life that there wasn't one specific person.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Where does the initial inspiration for a song usually come from? How do you approach the songwriting process? What have you found works for you?
[LEXI JAYDE]: I get all my inspiration from everything that happens in my life. It's more difficult in that way as a songwriter, but I can't do it any other way. When I write a song, it's going to be about something that I experienced or that I went through or an emotion I'm feeling or have felt before. Whether it’s me starting a voice memo on the freeway or writing down random lyrics that I just randomly think of, singing something random, my mind is constantly going with so many different things. I'm constantly coming up with melodies, lyrics. Everything that I write is an honest story. It’s awesome that I have the access to write whatever I'm feeling down at any moment. So I usually start with that and a guitar, and that's how everything blossoms. I don't have to be in a specific place but I have to be in a comfortable place. I enjoy going to people's houses where it has couches and open windows. Sometimes working in studios can be claustrophobic for me and I will go right back in my room again.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Your upcoming EP closer to closure will be releasing on May 26th - huge congratulations! What excites you about this project? What do you love about it?
[LEXI JAYDE]: It really showcases who I am as a songwriter and as an artist. This is a really big moment for me, for my heart and my mental health and everything that I've worked so hard for. It's all coming together and it's finally here and I'm just so excited for the world to hear it!
[UNPUBLISHED]: How does it compare to your previous work? How have you evolved since you first began released music?
[LEXI JAYDE]: An insane amount! Not just my voice but as a songwriter. I really think I've improved and grown just in the past few months. To see that improvement and the creative process, how it's changed and grown so much since I had released “If I Really Love You” has really been such a beautiful thing. I'm still growing and I'm always going to be growing but it's really cool to go back and play my old demos for friends, who are like, “Wow, your voice sounds so different!”
[UNPUBLISHED]: I know you worked on the EP with producers Alexander 23, FINNEAS, Captain Cut. What do you love about collaborating with others?
[LEXI JAYDE]: I love when I have someone else there with me. It's so much fun to bounce ideas off of each other, to have another incredible opinion in the room. It's kind of the same process, where I have an idea or an emotion, something I’ve dealt with. Sometimes we just sit there and talk and I'm like, “Holy shit. Let's write about this.” Or “Oh my God, this is a good song title.” Just having another person there to help bounce ideas off of and who understands me as an artist and my writing process. It’s the same as if I were to write in my room. It's not as personal, but it is because I'm very open when it comes to telling people things. I could sit down and tell anyone around the world my entire life story. But I guess that's what makes me a good songwriter. I'm able to be honest about anything going on in my life.
[UNPUBLISHED]: How has making this EP, and all of your music really, been a part of your healing process, your way of growing stronger and moving on, if at all?
[LEXI JAYDE]: It's the only reason why I'm okay right now, actually. I have a great family and great people surrounding me, but if I didn't have music or an outlet to express everything that I went through, I don't think I would be okay. Being a songwriter, being able to tell this story in so many different ways was very much my therapy. The people that were working with me would sit there, wait for me to have my mental breakdown, and then sit and talk to me about it. For hours, just months of this rollercoaster of emotions with so many people who became family and saw all these different sides. I had a bunch of therapists around me and I felt like my own therapist at times where I was writing all these things down. There are some songs that I would never release but thankfully I wrote it because I got to get all those feelings out. I think that’s why I’m almost a hundred percent healed and have been able to keep my head up and smiling and moving on, doing new things and thriving in so many ways. I didn't think I would have been able to thrive so soon. It would have been impossible without music and I'm just so lucky because I don't know what I would do without it.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What do you hope listeners take away from your music?
[LEXI JAYDE]: This project expresses so many emotions and feelings of heartbreak, so many universal feelings that everyone around the world can feel or relate to. No matter what age you are, where you are, who you are and that's one of the most beautiful things about this project. There's an emotion for everything and everyone, and I really want people to know that they are not alone in this feeling, whatever they're going through. I want people to walk away feeling less alone or maybe they feel like they are healed or they could get through the day now. I just feel really lucky that I was able to take this experience and turn it into a beautiful thing for everyone to heal from. And it's crazy because so many people have already reached out to me like, “You saved my life”, “You helped me get over my breakup”, “You made me realize my worth”, “You made me feel less alone” or “Thank you, Lexi, for saying something that I've been trying to say for over a year, but have not been able to express.” To me, that is the most beautiful thing about music, that I’m able to do that.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Following the release of the EP, what’s next? What upcoming projects are you excited about to release?
[LEXI JAYDE]: Once this project is out and I get a week, two weeks to breathe and enjoy myself, it's album mode! I'm writing my debut album, which is so insane to even say that I can't comprehend it. I'm very excited for this next year, two years, even just this year in general. I'm hopefully going to be doing some headline shows and playing my first festival in September. There's so many things that can happen in the next few months, even a month from now. I'm just along for the ride and excited to continue to keep doing what I'm doing and hopefully growing even more from where I've been right now. There's definitely going to be a lot in store, so stay tuned for everything.
[UNPUBLISHED]: You recently finished up your tour with Clinton Kane. Was there a memory from that tour that still sticks with you?
[LEXI JAYDE]: Every single night was a blast. Really, there were no dull moments with Clinton and his team. I brought my best friend James and my tour manager and Danny and everybody was together. We all became like a family, watching movies, hanging out, going to get food. The smallest things became the most fun things. I'm sad it's over but we're closing that chapter and onto closer to closure! It really was a dream and I’m grateful that I got to open up for Clinton.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What do you love about performing live?
[LEXI JAYDE]: I love the way I can connect with everybody in the audience. You can release music and hear about their reactions but then you see them in person, hearing them sing the words or crying. And you can talk to them and make them feel like you're just hanging out in a room and giving them advice. When I'm performing on stage, it's like another world and I'm in love with it. I could do it every single day in my life. I'm in love with performing and touring in general. I love that I get to connect with everybody. That's the biggest thing, connecting with the fans, meeting them afterwards, talking to them, saying hi, getting to know them. That is really the most beautiful thing about it.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What do you do in your free time when not making music in the studio or performing?
[LEXI JAYDE]: I love to shop, specifically thrift. Me and all my besties go thrifting all the time. I love going on a drive, going on a walk. Even just hanging out in my room watching a movie. I love baking. I love going out to dinners. I love doing anything with my friends, whether that be sitting alone in a room with them and going on TikTok or going out and doing something adventurous. Because I've worked and I've lived such an adult life, hanging out in my room and watching a movie and not doing anything feels like the most amazing thing. It’s my one chance to have me-time. I enjoy every moment.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What are your go-to movies to watch?
[LEXI JAYDE]: I'm a rom-com girl. I love How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, The Notebook, Pretty Woman. All the early 2000s rom-coms, everything that you can possibly think of, I've seen. Show wise, I'm really on One Tree Hill right now. I'm a deeply obsessed. I have never been more obsessed. That’s what I'm on right now.
Photo by Caity Krone