Lexi Jayde on Performing Her First Festival, Preparing for Her Debut Album and Her Fashion Inspiration
Photo by Ana Mclaughlin
[UNPUBLISHED:] We heard this was your first festival. How does it feel to be playing Life Is Beautiful? Are you excited for your set?
[LEXI JAYDE:] I am over the moon excited to be here. I have been dreaming of playing literally any festival since I can remember. This is just a really incredible time for me and I'm just so excited. I feel so grateful to be here and I've heard so many amazing things about Life Is Beautiful, so the fact that this is my first festival, nothing is better.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Is there a certain song that you're excited to perform today?
[LEXI JAYDE:] I'm playing my next single, "what's the matter with you?" Nobody has heard it yet and it’s going to be the first time I'm playing it live. I also barely teased it on the internet so this is the first time everyone's gonna hear it as a full song and I'm very stoked. It's one of my favorite songs.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Your new single “what's the matter with you?” is coming out soon. What can we expect from it? What is the inspiration behind it?
[LEXI JAYDE:] This song is really great because my last EP was about this breakup that I went through so this song is kind of the present day of my life and what I'm going through. It's not sad, it's really a beautiful song. It's very upbeat and fun and my last EP had maybe like two upbeat songs. It was kind of depressing so it feels great to release a song that is about love and kind of the in-between of love. It’s that stage where you’re getting out of a breakup, and it's been a year and you're still really affected by it. But you're also ready to fall in love again and then you start to experience all the things that back you away from falling in love. It's different and I think it's going to be really incredible. I'm excited for people to hear it.
[UNPUBLISHED:] What does your creative process look like when writing songs? Has it changed over time as you've grown as a musician?
[LEXI JAYDE:] I don't think it's changed at all actually. I feel like it's always been the same. It's either me bringing in a melody or a chorus or verse I wrote myself or just an idea of a song, maybe a feeling, an emotion. Usually it just starts with a guitar or piano, but mostly acoustic guitar. I like to have whoever's playing the guitar, whether it's me or the producer, just play chords, and I get to kind of freestyle and then it just blossoms from there. I wish people could really see the voice memos I have from how songs start off and how they finish because it's an incredible process. I don't think my process has changed at all and I don't think it'll ever change.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Your first headline tour begins next month. Are you excited? And what can your fans expect from it?
[LEXI JAYDE:] Oh my gosh, I've been waiting to play festivals but I've been waiting longer to play a headline tour. It's definitely a bucket list thing for me and it's pretty much sold out, which is really incredible. I've never been more grateful in my life. I've been working on it and going to make it the best show ever. It's just insane and so surreal for me. I'm excited for people to get to experience the tour.
[UNPUBLISHED:] Is there a city that you’re excited to perform in?
[LEXI JAYDE:] I mean, all of them, of course, but, probably my hometown. I'm playing at The Troubadour, which is the most iconic venue ever. A lot of people have played their first shows there and so the fact that I get to play my first headline show in my hometown at The Troubadour is really insane for me. I think I'm most excited for that.
[UNPUBLISHED:] The last time Unpublished talked with you, you were preparing to release your EP, closer to closure. Now that it's been out for about four months, how do you feel about all of the support and emotions that revolved around it?
[LEXI JAYDE:] It's been honestly insane, the support that I've gotten and feedback was more than I ever wanted. I'm just so grateful. The fact that I was able to turn this really ugly, heartbreaking story into something so beautiful and the fact that it is such a universal feeling and that so many people around the world related to it. These songs helped so many people and just to hear everyone's feedback, it was so surreal, it still honestly hasn't even hit me yet. I can't even comprehend that it still is out. I worked on that project for 11 months and just wrote and that was like a really big chapter of my life. So I'm just so grateful and happy it's out in the world and the feedback was just incredible.
[UNPUBLISHED:] A lot of people are deeply connected with your song “drunk text me.” This song can definitely get the tears going. How do you feel that sad songs can help us heal?
[LEXI JAYDE:] I always say this to everybody but, I think music is the biggest connector for humans. I feel like everywhere you go, anywhere you are, there's always music playing. Any emotion you want to feel, you play music. You want to dance, you play music. You want to cry, you play music. You want to just roll down the windows and listen to beach drive music. Every emotion that you want to feel is in music and it's constantly everywhere. So I feel like for me, at least when I hear songs, you know, when I was going through my breakup, I was listening to some of my favorite artists and their sad songs really helped me get through what I went through. And so the fact that I could do the same thing; take that emotion, this sad, really sad emotion and put it out there in the world and have so many other people heal from it. Which is so insane to think about. Like I said before, I just can't comprehend any of this, honestly. But I think sad music honestly is everybody's favorite. I know literally anytime I'm on stage I'm like, "Are you guys ready for another sad song?" They're like, "we only want sad songs." I'm not sad though, right now. So it's kind of cool that I'm releasing happy music going forward. We'll see. I don't know, maybe it'll be sad. But, you never know what happens with boys, they always surprise you.
[UNPUBLISHED:] So, you are known for wearing suits as a staple in your performances. Who are some of your inspirations in fashion?
[LEXI JAYDE:] I love Bella Hadid's style. I think she just has the coolest street style ever. Devon Carlson, she's just really cool. I like how she puts like a lot of random shit together and it looks good. I strive to do that. But honestly, I'm not really inspired by a certain somebody, I kind of just go to thrift stores and flea markets and I just pick out whatever's best. And honestly, my friends inspire me all the time, my friends and I feed off of each other for style and clothes. I'll be on like Instagram or Tiktok and I'll see somebody wearing something really cute and I'll screenshot it and be like, "Wow, this is so sick." It's like the most random person, I have no idea who they are. Or I'm like on the street and I ask somebody like, "oh my god, where'd you get that? Like, that's so sick." So it kind of just comes from everywhere. I feel like it's kind of just grown over the years just by kind of figuring it out on my own.
[UNPUBLISHED:] We love the suits, they’re so cute.
[LEXI JAYDE:] I’m trying to make loafers, suits, and bows like staple pieces. I just am obsessed with suits and I love to wear them. So I’m definitely so happy and over the moon that you noticed that.
[UNPUBLISHED:] You have talked about working on your debut album. Do you have a special vision for it that’s in the works?
[LEXI JAYDE:] Honestly, I don't know. It's a work in progress right now. Every day I'm thinking of something new and figuring it out. I'm still deeply in the writing process for it. So, once I get to that creative side of things. I mean, I kind of have an idea of what I want it to feel like and sound like but I don't want to spoil anything. Also, I think my ideas change a lot so I don't want to say something and not actually happen. For me, I really want this to be like a start-to-finish, really beautiful body of work, thing. It's just that all of my favorite albums have the most incredible stories told in them and it's what hopefully I want to do with mine.
[UNPUBLISHED:] What are you most excited for in the future?
[LEXI JAYDE:] God, everything. I'm so excited for life and for my career and for music and this album, this tour, going forward, connecting with fans, growing more fans. Just being able to build what I'm doing and really just continue my career and make better and stronger music and just continue who I am as a person. I think everything I'm just excited for. I mean, this is my life, I devote everything to it and I can't imagine it being any other way. So, I feel like it's just fun all the time.
Photo by Ana Mclaughlin