Alex Warren Talks New Album, Healing Journey, Future

Rather than running away from pain, Alex Warren has embraced it and used it to connect with millions around the world.

The 24-year-old singer-songwriter went from being a YouTube star a few years ago to scoring his first No.1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with his song “Ordinary” last month. While it’s been a wild ride, it’s also a bittersweet journey for Warren as he looks back on everything he’s overcome to get where he is today.

“If I didn’t lose my parents, I wouldn’t have met my wife and I wouldn’t have a career, which is such a strange idea to think that I had to lose the two most important people in my life to be able to achieve the success I always thought I wanted,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter.

However, he took his loss and pain and put them into words, crafting songs that people can resonate with. Warren says his EP, You’ll Be Alright, Kid (Chapter 1), which debuted last year, offered a deep dive into “all the things that have happened in my life, and here’s also me finding love.” Now, his second chapter, which dropped Friday, shows how he was able to heal and glue all the broken pieces back together.

“It’s been really cool to write things not from a perspective of, ‘Oh, I’m broken, look at me,’ and now, ‘Oh, I’m fixed and here’s how,” he says of the new album.

Below, Warren gets candid about his songwriting process, the inspirations behind his new album, You’ll Be Alright, Kid, his favorite part about performing live on his Cheaper Than Therapy tour and how starting his career on YouTube impacted his transition to music.

When did you first know you wanted to be a singer and songwriter?

Growing up, my dad knew he was dying. So that was something really difficult to grasp, where he kind of wanted to watch all of my siblings grow up. So every Friday, we would do these talent shows, and it was just such a fun time because none of us knew what we were doing, but we were just laughing and singing and I was imagining I was part of The Naked Brothers Band. I was always running around in my underwear with this Fender guitar and there’s so many videos of me as a kid doing it, and I just fell in love with the craft and just the idea that I could do music for a living. As time went on and as I grew older, I would always go to my piano and try and find different ways to express myself, whether it was a middle school breakup or a fight I got in with my mom or mourning the loss of my father.

As time went on, and I would consistently post singing videos on YouTube in 2011 and Musical.ly, when that was a thing, and on Instagram, I just realized I was getting bullied really heavily for it. I wanted to be the cool kid, I wanted people to like me, so I strayed away from it. Then fast-forward a little bit, I found some success in social media, and I thought that’s what I was meant to do. And I wanted to mess around and I posted a singing video on one of my backup accounts, thinking no one would see it, and I woke up the next day to 10 million views and everyone telling me I should do music. And it was weird because I wasn’t used to people liking my music, I wasn’t used to people liking my voice. I was so used to getting bullied and hated for it. So I took a chance and put out a song and it ended up doing really well, and I saw my chance to do what I loved and here we are. 

With your songs being so personal and inspired by your real life, is it ever challenging to put that into words or do you find it healing?

It’s always been healing, but I’m always trying to find different ways of expressing it. I think it’s really difficult to explain loss, especially the loss of a parent or something so substantial, to someone who’s never gone through it. And my biggest thing is trying to, A, give a voice and an option to people who’ve gone through it, an explanation of what that feeling is. And B, how can I get people who’ve never gone through that to understand that feeling? Cause people can be empathetic and try and understand that thought, but if I can give them examples and metaphors and idioms to kind of explain that better, I’ve tried my best. 

Can you talk me through your creative process when it comes to writing a song? 

I have a book called Alex’s Songbook, and it’s pretty much anything bad that’s ever happened to me in my life. Whether it’s an argument I just got into or maybe today I’m just feeling a certain way. And I write with the same people every single time and we’ve really just built a rapport, and I’ve cried in front of them, I’ve laughed in front of them, and it’s just been a moment where we really truly understand each other. So it’s definitely been something where we know each other very well, so we kind of all collaboratively decide what we want to write. We’ll be at a piano, and I’m like, damn, I really love this song or I really love this idea. We try to find a sound that feels like the idea before we even identify it, if that makes sense. Like we’ll be on a piano and just start playing something in just the basic key of C, and then we try to find, like, what does this feel like? Then I’ll scroll through my book and I’m like, oh my God, this feels like this one time I went through this, and I’ll have titles written down already. 

Music means something to each person, but what does it mean to you?

It’s healing. I don’t go to therapy, but every time I play these songs, whether it’s live or every time I write these songs, I have videos of me crying to the first listens of so many of these records and bawling and breaking down and talking with my friends. It’s just something so heartfelt, but also so healing, especially the music I write. And it’s been such a therapeutic moment being able to turn these horrible things that have happened to me and almost taking them back and putting them into my hands and saying this is my life, this is my narrative, and this is how I’m going to portray this, and also be able to help people. 

So the name of your tour, Cheaper Than Therapy, really is perfect then.

Yes, but it’s flawed in Europe where healthcare is free (Laughs), so I kind of fucked that up. 

As you continue on your sold-out headline tour, what do you love most about performing live?

It’s just a cool experience because I look at everyone while I sing it. I don’t know what other artists do, but I’m so enthralled by the idea that there’s people standing in front of me who paid to watch me sing. So I’m consistently always staring at people, just seeing how at one moment someone could be laughing about a stupid joke I told, and literally 30 seconds later, they’re bawling their eyes out for a song that I wrote in my bedroom with my friends. It’s so amazing how emotions can switch so quickly, but also to be able to see the impact that these songs have in real time. 

Turning to your new album, what are you looking forward to the most about this new chapter?

I’m fucking terrified, and I can tell you that. I don’t know, I think I’m excited ‘cause these songs mean so much. I’m so excited for people to see them. I listen to these records every day, and it’s so weird ‘cause I used to hate my songs. I used to hate my voice on these things, and these are songs that I truthfully listen to every day and I’m so proud to show people. When someone’s like, “Oh my God, I love your music,” I’m like, “Oh my God, let me show you this song,” and I just show them one of my favorite songs from the album. … I’m so excited to see what people like and the difference in opinions, and I have a favorite, so it’s cool to see what other people’s favorites are and what resonates. 

What inspirations did you draw from to create this new album?

Honestly, a lot of music I grew up listening to, like, just tapping into that. I’ve been obsessed with a lot of Lewis Capaldi and Shawn Mendes and Ed Sheeran, and just those guys that helped me a lot through a lot of the growing pains that I had growing up. And I really wanted to tap into my younger self when writing this record and a huge part of that is listening to the music I grew up with. 

How would you say it’s different than your EP, You’ll be alright, Kid – Chapter 1, which released last year?

I think sonically it’s a lot bigger. We really wanted to prioritize, since I’m playing a lot of festivals, like that big anthemic moments, but also on top of it, we wanted to prioritize healing more. The first half was like, hey, I’m broken and like this is why. And here’s all the things that have happened in my life, and here’s also me finding love. And the second one’s like, hey, this is who I am now, this is where I am now and this is how I’ve been able to heal. … So it’s been really cool to write things not a perspective of, “Oh, I’m broken, look at me,” and now, “Oh, I’m fixed and here’s how.”

Having gotten your start on social media and YouTube, how do you think that experience helped you transition to music?

I think perceptually it did more damage than help in some way, as people typically don’t want to take you seriously as you come from one thing. And I think that’s just with experience, like a lot of people came from TikTok to music almost ‘cause they thought it was easy, and they treated it as such, and then everyone’s reactions were like, “You didn’t put the work in for this.” It’s like me walking in as a manager role and bossing people around and telling them how great I am when I have no experience in anything. And I think it gave a lot of TikTok people going to music a bad rap, and just the idea of it kind of created a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths. So it’s been a lot of work for me to kind of prove, like, hey, I respect this. I’m no better than anyone else, and I’m just writing music personally about the things that I’ve gone through. I’m not sitting here being like, oh my God, I have to be at the top of the charts, and I’m so blessed that I am. But I’m just flattered to be in the same topic of these people, and I don’t think I’m anywhere near as talented as that. … Promotionally though, I understand the landscape of being able to promote music, which has been really helpful when I go to make a video to say, hey, here’s my new song. 

With so much of your life and relationship online for so many years, how do you navigate the balance between your public and personal life? 

I’m doing a pretty bad job at it right now, I’m not gonna lie (Laughs). It’s just been so difficult. Honestly, the answer would probably be to be able to just make music and keep things separate. I would love to be able to just keep writing songs about my wife, but yeah, I’m not sure. It’s such a balance that I need to work on that I’m still trying to figure out. … It’s so difficult because I also write about my personal life. Like, there isn’t really anything I hide, so maybe I need to start keeping secrets. 

Is there a moment in your career so far that you’re most proud of?   

Ed Sheeran, being able to play with him at a pub. I remember my wife was bawling in the front row. I’m sitting there smiling at him. He’s singing to me my own song, and I’m just trying not to look at him so I don’t start crying, so I’m just staring, funny enough (Laughs), at the YouTube CEO as I’m singing the song ‘cause I didn’t want to look at Ed. So it was interesting to be able to sing in a room full of people and just have someone I look up to singing my song to me. 

If you could go back and tell your younger self something, seeing where you are today, what would it be?

It’s so difficult ‘cause I think all the triumphs and the things that I’ve gone through have put me in the position I am today. Like, if I didn’t lose my parents, I wouldn’t have met my wife and I wouldn’t have a career, which is such a strange idea to think that I had to lose the two most important people in my life to be able to achieve the success I always thought I wanted. So it’s something I have to battle with every day, and I don’t know if there’s a conversation that I’d ever have with my younger self. And if there was, it would probably be, “You’ll be all right, kid.” 

Looking ahead, where do you hope to see yourself in five years?

Not sure, honestly. I just would love to be putting out albums, like, I would love to put out an album a year. That seems like something so ambitious, but I would truly love to just be able to put out a body of work every year, and as I’m growing and as I’m changing, the songs would grow and change. So I hope in five years, I’m not a piece of shit. That’s kind of the goal. I’m really happy with who I am today, and I hope in five years I’m still happy with who I am. 

If you had to describe what makes Alex Warren, Alex Warren, what would you say? 

My wife. She keeps me humble. At moments where I might become a piece of shit, she likes to check me. So I think that’s the most important thing is having someone in your life that holds you accountable, but also she was there with me when I had nothing. So that’s really important to have as a structure, that someone’s able to call you out on your bullshit.