Alex Freeman: More to the Story
Taylor Harrington 8/27/2021 4:35pm EST
Alex Freeman is a singer, songwriter, and producer making waves with her unique sound and strong convictions for mental health awareness, anti-bullying, and also just being your most genuine self. Alex is also the teen face for The Association for Suicide Prevention, and she is constantly giving back to the community. Setting a goal to write 20 songs during quarantine, Freeman surpassed that and has over 55 songs written since 2020 began! Her latest single “Oh Baby” was just released today, August 27th and is available everywhere now!
Thank you so much for being here today, Alex! How did you first get into the music industry?
I started getting into the music industry when I was about five years old. I wrote my first song, which was an anti-bullying anthem because I was bullied and I didn’t want people to feel the way that I did. My parents were like, “You have two choices, you can be a victim, or you can make a change.” Well, I wanted to make a change, so my way was through writing a song. I was about seven years old when I released it along with three other songs, and from there, I went through all kinds of schools and summer camps, all kinds of huge performances where I was able to talk about anti-bullying and all of the things around that and being goal-oriented. and everything. From there, it turned into other songs I released when I was younger, but we took those all down once I released “Paper Mask”, because it’s a different platform. Being involved with the music industry is such an important thing for me because that’s my way to express however I feel. I’m a very emotional person that doesn’t like to be emotional, so being able to write about anything that I’m feeling and not actually have to talk about it, I think is so much easier. It’s my creative outlet for everything.
Isn’t that such an interesting thing? How do you find the courage to share your music and emotions with everyone?
There are a couple of interesting ways that I go about that. I have some really dramatic friends that have a lot going on in their social life and I’ll steal their stories and be like. “Okay, this is about you” you know, and then I have stuff that’s completely based around me that I’m like, “Oh, I want people to hear this.” Then there’s other stuff like “Somebody”, which is the song I wrote for suicide prevention, and that song hasn’t been released. I want to release it next year once I have more audience to be able to listen to it and I can talk about the cause behind it more. So, there’s a lot of stuff that’s super, super personal, and then there’s other stuff that I’ll work on with a writer, and we’ll be like, “Well, let’s talk about a boy, but in this way.” The thing is, I don’t really have a social life, so when we’re like, “Okay, let’s write about a boy”, I’m like, “Okay, I know about six and I don’t like any of them, but okay.” It just depends on what the song is about and what the feeling is behind it and how in touch I am with the emotion going on behind it that I always try to put in elements that make it special to me, that I can relate to more, and that I hope other people can relate to as well. If I’m incredibly emotionally attached to a song, sometimes I just want to release it hope other people can relate to this as much as I can, so that people can see that I’m not just a bubbling pop singer, that I can actually write too. I can do everything around being in the music industry, I can produce, I can write, I can do all of that, but people just normally see me as this little bubbly pop artist that can’t do anything else.
There’s so much depth to you, Alex. Who would you say were your musical influences growing up?
I have to say, vocally, I am incredibly inspired by Christina Aguilera, Amy Winehouse, Sam Cooke for his phrasing, and Otis Redding. Performance-wise, Britney Spears and Beyonce, and like Madonna, all of them that kind of make crazy shows that you can’t take your eyes off the screen for a second. One of my favorite parts about being an artist is being able to perform, and it’s so sad with COVID. I had so many performances set up that we couldn’t do.
Speaking of COVID, you set a pretty crazy goal for yourself going into quarantine. Can you tell us about this?
So, going into COVID I wanted to work on being a better songwriter, a better producer, and being a better artist overall, working on instruments and everything. Anything that I could do to be a better artist and work on my skill set, I wanted to do during COVID. I was like, “I’ve got time, I’m homeschooled. I don’t have to worry about any of it.” It’s crazy to think that so many people were doing so much and were still going through school and working. My goal was to write 20 songs throughout quarantine, and I did. I surpassed that goal by more than double. I have about 55 songs that I wrote during the span of like, well, still, we’re in COVID, so I guess I just stopped counting last March. I had my producers that I flew in for March, and in a week we wrote 15 songs.
Do you write the music or lyrics first?
I am that person that I love having good lyrics, but for me, I think the sound is so important. My thing is I want to put down the best possible melody I can and then from there, get great lyrics. Whatever the feeling is that I want to kind of express to you, I’ll decide from the melody or from the sound of it. I think that being able to start with music is really really important to me. I have started with just lyrics before, but for me, I just feel like I connect with the experience of the music first.
That’s beautiful! What advice would you give to another younger person trying to make it in this industry or just finding their voice of self-confidence?
I’m in this industry. It’s a crazy, crazy place, but I think that working every single day and practicing no matter what happens is so important. I’ve been told so many times that “You’re never going to make it anywhere, it’s not worth it.” I’m that person that if you tell me I can’t do something, I will do it more and better than you can ever imagine. Just consistently practice. Go and do the best you possibly can, every single day. If you want to play an instrument, you’ve got to practice the instrument, or otherwise, you’re not going to be able to play it. You can’t play like one string and be like, “Bam! I am everything! You have never seen anyone better!” You can’t do that. You have got to practice every day. So it’s constantly and consistently practicing, that’s what changes everything.
That’s wonderful. So, how can people find your music, and what music release dates do you have coming up?
You can find my music on about any music platform by searching for ‘Alex Freeman’, that’s me, you can find me there. “Oh, Baby” is being released on August 27 and I’m super, super excited about that!
That is super exciting! How can you be found on Instagram?
My Instagram is @AlexFreemanRocks, and from there you can also find all of my other social media platforms.
Amazing. Do you have any live events coming up?
I’m supposed to be doing New York Fashion Week on the week of 9/11, so that’s going to be interesting. I got to walk Fashion Week last year in February right before COVID hit us. I met this designer that I adored, so I walked for her company, and she goes “Next year, anytime you want, you can walk Fashion Week.” So I might be performing there in September, but I also might be doing KidsCon in LA and Kids Expo in Orlando.
Alex, you are not only spreading awareness for self-love and that it’s okay to not be okay, but also how joyous it can be when you are sharing music with people. Thank you so much for being here today and for sharing your story with not just me, but with our listeners and with the rest of the world because everybody’s going to be hearing your voice soon!
Originally from Edison, New Jersey, Taylor won the 2005 “Middlesex County Caring Award”, and hasn’t stopped caring since. When she is not writing or hosting More to the Story, Taylor can be found chasing her two mutts around Athens, Ohio where she currently resides with her husband. Moving to Appalachia has made a huge impact on her life, and she can’t wait to share some of her stories, laughs, and (mis)adventures with you!
*25% of all income made by Confessional Magazine via donations and elsewhere goes directly towards Felicia Merritt’s journey with Multiple Sclerosis. Support the Magazine: https://paypal.com/ConfessionalMagazine