As the music industry continues to transition into a borderless melting pot of cultures, languages and sounds, today’s artists are throwing out the rulebook to hit the big time on their own terms – and nobody knows this more than the hotly tipped, Korean-American crossover sensation AleXa.
With AleXa initially taking K-pop fans by storm with cult hits like “Bomb,” “Revolution” and “Do or Die,” she catapulted to prominence in the West with her 2022 American Song Contest win — representing her home state of Oklahoma with the riotous dance-pop smash “Wonderland.” The defining moment has since led AleXa down an illustrious path, including a milestone performance at Los Angeles’ Dodgers Stadium and a history-making show as the first solo Korean artist at iHeart Radio’s Jingle Ball.
This year, she reintroduces herself with the slow-burning, punky-pop gem “sick,” proving she is on a mission to take home the crossover crown. And with a catalogue of upcoming genre-twisting bops still at her disposal, AleXa is set to become your new favourite pop star.
Joining us on Zoom from Korea, AleXa spilled the tea on “sick,” the track’s action-packed video, how she’s preparing for the first leg of her tour, and finding her space in the industry.
Read the interview…
Congratulations on the release of “sick.” I know it’s a different style for you — what inspired you to go down this pop-punk route?
Growing up, I was that one kid who always listened to alternative music, metal, punk rock, pop-punk and all that stuff. So I was like, with this American album, let’s take a step forward in the direction that’s going to bring back nostalgia for people that are my age that grew up with similar music tastes. Once we heard a lot of demos that we got – “sick” being one of them – they were all in the pop-punk, rock-ballad kind of realm, and “sick” really stuck out as a really easy listening song. So, we all thought, hey, this would be the perfect song to start with for the American album.
How do you feel “sick” sits within themes of your upcoming music?
I feel like it’s a good first little spoonful to feed the audience, to give them a nice little taste, like, “okay, this works with my palate. But what’s next? What’s more, is it going to be more delicious? Is it going to be spicier? Is it going to be sweet?” It’s just a good little palate cleanser to start off on.
You’ve described “sick” as English music for an American audience as opposed to K-pop in English. From your perspective, what do you think are the differences between ‘English K-pop’ and ‘American’ music?
It’s so weird because K-pop is a thing, but we don’t say American pop, we don’t say A-pop or B-pop for British pop or whatever. I think K-pop itself is this standalone genre that’s not just the music alone. It’s also the visuals. It’s the music video that accompanies it. It’s the choreography, it’s the hair, the makeup, the styling. It’s everything. Every element about a K-pop music video and a K-pop performance is what makes it K-pop.
With the “sick” music video, it’s theatrical, action packed fighting scenes. How did you prepare for that intensity and those physical fighting scenes?
Thankfully I’ve had some action training in the past due to prior music videos that required it, like “Revolution.” So I attended action school for a day before we filmed. I met my scene partner, I met the action coach, I met my stunt double. We went over basic training and then on set, I learned the fight choreography as were filming. My stunt double would do it first to show me how everything would work, and then I would go in and do it myself. It was just a very fun and safe process. Nobody got hurt. I know it looked like we did, but it’s just good acting!
What role do visuals play in enhancing your music and how do you approach creating visually compelling content?
Well, for this song — it being the first release for this up-and-coming American album that we have set out — the song itself is kind of slow. So we were worried about how to express the song in a music video without it being boring and lulling the audience to sleep because it is a slower song. But then we thought about the lyrics, and my interpretation of the music video is it’s not so much the character of AleXa killing her boyfriend. It’s more or less her killing the idealisation of the boyfriend that she had in her head, because the lyrics are, “you make me sick. You’re too fucking perfect. I don’t deserve it. Losing my shit.” So the music video is a visual representation of when you take off those rose-tinted glasses and you’re like, “you know what? No, I’m done with it.” So that’s my take on it, at least.
How does the artwork connect with the song and the visuals for the music?
When people look at me, I remind them of Jigglypuff, the Pokémon. Very tiny, maybe looks deceiving, but very powerful, kind of crazy. So with this art, it’s a cute little cat, but it’s missing an eye. It’s holding a knife. There’s a lot of grim aspects about it, but it just has this facade of being cute. So if you look at me, you’d think I’m rather unassuming because I’m a small, petite woman. But at the end of the day, I can be dangerous. I can be brutal. I can be strong and be a little macabre, just like the artwork. So I feel like the artwork is a good representation of myself as the character AleXa in the music video, but also as myself as a person.
Do you feel like any of that is coming through in any of the other upcoming music as well?
Yes, most certainly. The image of AleXa that we’re now creating towards American audiences keeps that badass seriousness, but also includes a more emotional storyline throughout the music. With K-pop Alexa, it’s very much wham, bam, pow, look at this amazing choreography! With this American AleXa, we’re going to be incorporating a bit more of emotional storytelling. Not just cinematic storytelling, but emotional storytelling.
You made history as the first solo Korean artist to perform at Jingle Ball. How did that experience influence your approach to your career moving forward?
That was crazy! Actually, thinking back to when I first set foot on the stage in Dallas, I was so nervous. Because, granted, I wasn’t the only K-pop artist that night—P1Harmony was also in Dallas. I love them, they’re good friends. But I was so nervous because, at the end of the day, this concert isn’t just an AleXa concert. It’s not just a K-pop concert. It’s a concert for the general public who listen to anything from Taylor Swift to Nicki Minaj to Ludacris. There are all types of music fans there, and I was so worried that I wasn’t going to get an initial reaction, that people maybe wouldn’t like my set, people wouldn’t pay attention. But at the end of the day, I got much support from that whole stadium. So that itself was a very nerve-wracking moment. But it made me realise that there is potential in branching out. And I shouldn’t be afraid to take steps forward to continue on my artist journey in various directions.
How do you physically and mentally prepare for going on tour?
Well, I get personal training two to three days every week for about two hours in the gym, so I’m trying to stay physically active while I can. A lot of vocal practice, both at the company and at home, and also just trying to remember all my old choreographies because it’s been a while since I’ve done some of them, but they all live in the back of my brain somewhere – just got to fish them out and try them out a few times to be like, “yeah, this pair of pants still fits, I can still fit into these.” I was actually practicing last night till about 10PM and I got through one of my routines, but then midway through the dance break of a different one, I was like, “wait, what is this move?” So I had to go back and find my old dance practice video on YouTube and be like, “ahh! That’s what it was, I was doing it wrong.” But everything I’d say is still 90% in here. Somehow, somewhere.
K-pop is such a big, global phenomenon now and K-pop artists are going all over the world, singing in a language that people don’t even understand some of the time. What was your perception of K-pop growing up and was there a specific moment where you wanted to get into K-pop, specifically?
That’s the thing. Growing up, I’ve always been into a variety of genres of music, mainly because my parents are a bit on the older side, so I listen to a lot of stuff from the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s. But K-pop itself, I got into K-pop because my best friend at the time showed me this one group, and I was like, ‘oh, this is interesting.’ But then when I found a group that I really loved and really became a huge fan of, I was like, wait a minute — this is freaking incredible! Growing up half Korean, I didn’t know the language. I didn’t know the culture. I didn’t really have any ties to Korea, aside from the fact that my mom and I liked kimchi – how stereotypical is that? Growing up, there weren’t a lot of Asian celebrities that I saw in the media. I mean, we had people like Jackie Chan and Lucy Liu of course, but there was nobody I could resonate with as a kid who loved to sing and dance. So when I found K-pop, I was like, “I’m Korean; this is Korean; I could do this.” I had done so many auditions through high school and college where I was told I wasn’t white enough to fit a certain part because I am half white, or I was told I wasn’t Asian enough to fill in this other role because I was only half. But there’s other half idols in Korea. There are non-Korean idols in K-Pop; there’s Japanese people; Thai; Chinese; et cetera. K-pop was really the first time in media and music that I saw myself represented, and I knew immediately it was a path I wanted to follow.
What kind of legacy do you hope to leave in the music world?
Legacy… that’s a big word. Wow. Legacy! Oh, man. I think I just want to be remembered and known as the artist that tried everything that they could. I dipped my toes into every single pool there was and saw what worked, saw what didn’t. At the end of the day, as long as I have a positive impact on people’s lives through my artistry, that’s all I can care about.
“sick” by AleXa is out now.