Lately, I’ve been finding myself reminiscing on the very first time I heard certain artists’ music. Sometimes you remember exactly where you were, and exactly how you were feeling when you first heard a specific song. As soon as Alexander 23 announced he’d be releasing a new EP, I decided to take a little trip down memory lane!
It was May 2019, and I was sitting in the library at school. Was I spacing out? Yeah, probably. I happened to be on Twitter, and caught some of my friends talking about an artist named Alexander 23. I quickly made my way over to YouTube, and checked out “Dirty AF1s.” Right away it hit me – Alexander 23 was going to be totally different than most of the pop artists who were hanging out on my playlists at the time.
“Dirty AF1s” was honestly my first taste of not only a sound, but an entire vibe that was quickly becoming a pop sub-genre. “Bedroom Pop,” if you will. Through the screen, Alexander felt like he could be the boy next door, making music in his bedroom using a 100% DIY approach and sharing it online to a dedicated community of fans.
Well, I wasn’t too far off. Alexander 23, born Alexander Glantz, started playing the guitar as a kid while growing up in Chicago. At one point, he didn’t feel like it was really his forte. He took a break, and resumed when he was able to link up with an instructor. As a teen, Alexander started writing his own songs, which was a huge step in the direction he wanted to head towards. His parents were very supportive of it all, and had no issue accompanying him at performances where he would’ve needed to be chaperoned due to being a minor.
Alexander adored making music, and while in college, he realized he needed to pursue it to the fullest extent. He dropped out after a year, ended up moving to LA, and wrote “Dirty AF1s” after a special someone who flew out to visit him ended up forgetting her toothbrush in his bathroom. Alexander hit his home studio, recorded the song, and history was made. “Dirty AF1s” was unique, dreamy, but most importantly, authentic. This being his debut single, the play button on my screen said “hit me baby one more time!”
I loved it.
Sometimes, you need to see things with your own eyes in order to understand the full picture. That fall, I had the opportunity to catch Alexander open up for mxmtoon on her masquerade tour. As soon as he hit the stage, he was met with screams galore. I can vividly recall a group of girls in the front row off on the side swooning non-stop. Tears were even beginning to form in the eyes of certain fans. Alexander was what you’d call a star. After his set, I decided to FaceTime one of my friends who was basically responsible for my discovery of Alexander. She was unable to make the show, but I reassured her that he’d be back. I felt it so strongly – he was just getting started, and his fans were so incredibly dedicated. He had a tremendous bond with them, which was very admirable. I promised her in a year, or perhaps a few months, he’d be the one headlining a sold-out show.
But of course, the pandemic happened. Alexander immediately started connecting with fans on the music world’s new frontier, and a platform that would soon propel him into a new level of stardom: TikTok! In March 2020, Alexander uploaded a snippet of what would be his first quarantine release, “IDK You Yet.”
@alexander23lol lately its been hard
♬ IDK You Yet – Alexander 23
The video soon went viral, and the full song arrived on streaming services a few weeks later. “IDK You Yet” landed Alexander 23 a top 10 spot on Rolling Stone‘s Breakthrough 25 chart, and earned him tons of love from all over the world.
2020 was about to become very busy for Alexander. Not long after “IDK You Yet” was close to reaching the 100 million streams mark, he released “Caught In The Middle.” Once again, Alexander created a hit that the internet could easily relate to. Running into your ex (or someone you used to be extremely close to) is plain awkward. It’s somewhat of a universal theme, and Alexander was becoming a master at sensing not only what his fans wanted to hear, but what they needed to hear.
While the pandemic took away many of the things we were used to, it never took away our love for music as a human race. Music has been something everyone could turn to for comfort, stimulation, and inspiration. Alexander’s next single “Brainstorm” was released ahead of Global Mental Health Day, and touched on the difficulty of communicating your feelings when you’re in a dark place mentally. The song brought Alexander closer than ever to his fans, and reminded everyone that they’re never alone in their battles.
Once again, Alexander took to TikTok to share a snippet of song laced with lyrics that were way too relatable for many to resist. (Seriously – “You cry over boys you know will never cry over you” is the story of my life. At least no one knows I was crying over the members of BTS last night!) “Cry Over Boys” was all about breaking a toxic cycle of romanticizing relationships, and having ultra-high expectations for them.
Alexander just wants everyone to have the best, you know? Totally unironically, he brought his absolute best today with his brand new EP Oh No, Not Again! The project brings together everything he’s been up to over the past year, although it was a little challenging for Alexander to accept the situation at first.
“At the very beginning, it was unbelievably hard,” Alexander confessed. “It really took me a while to settle into this new way of (obviously) life but also of songwriting. I think I’m still settling in, but I’m starting to feel more comfortable with writing in the current conditions.”
Despite the necessary adjustments, Alexander hopes to continue to find ways to thrive creatively in this moment. He spilled, “I think I couldn’t accept it for a while, but now this is obviously still happening. I’m just finding ways to succeed in spite of that… not succeed as far as critical acclaim, but succeed in my own life as far as, ‘I’m going to find a way to keep living my own life in some capacity.'”
Oh No, Not Again! is referred to as a “cycle” by Alexander, and feels like a snapshot of a moment in time. On some days, everything felt like it was moving 200mph. On other days, there was plenty of time to stop and smell the roses… and perhaps pick flower petals. My personal favorite track on the EP, “She Loves Me,” fits that visual perfectly. It makes a swift transition into “Good to See You Again!” which is a song for those moments when you really don’t have much more to say to someone.
The EP concludes with “Track 9,” which happens to be pretty close to Alexander’s heart. “That’s the most meaningful song on the EP for me,” he says. “I’m breaking the fourth wall and addressing the person directly. It says, ‘Don’t listen to this and mistake that everything meant nothing to me, because that couldn’t be farther from the truth’. It’s a strange and contorted love letter of sorts. I found myself in this cycle of relationships where I made the same mistakes over and over again. The project is one full cycle.”
The picture is more crisp than ever. Alexander 23’s songs represent all of our experiences to a degree, and although lovers and friends may fade away, him and his music are here to stay. As the Internet would say, “HE DID THAT!” and I can’t wait for him to do it again.
Stream Oh No, Not Again! below.