UpClose with Katy Alex

We had a chat with emerging UK talent Katy Alex following the release of her new SoundCloud mixtape.

Today our fruitful partnership with CloseUp has taken us to SoundCloud, and more specifically, to the wonderfully refreshing pop sound of UK artist Katy Alex.

Her new mixtape, which you can find here, is essential listening for fans of pop and emerging sounds everywhere. Packed full of personality, engaging, unique sounds and a bucket-load sunny pop appeal. To coincide with the release, we had a chat with Katy Alex to find out some more about the artist and put a bit more of a face to some of your favourite new tunes.

Katy! It’s great to sit down and have a proper chat (Kinda). We’re such big fans of your music as you well know. Tell the world a bit about the musical world of Katy Alex?

Thank you so much! Where to start…I’ve been in love with songwriting ever since I discovered the likes of KT Tunstall and Amy Macdonald, two amazing lyricists who not only write killer melodies but tell beautiful stories in their songs. It was after hearing Eye Of The Telescope (KT Tunstall) and This Is The Life (Amy Macdonald) that I realised I wanted to pick up the guitar. I have earlier memories of songwriting, the oldest being little me walking around the playground in year one singing a song I was making up on the spot whilst standing next to a tree haha, I was a little dramatic back then. As I got older I started to idolise female solo artists like St Vincent, Tove Lo, Charli XCX. I look up to women in the industry who are unapologetically themselves in every way, there’s something so inspiring about that. After studying at LIPA I found myself gigging anywhere and everywhere around Liverpool, my home town. My true love is songwriting though, and being to travel around co-writing with other artists and exploring other cities whilst doing something I love is the dream. I’ve been invited to sessions in London, Berlin, and Brussels, the next step up for me would be to write with artists over in LA and New York. There’s something special about the pop music coming out of LA, jazzy chords and bouncy beats are right up my street. My dream artist to work with would be Still Woozy or Remi Wolf, I think I could learn a lot from them.

The last 12 months has been such a crazy year for musicians, how much has it had an impact on your music?

At first I was pretty chilled about it, especially with the heatwave we had back in April last year. I was happy to be at home making tunes in the sunshine in my garden. It took about three months for me to start feeling uninspired, I love meeting music friends for coffee in Liverpool’s many quirky independent cafes. I get so much inspiration from walking around town and people watching, so being unable to do that started to take a toll on my writing, I’d say I got a bad case of writer’s block for about a month last summer. It wasn’t really until the third lockdown that I discovered this newfound heap of inspiration, which coincided with trying my hand at production, something I’ve wanted to try for years. Having the time to stay at home and really get my head around Logic has massively helped the process, and I feel more confident as a writer and excited about my music than ever before.