Alexa Joyce’s music career was always going to happen. As a child growing up in Liverpool, she would dress up and pretend to be Britney. As a teenager, already obsessed with disco, she danced in her auntie’s kitchen. On some level, she always knew she’d be where she is now: bumping into Beyoncé, working with Mark Ronson, releasing her debut single to critical acclaim and attending the kind of pre- and post-Grammy parties that would make most people feel like they were in a fever dream. It’s been hard work, but none of it has been accidental.
When she meets me for this interview, she’s been travelling back and forth between New York and London, yet her energy is palpable. She’s slick and chic, and her smile widens when she spots the dog I’m sitting for a friend. The dog is, by the way, so taken by Joyce that she jumps beside her and stays there for nearly the entire interview, which is fair enough.
As soon as Joyce starts talking about music, I understand why becoming a musician was barely a choice for her. She lights up, reeling off references, albums, artists and song titles that span her parents’ lifetime and her own. She is, as has been said before, an encyclopaedia of pop, rock and disco. She’s also a ball of joy, which is exactly what she wants her music to bring to the world. With her second single, Sex on TV, out now, she’s one step closer to that goal.
In conversation with 1883, she talks about why disco has been such a unifying force, the pride of being a Scouse woman and the importance of chasing your dreams.
What were your inspirations for Sex on TV?
In general, my inspirations are disco and pop. I want [my music] to sound like if Donna Summer and the Spice Girls had a baby, but this song was super inspired by iconic pop albums. I made a full playlist of songs that made me super inspired. There’s a lot of Madonna on there, there’s Frankie Knuckles. There’s Pharrell, Lauryn Hill, Kylie Minogue, like “Padam Padam”. There’s some old school pop songs on there as well like “The Way I Are” from Timbaland, “Promiscuous” by Nelly Furtado, “Houdini” by Dua [Lipa]. I’ll send it to you!
Please do, it’s like a whole lifetime in pop.
Yeah, exactly. I always think that the song is a little bit… this will sound cringe, but a bit cooler than my other records. I feel like it definitely shows a different aspect of my personality.
I was about to ask how you think it relates to your other songs.
They’re like cousins. But I love that. I think when I’ve been creating this body of work, you can see how they all link to each other, but I love that they’re all individuals.
I guess with disco, the songs are the piece, not necessarily the full album. A song is what you dance to.
Exactly, I agree. And also, for example, you’d never hear a DJ in a club play an album back to back. And I kind of love that. It can exist on its own, or together with the other record, you know what I mean?
But I suppose that’s the music fan in me. I do love listening to an album from start to finish. I think that’s a bit of a lost art. I collect vinyl, so I love the whole thing of it spinning around, flipping it over. I really love that. But since the music industry changed, that’s changed. Everyone always says people’s attention spans are shorter, which to a degree is true. But I don’t believe that if somebody really loves something and they’re getting into it, their attention is going to waver.
You have such deep knowledge of music, all of that research shows in the song and in an album.
I’m a jukebox.
I want to get a disco lesson from you. If I knew nothing about disco, what would you teach me?
So for me, the thing that’s so magical… Actually, this is so funny, I want to show you something. I sent it to my dad the other day. [She pulls out her phone and scrolls through her photographs]. It’s this book. In my apartment I’ve got coffee table books, and there’s literally a pure disco one, a Studio 54 one.
For me, disco’s always been a part of my life. Growing up, my whole family were just huge music lovers, and especially disco lovers, because that was what was always played at family gatherings, the parties. I’ve got such epic memories of all these records being played in the kitchen.
The one thing I think is amazing about disco is that it’s completely about joy and liberation. It’s such an inclusive genre. It’s all about freedom and love and life. And I always say, if it was a star sign, it would be a Leo, because it’s so extra: the horns, the strings, the four-to-the-floor.
And the thing I think is so amazing about it, and what I feel so passionate about, is that it causes a call to the dance floor. It causes a convulsion in your body, which makes you want to get up off your chair and go. I always reference weddings and family events, because when you go to those parties, what’s playing? It’s Luther Vandross, Chaka Khan, Earth, Wind & Fire. It’s Donna Summer. It’s Lionel Richie. It’s Whitney. Those are the records that get everyone up. I always say, with “I Wanna Dance with Somebody”, even within the first ten seconds, how can you not get up off the floor to that?
Being so in love with that genre, and with what it creates in people… Can you listen to “Never Too Much” by Luther Vandross in a bad mood? No, you can’t. I love what that ignites in people, and I wanted to capture that, like I was saying with the Donna Summer and Spice Girls thing. I wanted to capture that, and then the personality of 90s pop. The Spice Girls, Britney, the Backstreet Boys, they all had such big personalities.
I always use the Spice Girls as the reference, because all five of them were completely different individuals and stood firmly on their own, but they were united by girl power, you know?
Also, I don’t know if it’s because we were so young, but it felt like such a positive time.
With my cousins, and both my parents, I got two different generations of music. Well, three actually, because my grandparents put me on to the Rat Pack, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra. My nan was obsessed with Tina Turner, so I was in love with her, and artists like Patsy Cline, all that sort of stuff. Then my mum and dad were the disco influence. My dad loves Britpop and rock and roll.
And then my cousins… I always remember my cousin Sarah telling me about this trip they went on with my nan, my dad’s mum, and she was buying them all Britney Spears CDs. She’s got a crystal-clear memory of buying Britney CDs. And with what I’m doing now, if I can be a gateway for a five-year-old to discover Donna Summer or the Spice Girls, I feel like I’ve done a good job.
I also wanted to ask about growing up around your mum and both your grandmothers, around clearly very iconic women who –
were super glam?
Yeah, and what they taught you.
Yeah. I’ve grown up in a family full of women. I’ve grown up around strong, powerful women. Being from Liverpool, I think the women are so glamorous, so fab. I don’t think you’ll find more bougie women anywhere than in Liverpool.
My nan’s a clear example of being proud of your appearance. She’s 88 years old, and every day she’s got a full face of makeup on and a slick red lip. My nan always says they call makeup war paint for a reason. It’s a confidence thing, because if you look better, you feel better. And I do think it’s a tool you can use as a woman to help enhance your confidence.
It goes back a lot to disco, Studio 54 and the gay community, all of the things that built disco. So I guess it makes sense.
And that’s what I mean when I say that if it was a star sign it would be a Leo, because it’s so larger than life. Extra in a good way.
Yeah, in the best way.
The more the merrier. That’s also what I love about it being so inclusive culturally. I don’t know what the right word is, but it was a safe haven for the LGBT community. I think that’s so epic. And that’s the one thing I love about a dance floor: there’s no hierarchy. It’s so magical. I don’t think there’s anything that unites people like that in the world. It’s the only universal language. I remember going to see Oasis last year, and you’re seeing grown men cry. It’s epic.
Seeing Oasis in the North of England, I feel, must have been its own brand of special.
Oh, it was crazy.
What are your favourite dance floors? In London, in Liverpool… what’s your favourite place to dance in?
In Liverpool, it’s my auntie’s kitchen. And in London, I would say Heaven.
Yeah, iconic.
Heaven, Freedom Bar in town. It used to be G-A-Y, but that’s gone now. But that’s what I mean: in clubs now, they don’t play those records.
Going back to the start of your career, what made you take the plunge and come to London?
It’s really weird. My friend Ali sent me this TikTok yesterday. It says, “When I was little I never played bride. I played a famous pop star who was booked and busy, and that says a lot about who I am today.” That was me. Literally, that was just me the whole time, with the Britney mic.
Yeah, that shows who you are.
Literally. Obviously I was aspiring to be in that world. I used to look at the BRIT School, Sylvia Young, and I always wanted to do something like that. But I think you have to start there at, like, 14. It was just never accessible.
It’s so crazy, because Liverpool is such a musical city, with immense musical history and so much culture, but it doesn’t have a music industry. The music industry is in London. Liverpool’s got an amazing music college called LIPA, but most people I know who’ve gone there went because at the end you get to shake Paul McCartney’s hand. Which to me is a perfectly good reason to go.
Fair enough.
But yeah, that was the reason, really. Anyone I would research was here. All the labels are here, all the management companies, everything. And even now, it’s London, LA, New York.
Which is kind of where you’ve been flip-flopping between.
Yeah, yeah. I’m a girl with a dream, you know.
And your dream’s coming true. How do you feel about moments like meeting Beyoncé, do you ever think “wait, that little girl is living this”?
That’s what I always think about. My only competition is basically who I was yesterday, you know. It’s really about proving to her that I could do it. Because where I’m from, it’s so unusual. It’s not anywhere near a normal job path or career path.
No. But it’s more normal if you grow up in London.
I think so, because even the access you’d have just living here is so much greater than somewhere like Liverpool. I have so many pinch-me moments like that.
Top three, if you could name them?
I think the top one was the craziest 72 hours I’ve had. I went to Clive Davis’s pre-Grammy party, which was insane. Every music head was in there. Benson Boone was performing. Then the next day I went to the Grammys and met Beyoncé. Then I went to Bruno Mars’s after-party at the Troubadour, where he played a full set. And then I flew to New York the day after that and met Mark [Ronson] in the studio for the first time. I was like, “What the fuck is happening?”
But then I’m also like, “Of course this is happening. There was no other way.” All my friends say to me, “This would only happen to you.” Because I do live in that delulu world.
Well, as an artist I think you have to. And when these big things happen, you have to train yourself to not immediately go, “Okay, what’s the next big thing I can do?”
I’ve always had a militant determination to make it happen. And things like when I met Beyoncé, she said hi to me at the Grammys, and then after my first show at Stonewall, Mark once said I was his favourite new Scouse star. Those are the moments when I’m like, “Oh shit, I’m really doing it now. It’s really working.”
And working with Mark is probably amazing.
Yeah. He’s been a really great mentor. He really has. He’s been amazing. It’s like I’m finally living the stuff that I’ve always dreamt about. Even talking to you now, I’m like, “Oh my god, this is so cool. Someone’s asking me questions about what I’m doing.”
And you’re only one song in as we’re speaking now. Talk about the choice process for your music – how do you choose what’s coming out?
That was actually really hard. When you first come out the gate, nobody really knows who you are. You have to build an introduction, but you also have to build momentum. For me, choosing which song was right was the hardest thing ever. I’m so lucky that Josue, my manager, was so helpful for me to come to those decisions. He’s amazing. I’ve been so grateful that he’s always let it come from me. But it’s like asking somebody, “Who’s your favourite kid?”
Yeah, “Which of your kids is going to be more successful?”
I’m like, what? But it’s funny, because when I listen to all the records now, I think I’m starting to listen to a few of them with, “Oh, I think that one’s going to be really good commercially.”
Again, that probably comes from all the knowledge you already have in your library.
What’s so fun about it, though, is that all of this has started from a pure love of music. And I always say mum and dad scarred me in a way, because I hate silence now. I always have to have some sort of noise in the house, because I’ve spent my whole life listening to this stuff.
My dad and I always say we want to do that show where you hear three seconds of a song and guess it. We would eat that up. I might get us on that. We’d be so good at it. Everyone always asks me, “Have you got any other interests outside of music?” and I’m always like, “What?”
Hyperfixation.
Yeah. Obviously I’d say music and family are the two most important things in my whole life, and I’m so lucky that those things have almost united together, in a way. That’s why I think I’ve got such a hyperfixation with music, because it surrounds so many of my favourite memories. And that’s also what I find so special about live music. It’s about community.
What does it feel like to play your music live?
I’ve literally only played iconic venues so far. First off, Abbey Road, obviously, being where I’m from and the Fab Four [The Beatles] making that famous. That was such an incredible experience, and being able to take my parents to it made it even sweeter. I was saying to my dad, everyone knows the Abbey Road crossing, and when you go up to the steps, you’re basically not allowed past that gate, so no one can get a picture on the steps. So for me and my parents to be able to do that together was super special.
Abbey Road feels haunted when you go in, in a good way. There’s so much energy in the space, you can feel it. When you walk through the door it hits you in your chest. There’s so much magic that’s been made in those four walls.
You grew up around the Beatles, inevitably.
And I’m also convinced that my dad is related to Paul McCartney. I’m convinced. Honestly, I am. I need to show you a picture of my dad. He’s his twin. He gets told all the time.
He actually does look like him!
Can we start the rumour? And then hopefully he’ll contact me to tell me I’m not related to him. I would love to start that rumour: I’m related to Paul McCartney.
Let’s get you an invite to the Beatles premieres.
I know. It’s like “girl, come on!” I’m really hopeful, actually, that I’ll get to go to that, because that would be super magical.
Back to live music!
Yeah, that venue, given where I’m from and what I’ve grown up with, was insane. And then the Stonewall Inn was special in a completely different, meaningful way, because obviously it’s where modern Pride first began. I feel such a connection to that community. I say this all the time, but pop music could not exist without queer culture. It’s not possible. There’s not one without the other. So for me that’s always been super important.
And on top of that, people like Madonna have played there. It was a super cool thing. I remember when I came off stage, one of the guys said, “I saw Madonna play here, and now I’m gonna tell everyone when you sell out MSG that I saw you here.” It was so fun. Such good energy. That’s also what I love about that community.
When Stonewall took me on their float for Pride, I remember saying to Stacy, who’s one of the owners, Stacy and Kurt, they’re incredible. I was like, “Who doesn’t want to be a part of this?” It’s so fun. Everyone in the street is throwing love and life.
It’s what you’ve said before. There’s always a bit of pretentiousness around, snobbery…
Pop snobbery.
Yeah. And I feel like it happens to a lot of things that appeal directly to women and queer people. I like that you talk about it in such a joyful way.
100%, I couldn’t agree with you more. It irritates me. I met Noel Gallagher in Selfridges. I wouldn’t normally have gone over to him in that situation, but I went over to him and said, “I’d never normally do this, but I’m a big fan.” He’s like, “You’re not an Oasis fan.” And I’m like, “Yeah, I am.” He said, “What’s your favourite album?” I said, “Definitely Maybe.” Then we were talking about the songs on the album, and he asked, “What do you do?” I said, “Obviously, I do music.” And he said, “I’ll probably hate your stuff, but I think you’re [inaudible].”
Then he said, “Should we send the picture to your dad?” Because my dad would never forgive me if I didn’t get a snap. My dad actually printed that picture on a t-shirt for when we went to see Oasis. It was me with Noel.
That’s the thing: it’s so lame to have any kind of snobbery. You could look at me and be like, “Oh, she’s a full-on pop princess,” which I am, but I also love other stuff. It doesn’t make you any cooler to not like things that are fun. I think it’s really cool to like what you like. It doesn’t make you any cooler to be like, “Oh, pop’s so lame.” Pop is so fun. That’s why it’s called pop, because it’s supposed to be popular.
Yeah, also if it’s not harming anyone…
That’s what I mean. For me, pop music is all about that feel-good feeling. It’s fun, it’s exciting. It’s just a vibe. And I do really feel passionately about the fact that, because it’s a female-dominated space there’s still a bit of misogyny against it.
Yeah, against that genre. It’s the same with literature, the same with film, the same with everything. There’s always snobbery around female art.
There is. But with all these things, I always say the gays go first, the girls follow, and then everyone else gets on board, because culturally that’s what’s tended to happen. Whatever people want to say, pop is a female-dominated space, and long may it reign.
That’s what I love so much about the Spice Girls. They were fiercely that. And I’ve definitely been brought up that way, between my mum and both of my aunties. It’s always been, “Do what you’ve got to do.”
Set the scene for the best place to listen to your music.
I’m gonna give a really lame answer.
That’s fine.
It’s in the car.
Great. That’s not lame! Driving to music is a classic.
I say this all the time. People ask, “What’s your favourite thing to do in New York?” And I always say: sit in the passenger seat of my manager’s car and drive around listening to tunes. Even though I feel like I’ve been to New York a million times now, I still feel like I’m in a movie every time. You see the yellow cabs, all the traffic lights, and everyone’s just impeccably dressed. There’s this place by The Mercer Hotel called Sartiano’s and you could literally sit there for hours and watch the world go by, because everyone looks so fab.
Everyone’s also so confident in New York.
Sam Smith said the other day, about how inclusive and freeing it is to live in New York, how it’s like no other city. They were in a dress and heels, got into a cab, and someone said, “You look beautiful.” I love that about America in general. Scary Spice said it best: in England, if you say you want to do something, people say, “Yeah, but what’s your plan B? What are you really gonna do?” Whereas when Americans say “go for it”, they mean go for it. And I do feel that energy. There’s only one place in the UK where I feel like I get that, and that’s Liverpool.
I remember when I went home and did an interview with the Liverpool Echo. I don’t know these people, but they’re so proud. There’s this unity and sense of community. I mean, look, we have the best football fans in the world. I really feel that support from there, which is amazing.
But yeah, my favourite place to listen to music, especially when you first get a bounce back, is the car.
I actually, weirdly, think a lot of musicians would say that’s their favourite place to listen.
Yeah, you’re not the first one to tell me that. I wanted to ask about your own sense of fashion, because I feel like you’re really into it. You worked at the iconic Fiorucci store in Soho for a bit, which is where you were discovered.
It has closed now, sadly. But let me tell you why that’s even more iconic, right? This is why I’m such a universe girly. I discovered Fiorucci because of Studio 54. I was so obsessed with disco music that I was like, “What’s everyone wearing in this club?” Then I discovered Fiorucci was the daytime Studio 54 in New York at the time.
And I remember the first day I walked into Fiorucci, in the store, Luther Vandross was playing. It was literally a Spotify playlist, and what they’d typed in was “Studio 54”. And I was like, “I’ve got to get a job here. I’ve got to get a job here.”
Probably not that easy to get a job there, even on the shop floor.
The guy that hired me, Dan, was amazing to me. I basically had no holidays, and they would just let me go to LA. They gave me loads of clothes. It was just epic. It makes me really sad, actually, that Fiorucci closed down, because it was such a special, unique space.
But yeah, I always say music and fashion are two sides of the same coin, for sure.
What do you mean by that?
So, I love clothes because, again, being from Liverpool, everyone’s always taken such pride in their appearance. And I’m sorry, but I’m going to say it: Scousers set the trends. Do you remember those Isabel Marant trainers that Beyoncé wore in “Love on Top”? The Liverpool girlies were wearing them for years before. Honestly. And I always remember my cousins going to Cricket and getting those bags that all the WAGs used to wear. Everyone’s always been quite fashion-forward, especially the women.
Anything that makes anyone feel confident, or the best version of themselves, I’m always in for it. I’ve always loved that whole thing of watching my mum getting ready when I was younger and seeing her all dressed up. And dancing from a young age as well, being in those dressing rooms with that thick blue eyeshadow, spraying your hair, with that L’Oréal Elnett hairspray. Honestly, I’m obsessed with the smell of that to this day, because it’s so nostalgic to me. And my nan would put my hair in rollers. My auntie always says I’ve never changed in that respect, because I’ve always loved clothes.
I wore my granddad’s jacket to the Grammys. I wear all my granddad’s jackets, all my dad’s jackets. I’ve been so lucky that my mum’s kept so much stuff from when she was younger. Clothes have memory, do you know what I mean? It’s so nice.
That’s what I mean about music and fashion being two sides of the same coin. You can dress to a mood.
Also, once you said that, I was like, “oh yeah, all the pop artists have a very specific style”. Like Olivia Dean, Florence. Suki Waterhouse once said she didn’t think as much about how she dressed until she started making pop music, and then going on stage in an outfit tells people who you are,
And it makes you feel that even more. For me, the way I dress is kind of old school meets new school, which again is a clear reflection of the music I’m making: the mesh of the old and the new.
How do you mix your deep knowledge of the 80s and 90s with the modern pop-girl aesthetic?
I think the everyday stuff and the stage stuff are different, and then the shoot stuff is on another level. But my own personal style… I love a juxtaposition. I love a big masculine jacket with, maybe, little mini heels. I love the juxtaposition of someone being super masculine and then super feminine. And I’m an absolute sucker for a big 80s shoulder pad. That’s why I love all my dad’s and my granddad’s blazers, because men’s tailoring is still better than women’s.
The tailoring is…
…next level. So I love pairing that stuff with whatever I can get my hands on.
You referred to disco music as a convulsion. What is your biggest convulsion song? The one where you’re like, “I can’t not dance to it.”
It’s gonna be “Never Too Much” by Luther, for sure. The minute I hear it, I’m off. That’s it. But there are so many like that. Honestly, from that era of music, I could sit here for ages and talk about it.
I love that you’re a nerd about it. It’s so fun.
I’m a bit of a nerd about it, for sure. But I actually love that as well.
You’re someone who came up with no connections to the music industry, which, I don’t know if it is rare, but in pop culture discourse it feels rare now to be able to make it with no connections. What’s your advice for people who want to make music and don’t even know where to start?
Honestly, I’m not gonna dismiss how hard it is, because it’s really, really, really difficult. But I think believing in yourself. It’s really cheesy. I used to do anything. I interned at Modest! Management, who at the time I knew of because they used to manage One Direction. I would do anything. I would knock on every door. When I first moved to London, I would research everything. I would go to things on my own. I think I was, and I still am, unhinged. I will do anything.
I just think you’ve got to really back yourself. I always think if you can see it in your mind, you can hold it in your hands. People should just go for it, because if it exists, you can have it. And I understand people have help, you hear all the time about kids who’ve got money or connections or whatever. But I do think it will mean that much more when those things happen.
I’ll never forget Mark McDonnell from Modest! or Darryl Parkinson, who was an A&R [Artists & Repertoire] from Warner who put me in one of my first sessions. I’ll never forget people like that who gave me a first chance, and that’s all it is. You’ve just got to keep banging on the door until someone listens, because it can literally take a million nos, and it takes one person to say yes, to believe in you.
That’s what I think about my manager now. He believes in me so much, and having that one person really back you to the hilt is incredible. It was him who was the first one to say, “Yeah, I get it.”
So I’d just say: if you think you want this, go for it. Before this, the whole time, I was working at Charlotte Tilbury and they wouldn’t let me have the time off work. So I would still go to New York, but I would log on at 3am and still be working. It’s hard. And I feel so grateful now, just to be sitting here talking with you about it, because this is my full-time thing now. That’s all I’ve ever really wanted, to be able to say, “Yeah, I’m doing music.” How cool is that?
So honestly, don’t give up on your dreams.
Also, I think what you did right was just talking about what you love. You were discovered in Fiorucci because you just talked about what you love.
Yeah, literally. And that was even funnier, because I remember that first conversation. His girlfriend at the time was working with me, and she was like, “Oh, you’re so cute, why do you work in the store?” And I was like, “Oh, I’m a singer.” And she said, “Oh, my boyfriend’s a producer.” And I was a bit like, “Oh yeah, I bet he is.”
Everyone’s boyfriend’s a producer.
Yeah, literally. Or a DJ. And then we started conversing about all these records, and he was like, “How do you know that stuff? How do you know that stuff?”
Me and my dad also used to sit and watch MTV Unplugged. That’s what we’d watch the whole time. Have you seen George Michael’s MTV Unplugged, when he sings “Everything She Wants”, the Wham! song? It’s the best thing you’ll ever hear. Link it in the interview if you can.
And Rod Stewart’s got a really good one. Rod Stewart’s got an amazing one, because he was in the Faces with Ronnie Wood from the Rolling Stones, and he brought Ronnie Wood out for his MTV Unplugged set and they played “Maggie May”. Unreal. It’s unreal.
I’ve got you talking about your little niche.
It’s epic. It’s honestly insane.
Final question, what’s your relationship like with social media? I feel like you use it in a very… I want to say it in a specific way, but to you it’s probably not very specific.
I’ve got to be really honest, I’m still trying to find my feet with it. I find it really weird. Now that I’ve released music, I’m finding it a lot easier, because I’ve got something to share. For the next couple of weeks, when I’ve been planning what I’m gonna post, I’m really excited to feel like I’m now entering the visual world of what I’m trying to create. But I think it’s really difficult. Everything becomes this thing of “you’ve got to get content, you’ve got to do this, you’ve got to do that”. It’s really hard.
There’s an increasing pressure on newer artists that you’ve got to do everything. You’ve got to do content. It’s actually really hard. But I’m still learning and trying to get better at it, and hopefully, as I grow, that will grow too.
Obviously I feel like I’ve got a very clear visual identity in that sense. But it’s really hard now, because you want to get it right. I feel very strongly about getting the right balance between being aspirational but attainable. Someone I met the other day said, “Your personality is so disarming,” and I was like, “What do you mean?” I think sometimes when people put images on social media, they’re not always a representation of who someone is as a person. But I suppose what’s really great now, with Instagram and TikTok, is that you can have that very visual thing on Instagram, and with TikTok you can have a bit more fun.
I’m still trying to find the balance of that, for sure.
“Sex on TV” is out now, follow via @alexajoyceofficial
Interview Natalia Albin
