Parisalexa releases her debut album 2 Real, putting all of her thoughts, experiences, and emotions on the table and the singer invites all to take a seat.
Born Paris Alexa Williams, as an artist she sings, writes, and produces, allowing all of her talents to shine. She recently toured with Xavier Omar across the west coast, introducing her stage presence and vocal capabilities to new audiences.
Reminiscent of early Brandy, Ciara, and Destiny’s Child, Parisalexa’s sound is true to a Gen-Z artist raised on musical styles of the 1990s and 2000s pop and R&B stars. The Seattle-bred singer/songwriter creates a sonic roadmap for Black-girls navigating through the ups-and-downs of early adulthood.
She guides herself through friendships, relationships, self-love, and more. At times, her situations felt unique to her and now the singer realizes the ordeals are universal for most people entering a new stage in life.
“This album is a collection of songs that have kind of come in for about two years now. And I feel like since my last release I’ve just I’ve gone through a lot. And I’ve kind of transitioned to a different person and so the music kind of reflects that like I went through some pretty, I mean, normal situations, I’ve now realized after talking about them. For me at the time, it was like the end of the world” says Parisalexa on her latest release.
Ahead of the album, she introduced singles “Chocolate,” an ode to Black beauty, “Slim Thick,” and “Troubled Waters” featuring Dawty Music, and now stands on the full 10-track album.
Channeling her personal experience through music does not bar anyone from listening, regardless of race, age, or gender. Relating to the sometimes vulnerable subjects at hand, Parisalexa delivers modern R&B with pop and Hip-Hop infusion for every fan, old and new alike. It’s sexy. It’s confident. It’s vulnerable. It’s fun. Simply put, it’s 2 Real.
We caught up with the blossoming R&B singer to get the details on her debut album, creating through quarantine and more to come in her career.
DP: Do you have any favorite songs from the album? If so, what makes it/them your favorites?
PARISALEXA: I feel like I have a new favorite song every day. But I definitely think that “Follow Me” is a favorite of mine for sure. I produced a lot of it, at least the idea for it and with the starting of it. Sonically I had an idea and a direction for where I wanted it to go and I feel like it really hits the nail on the head. Also, I feel like I just keep it real on this song. I talk about how social media is kind of getting in everyone’s heads and it kind of like a virus itself, so I think that that, the ability to keep it cool and to be well done but also for me to be real and talk about some real shit.
Can you talk about your creative process a little bit of how you went about writing and recording, even producing?
“Too Optimistic” for example, I was so tired of being sold a dream and then having it ripped away from me. So I went to a session when I was in LA, and I was talking to my friends in the studio, and I was just like ‘dude I can’t do this anymore I’m getting jaded.’ I was like I can’t even write this pop song that they were trying to get me to write. They encouraged me to it write anyway, and I was like, alright, you know what, that’s perfect, I’m gonna write exactly about that. That song totally came from there. And at the time, all these experiences were like just the end of the world. But now I’m so glad that I really went through those things because I realized that it’s super relatable. Everyone goes through heartbreaks, everyone goes through betrayal, having friends that they thought were real that really don’t ride for them, relationships I thought were the real deal and then they are like, oh, I thought you were just a phase.
“I’m protective of my authenticity, I’m protective of my blackness. I’m protective of my femininity.”
You tackle different experiences on the album, some specifically relating to Black girlhood. How important was it for you to convey a relatable message, but not lose anything musically.
At the time I was going through it alone, but afterward, I realized like this is the soundtrack to a lot of people’s lives, like a lot of people feel all these things. And it’s not always so clean and cookie-cutter. I did that on purpose because it’s real. It’s raw.
For songs like “Chocolate” and “Slim Thick,” I feel like I just didn’t hear many songs that were that encouraging and uplifting. Oftentimes, artists talk about themselves in the first person, like ‘I’m the bomb, I’m the bomb.’ I didn’t hear a lot of songs that were like, you know, ‘you’re the bomb, you can do this.’ So, on songs like that, I felt like I needed to do that and I want it to be about me too because I need this just like everybody else listening. So the inclusivity was really purposeful.
It was important for me to be specific about the voice that I was using when I ask ‘do you like yourself, girl?’ I want you to say yeah because I’m talking to the listener. I want it to feel like a really close and intimate experience. These are the things we really are going through in real life like it’s not always just city girls. Sometimes we break down and cry. Sometimes men are literally not flying us out, you know, and for those who are not getting flown out, where do you find your worth, and where do you find your value. Where do you find your spaces where you feel like ‘dang are they talking to me. I wanted to be that voice.
How did you play with the sequencing on the album?
The album starts off with my mom talking. I recorded her and held onto it for 2 years. She still doesn’t know. She’s gonna hear it on release day. I thought “Bentley Truck” was a real good kick-off because it’s just about positivity and having your girls. And then I kind of dive into the meat of it all with “Chocolate” and “2 Real” understanding, and just processing, this is who I am and this is what I stand for. These are the things that I’m very protective of. I’m protective of my authenticity, I’m protective of my blackness. I’m protective of my femininity. Then “Follow Me” and “4 Playin” just followed into that with just being like, by the way, if you really want to get to know me, these are the things that I also like. I feel like with every song there’s like a kind of a counter like the next song answers it a little bit.
The title track “2 Real” is a definite standout. Can you share the details of that song and the process behind it?
It’s honestly one of my favorite songs that I’ve ever made. I’m a huge Brandy fan. I definitely was really influenced by her song “Angel In Disguise.” At the end, she goes (Sings) And I love that. So I kind of used a lot of that melody for the “I must be too” part. I wrote that song actually on a farm with my friends that are from Seattle. I was staying on this farm that had movie studios in it. I invited all my friends, I was like yo we should just come out here and make some music.
So we started the song there, and I had just been betrayed. I was supposed to do this album with someone and then things just fell through, and I felt like people were picking sides around me. Again, it’s one of those experiences where I was just like, I can’t write about anything else besides this thing that is literally so stuck in my head right now that I need to just write about it,
It’s kind of like anthemic because there’s just so much fraudulent stuff that’s going on. I felt like I needed an anthem for people that felt like me and at the time I didn’t know that people felt like me so it was kind of just like I wrote it for myself. And so I found my community through the responses of that song so I’m really grateful.
Another track that stood out to me was “4 Playin.” You kind of got open on that track. How was your creative process behind that?
Ironically I wrote that song when I was on a family vacation. I, remember finishing the hook when I got to my grandma’s hotel room, and I was so excited about it. And my family, they want to hear the songs before they come out. They were like, ‘oooh you wrote a new song,’ and I was like, you guys cannot hear this one (laughs). No, no! So that was definitely a funny place for me to finish this song. But I was just, I don’t know, I think I have a lot to say as a person, in general.
I felt like it’d needed to be said, and the way that I said it, for me, I think was really important. I’m not the type of girl, like I’m not Megan [Thee Stallion.] I’m not gonna talk about all the things in detail. I’m not gonna do that, but it was a matter, for me okay well if I’m gonna write a sexy cheeky song like how am I gonna do that? How is it gonna feel authentic for me? I thought it was cool to just go back to like the soulful kind of bounce that Bloom had a little bit, but still have this confident energy that I kind of have stepped into being the 21-year-old and feeling like I can even say a lot of that stuff like it, I am nervous about it.
As you know, the world is basically falling apart with the coronavirus pandemic. How has the quarantine and social distancing been treating you? Do you think it has impacted you artistically.
Yes, the world is falling apart. I think, it has brought a lot of anxiety that I normally didn’t have and I’m not one of those people. I’m really in touch with my emotions so it’s been uncomfortable to try to place it and then I’m like oh I remembered that we’re in the middle a global pandemic so that’s probably it. And that’s definitely been a bit frustrating but it’s taken me a lot of places creatively and I’m grateful for that. I think I was creating a lot more at the beginning of the quarantine because I kind of was just like we were stuck inside and everyone was just sending music and trying to do FaceTime sessions and all this stuff. I think finally, I’m trying to calm my spirit a little bit and hone in on the next thing that I want to say, I have all these other songs I’m ready to release but it’s like, what’s next? What’s the most important thing to say right now?
On a more positive note when quarantine is over, what’s something you’re looking forward to doing once we get to a better place in society?
I’m definitely excited to perform again. I think I didn’t realize how much I missed it. And for me, the timing was so unfortunate because I was right about to go to South by Southwest. I had a pretty good slot situation set up there, but I’m excited to connect. People go out to shows to change their mood, you know they can go out to have a great time and so I’m excited to conduct that again, to give people that good vibe, and just to experience the gratefulness of being able to even be outside and listen to music with other people again and all of that energy I’m definitely missing, so I’m excited to do that.
