Prior to his performance at The Podium Hall, Alexander 23 talked to us about his latest collaboration
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Alexander 23 visited the Philippines and performed at the Monster RX 93.1’s RX Concert Series and Wish 107.5’s Wish Bus.
Prior to this, he last visited the Philippines in 2023 when he opened for Lauv during his “The Between Albums” tour.
The Chicago-born singer, songwriter, and producer is best known for his hit single “IDK You Yet,” which, as of writing, has accumulated over 530 million streams on Spotify. He also co-produced “Good 4 U” by Olivia Rodrigo and was nominated for Album of the Year at the 2022 Grammy Awards for his production work on “Sour.”
READ: What does it mean to leave home for music? For this Singaporean singer, it’s to constantly worry about failure
More recently, Alexander 23 also collaborated with both Jeremy Zucker and Lauv for “Cozy,” a song about finding comfort in who you love. Earlier this June, he also released a new single titled “Brown Eyed Baby.”
Here, we caught up with the artist to talk “Cozy,” the state of mind of an artist on tour, and the possibility of coming back to the Philippines for a collaboration.
How does coming to the Philippines for your first headline tour feel?
It feels amazing to come to the Philippines regardless of what the reason is. I’m always so excited and grateful to come back.
While you’re here and in between performances, are you looking forward to exploring? Do you even have the time?Unfortunately, during a tour, you rarely have the time to explore the city. But I always make sure to get out of bed and find a local coffee shop in the morning. That usually takes me to some pretty cool parts of each city. It’s one of my favorite rituals to do.
Let us into the mind of an artist on tour. How are you doing physically and mentally?I’m doing good. I like to say that on tour, you settle into—I call it settling into having 50 percent of your brain working. And then once you’re there, it’s on the way down. It can feel a little bit exhausting but once you ease into the grind of the tour, it’s almost comforting, so I’m having a great time.
Alexander 23 during his Kuala Lumpur show | Photo by Hunter Moreno
You’ve produced for artists such as Olivia Rodrigo and Reneé Rapp. Any artist you’re aiming to collaborate with?
I would love to collaborate with Kacey Musgraves one day.
What about any international collaborations? Any Filipino talents catch your eye?A lot. I would honestly love to learn more about some Filipino artists. I was just saying to someone that I’m hoping that next time I’m in the Philippines, I would have some more free time. It’s more days and I could get in the studio with some upcoming Filipino artists. It would be really fun to produce music for them.
“IDK You Yet” is your biggest track to date. Is there any pressure when it comes to finding your next big hit?I try not to think about it like that. As long as I’m just making music that feels special to me, then the rest of it’s out of my control. What works and what constitutes a hit song; it’s up to other people—unfortunately slash fortunately for me. All I can really do is focus on how much I’m feeling connected to my art.
Tell us about your track with Lauv and Jeremy Zucker.We made “Cozy” a couple of months ago so it was a pretty quick turnaround. We’ve all been friends for a really long time and we’ve always talked about getting in the studio together. We finally made it happen and it was so much fun. It was such an easy, beautiful process.
Anything you want to say to your Filipino fans?To my Filipino fans, some of the greatest fans and nicest people in the worldhp vip, I just want to say thank you for sticking with me and being so loving and caring. I’m going to make sure to come back to the Philippines as often as I can.