Alex Blyth on her single ‘Pretty Privilege’
Much like how Paris Paloma's 'labour' has taken the world by storm as a feminist anthem, Alex Blyth's newest single 'Pretty Privilege' is ready to spark a powerful response of its own. With the acoustic version set for release on September 26th, we caught up with the singer-songwriter to chat about the song, her career so far, and other projects she’s currently working on.
SOUND STAGE: You made a life-changing decision to move to London at just 19 to pursue music. Two years later, how do you think that decision has shaped you personally and artistically?
ALEX BLYTH: I would say it's definitely forced me to grow up a lot faster. Looking back now, I cannot believe I moved overseas on my own when I was 19. But it's definitely been one of the best decisions I've ever made in my career. It's made me write a lot of songs about missing home, dealing with long-distance family, and having to grow up a lot faster on my own. I think it was easier to do because of the age I was at the time. Being 19, I didn't think about it, didn't worry about it, just went. I think if I was to do it now, I probably have a few more things to think about before I did it.
SOUND STAGE: It seems like such a big career choice, especially at 19, when people are usually following a more conventional path like school. What made you decide that this is what you really wanted to do instead?
ALEX BLYTH: I was really lucky to grow up in a creative family. My mum's a fashion designer, my brother's a photographer, and I just felt that there was nothing else I wanted to do. I had the opportunity to take a gap year, which I did for six months before I moved. I traveled — came to London [and saw] a bit of the US as well. While I was in London, I did music things [like] songwriting, and it was really like, “Yes, this is exactly where I want to be!” So when the prospect of doing university came around when I got back home, I couldn’t think of doing anything else other than moving. Thinking back now, maybe [university] wouldn't have been the worst thing to do, but I'm really grateful that I moved to London when I did and had the chance to do what I've done since.
SOUNDSTAGE: At such an early stage in your career, you’ve already achieved so many major milestones like having a song you co-wrote feature on “Love Island” and receiving support from BBC Radio. How does that make you feel? Does that make you more excited as you work towards your debut EP?
ALEX BLYTH: Honestly, it's so exciting to have that happen! It definitely motivates me to keep going. When those kinds of things happen, I think of my 12-year-old self and how she would think I'm so cool right now. All she ever wanted to do was move to London and pursue a music career, so when those sorts of things happen, it's exciting, surreal, and so affirming. Because the music industry is such a tough industry, when that kind of stuff happens, it really drives you to keep going and is a reminder that anything can happen.
SOUND STAGE: Do you think it's good that your path to fame has been steady, like building blocks instead of jump-starting into stardom on a random Tuesday?
ALEX BLYTH: Yeah, honestly. People keep saying this quote to me, like “be the tortoise, be the tortoise.” I think the prospect of waking up tomorrow and suddenly being in the public eye would be quite overwhelming, as much as that's something I've dreamt of. Not that I'm doing music for fame — I'm doing it because that's what I love doing — but that's something that comes along with it. But I think that building [popularity] slowly, and having that trust with your community and your fan base is just such a special thing. I think the prospect of that level of fame is exciting and something that I've always aspired to get to, but I think waking up tomorrow and having it in my face would be a bit like “whoa!” I think I'd get used to it, but it would definitely be confusing. I think fame is something that a lot of people don't really think about when they get into this kind of industry, because it's just something that definitely comes with it.
SOUND STAGE: Your new song, ‘Pretty Privilege,’ was created with an all-female writing and production team. How important was that dynamic for the song’s message and energy?
ALEX BLYTH: Honestly, it was so nice to walk into an all-female room. I think finding an all-female room to write songs in is something that doesn't happen that often, and particularly with the topic that ‘Pretty Privilege’ was about, I just felt really comfortable coming into it and talking about that topic with the girls. I think that was something we all really resonated with in one way or another, so it was really special and cool to be able to do that with them. As soon as I said the words “pretty privilege” and explained sort of the backstory behind why I had it as a song starter, they immediately got it. It was a whole session of just sharing stories of: “this happened to me once upon a time and this is how I felt about it…” I think it's a topic that is addressed, but not enough in mainstream media, and it was really nice to write about it, especially with an all-female team.
SOUND STAGE: It's such an important message to send, especially as social media is such a big deal in young girls' lives and even as adults and older women, everyone still deals with it. So it's so nice to have a song where you feel represented.
ALEX BLYTH: I think I’ve always wanted to write something about body image, but I just didn't know how to do it. And then when I came up with ‘Pretty Privilege,’ the core message of the song is: it doesn't matter what shape or size you are, everybody struggles with body image. To some degree, everybody has been in a shop and tried on something that they thought was going to look amazing on them, and no matter what their size is, [sometimes] it just doesn't fit how it should. I think it's very easy to compare yourself to other people, but the reality is that they've probably experienced the exact same thing to another degree, and it's such a common feeling.
SOUND STAGE: The end of the song takes a more reflective turn and highlights how the cycle of comparison and insecurity exists for literally everyone. Was that realization healing for you personally? Do you hope that listeners will also feel a similar perspective shift when hearing it? Especially on a more slowed-down, acoustic version of the song?
ALEX BLYTH: Oh, absolutely. One of my main things when we were writing it was that I didn't want it to sound like it's a song of me trying to trash people that I don't look like. I wanted to make sure that it's a song that could be understood on so many levels, and when it came to that realization at the end, we kind of went, “Okay… how can we make this less like, ‘Oh, she looks like this and I wish I looked like her,’ and make it a bit more like, ‘Okay, this is actually something we all experience.’” So that was something we all came to the conclusion of — the reality is that they probably feel the exact same way, and they've probably been through a whole lot of things in their own right, which I think is a nice resolution to come to at the end of the song and realize that it's not something that people are totally alone in feeling.
SOUND STAGE: There are so many intricacies and layers to the song. I was envisioning a montage of different moments, sort of like movie scenes while I was listening to it. I actually think it’d be perfect for a soundtrack.
ALEX BLYTH: Literally! One of the things I'm going to start doing to promote the acoustic version is adding together moments in pop culture where characters have felt that exact emotional journey, like Monica from “Friends.” She had the storyline of being a more curvy individual who then lost the weight. How she was treated as both of those shapes and sizes is definitely something that I’ve felt and thought of when writing the song.
SOUND STAGE: Your music really helps people to process their emotions and heal from it. Are there any songs that have helped you and given you a sense of direction or needed inspiration?
ALEX BLYTH: I think ‘Pretty Privilege’ was a big one for me. It was a song that I'd wanted to write for such a long time, and I think when I got to the end of it, I really felt a release of emotions from it. I’ve always written from personal experience, so seeing other people relate to my music is really cool and rewarding. I'm constantly going, “Is someone gonna relate to this song?” and then when they do, I'm like, “Okay, my goodness, they do!” I've got this song that's unreleased, and I don't know when it's going to be out, but it's called ‘Lucky Escape.’ It was a song I knew I needed to write, and I've held onto this pent-up emotion for such a long time that at the end of [recording] it, I felt that I was able to let it out of my system and set it free. One of my favorite things about writing songs is getting to process things by writing about it.
SOUND STAGE: I've heard that you're working on your debut EP. Can you give us a glimpse into what your listeners can expect?
ALEX BLYTH: Big pop songs! A couple of songs to cry to, it's going to follow my experience of having moved to London at 19 and what that was like — all the different emotions: feeling homesick, feeling excited, feeling a bit lost trying to find yourself in a city that you're getting to know, and self-discovery.
SOUND STAGE: I'm very excited for it! I just moved to a new city recently by myself and am looking for music that I can connect to.
ALEX BLYTH: I say this with so much love to every songwriter because I have done it, and will continue to do it, but I think it's quite refreshing to write about something that isn't just about romantic love. I think it's really exciting to write about missing family, feeling homesick, or friendships, and finding people who are worth flying across the world for. One of the lyrics on one of the [upcoming] songs is “how lucky am I to have someone worth missing,” and that is something that really has encompassed the last two years of being in London every day. It’s been really hard, but how lucky am I to have someone who's worth missing that much?
STAGE SOUND: You can write about topics like those, and people can still interpret it however they want to in order to relate. It reminds me of ‘We Hug Now’ by Sydney Rose, and how she meant for the song to be about a friendship breakup, but a lot of people thought of it as a romantic breakup song. It's interesting to see how people can take a song and make it their own as they connect to it.
ALEX BLYTH: Exactly, and I mean, there have been a few songs that I've been so honest in that it makes me kind of scared to put them out. I think that's a really beautiful thing, and I was saying to a friend the other day — sometimes the songs that are the hardest and most honest to write are the most important ones. I think ‘Pretty Privilege’ was definitely one of those songs, so again, it’s great to see it doing what it's doing.
