ALIX PAGE: NOT YOUR AVERAGE SKORT WEARING GIRLIE

Alix Page is intentional. Her soft feminine tone is enticing and light, perfect for that summer Spotify playlist. Dreamy and hinted with brushed cymbals and nostalgic synths, Alix’s music is easy going, but her lyrics are what make her music relatable to most. “I have been crying too long to want it back, hurts so bad
I want it bad,” Alix sings in her new single “Frank.” You can almost feel the sting in her voice, the pain of missing what was.

Her single “Frank” is an ode to Frank Ocean’s “White Ferrari” from his acclaimed album Blond. “Where’s the white ferrari? I wanted a ride, I wanted to ride with you all summer long,” sings Alix, reminiscent of summertime flings and the heat of a crush. Her lyrics and voice are yearning, but the instrumentation adds a catchy tune that makes this song appropriate for long car rides and end of summer closure. I often find myself brushing my teeth humming the tune for, “I want it bad, hurt so bad, I want it back.”

Alix Page talked with LADYGUNN about the inspiration behind “Frank,” her skort collection, and joining the USC community.

What was the inspiration behind Frank? You said it only took 30 minutes to write, why do you think?

“Frank” is about a summer fling that ended before summer really started.  It’s about a missed opportunity and desperately wanting more time with somebody.

Without going into too much detail, I was going to a party with a guy I’d been talking to for a bit and in the minutes before we went in we sat in the car and decided to end things in an attempt to maintain a friendly and professional relationship.  It was “mutual,” but it wasn’t.  We went into the party acting like nothing had happened, playing it cool, and got to talking to one of our friends, bonding over our love for Frank Ocean.  The friend said something like, “If you guys ever run out of date ideas or anything just drive around listening to ‘White Ferrari’ at sunset”.  At the time we both laughed it off, but as an afterthought, that conversation really stuck out in my mind; the more I thought about it the more frustrated I got.  I got hung up over not getting that experience, or really any others for that matter, with him.  The whole thing came really naturally.  Again, that was my first heartbreak at the hands of the first person I ever really fell for so writing about it wasn’t difficult at all.

I saw you’re attending USC. Congrats! What are you most/least excited about?

Thank you! I’m definitely most excited about just being a part of the USC network. It runs really deep (beyond music even) so I can’t wait to see who I cross paths with and get inspired by as a result. It’s an interesting time to meet new people though… I’ve been living at home and it’s just not the same over zoom. Still though, you can tell all the professors are doing their best and giving it their all to make it a good experience for us so that means a lot. So far I’ve been having a lot of fun practicing drums with a practice pad in my room; my family LOVES it.

Who do you listen to in your free time?

Recently I’ve been obsessed with Holly Humberstone’s new EP, “Cabin Fever” by Jaden, “Wolves” by Jensen McRae, “Without Your Love” by Joe Avio, and anything by Del Water Gap. I always find myself revisiting Ryan Beatty’s album “Boy In Jeans”, everything by Phoebe Bridgers, and spending an obscene amount of time screaming Taylor Swift in my room.

What genre would you consider yourself?

Indie-Pop I think? My roots are definitely more in the singer/songwriter realm, though.

What’s something that gets you extremely nervous?

Public speaking. It’s a stress dream for me too actually. It’ll be me behind a podium with a speech in front of me but I can’t get the words out no matter what I do and I end up with a huge room of people just staring at me in silence. I honestly think that’s why I love writing songs; it sounds super cliche but it’s a thousand times easier for me to collect my thoughts and feelings and sing them versus say them out loud.

Who is your dream collaborator?

Oh man. I’d love to sing with Charlie Burg at some point; I imagine some really cool harmonies and just one hell of a hang. Conan Gray too, he brings a really contagious energy to all of his songs and just seems like such a fun person. This is obviously a pipe dream but getting to see Matty Healy’s writing process/talk to him/sing with him or be a part of The 1975‘s world in some capacity would be really sick. And Jack Antonoff?? Holy shit. I’d also love to see what Imogen Heap or Rostam could do production-wise with some of my songs. Imogen was one of the first female singer/songwriters I remember listening to as a kid and being blown away by how unique her sound was.

Tell me about your skort collection

HAHA I’m so excited someone actually asked about this. I honestly don’t even know how it started, I just think they’re genius. The world would be a better place if every skirt came with built-in shorts. I have a black pleated one, a vintage Calvin Klein denim one (my best depop find to date), a houndstooth one, another denim one I thrifted about a week ago, and I’m constantly on the lookout for more. My favorite part about them is when someone’s like “I like your skirt” because I get way too excited and announce that it’s actually a skort and then they get amped too. I can’t tell you how many friends I’ve made in bathrooms because of this exact interaction. Day made every time.

CONNECT WITH ALIX PAGE

INSTAGRAM // SPOTIFY // FACEBOOK

photos / Dillon Matthew

story / Sam Berlin