In Conversation with ALICIA LENA
Presented by Half-Moon Music // Interviewed by Ashford York
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Sunday 25 July, 2021

Today is a special day for me, in fact it’s a special day for all of us because of what we have for you right here. You may have seen the announcement recently, that with the return of Star Factory brings the return of Alicia Lena. An artist that absolutely is an enigma in every sense of the word, she’s somebody that came around in the early twenty tens and had a run of epic proportions, but it was brief, very much brief. Three records in three years that established this artist as a force to be reckoned with from an artistic standpoint, countless singles during that period that showed exactly who she was, her purity and heart and the positive life-affirming music, filled with important meaning and message is what has become her legacy.
She somebody that has always blazed her own trail, coming through at a time when it felt like only sex was selling in the industry, she took things back to it’s roots, RnB with strong Motown and soul elements and she that soul that drove everything she did, it never got sold. An artist with such a strong sense of self identity, still spoken about regularly today despite such a brief period of art. She’s only dropped an E.P and two singles since 2012 and has completely taken herself out of the public eye for much of her career, preferring to life a private life as much as possible.

That private life is something that I’ve been blessed to get a glimpse into as in 2016, she and her husband bizarrely became people that I could now call a neighbour and later a friend. In 2016 she married in a private ceremony and moved out to Phoenix, Arizona, stepping away from the hustle and grind of New York City to begin what would become family life. In 2018 she gave birth to her first child; an energetic son and I have been privileged to see this remarkable lady tackle motherhood with the same elegance and grace and humility in which she carried herself in the music industry. She’s generally kept a low profile for the longest time and was aware that taking up a role as a mentor on the upcoming return of Star Factory would change things in her life once again, something that she definitely grappled with before eventually signing on to return to the show that she was part of in Season One.
With that understanding that the privacy she had worked so hard to maintain over the years would be completely eradicated, she opted to bring in Half-Moon Music to present the entire story, entrusting me with going into as much detail and fill in the missing pieces that we both knew fans had been wanting to hear about. I feel a certain responsibility in tackling this moment, not from a professional standpoint but from the view of a friend. Knowing how dear she holds her privacy and how tough it is for her to allow that side of the entertainment industry back into her life. It’s an opportunity for Alicia to drive the narrative, fully aware of my role here, I will prompt the questions that I know the fans will want to be asked and some that I know fans aren’t aware of but are important to the narrative. I feel privileged that my friend Alicia Lena has allowed to let us into her private world and I feel thrilled at what’s to come.

So I sat down in her garden at her home in Phoenix, Arizona on a warm July evening as the sun was setting, we shared a glass of wine and talked privately before our conversation about what the upcoming months were going to bring to her life, knowing that she had just signed on to mentor on Star Factory once more and how her life was going to change drastically once again. She had been there before, but this time she felt she had the wisdom to deal with fame and the intrusion that it brings to your life a little more. Here’s how our conversation went on that warm July evening …

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Alicia Lena, it’s all about to change again for you, my friend. Recent announcements indicate that you're getting yourself back in the game in some shape or form. We'll dive a little deeper into what that may entail later on and how you plan on tackling that, but I’ve only ever known you as cool, calm and collected but surely even you have to be a little nervous about heading back into that world having been away from it for so long?

Alicia: Man, I’m definitely nervous. Not so much about my role on the show or like my ability to do it because it’s something that I’ve done before and it’s the aspect that I love the most which is looking at these unknown artists and trying to just help guide them along through the process and give them as much good advice as I can give them. But boy, knowing that the world will be tuning in to that show and my face is gonna be part of it, that’s a little scary, I cannot lie to you. Like, you’ve known me for a hot minute now, you know how I am, I’ve got my super close circle and I keep it low-key like twenty-four seven. Like I’ve actively lived my life these past few years as far from that world as possible. Knowing there’s gonna be interest, is a little scary for sure.

As you touched upon, I’ve known you for a short while now. I like to think of myself as a very good person to have as a neighbour. But I've seen you have to do certain things in order to keep your privacy, from what time of the day you go out shopping or your morning routine in leaving the house discreetly. Does that part of the industry put you off from really returning to it?

Alicia: Nah, like for me it’s not about that. It’s not a case of I didn’t like the paparazzi and the media aspect to it. I was never that artist that was getting papped at three am, coming out of the club. I don’t even think I was ever that interesting of a personality for the press to hound me like they have done for some artists. I was just at a point in my life where I needed to step away and re-evaluate my own life. Like I went super hard for three years, and sure in the industry terms, three years really isn’t all that much these days but back then it was relentless. It was three studio albums in three years, thirteen singles and there was a point where I was on like four number one singles in a row and I had a lot of pressure to keep that up. That shit just ain’t sustainable for someone like me.

What do you mean by that?

Alicia: Like, I get in my head a lot. Maybe not so much now, but you’ve gotta remember I was around twenty-two or twenty-three when that was happening. I know that’s probably like a veteran in industry terms right now. But back then I’d equate it to being around nineteen or so. Still a kid really. But in terms of my makeup as who I am as a person, it’s tough when you’re on a run like that and you can feel that pressure from all angles and in your head you’re thinking, if the next single drops even two or three places below that top spot or sells less than the previous ones then you’re done, basically. I dunno, I feel like now it’s not quite like that in the industry but back then it was so damn competitive, anything less was a let-down. Now, I think there’s a little more space for manoeuvre, a number one single doesn’t really mean as much now since people consume music so much more differently.

That makes perfect sense, and yet I still feel like certain artists feel that pressure. It’s crazy.

Alicia: Yeah, I guess it depends on the person and the people around them. I think it’s obvious that some artists are purely a means to make money. Like that’s always been part of the industry. But yeah, there’s artists out there that get plucked out of like now, I guess it would be TikTok or something and they’ll get a record deal despite them never really pursuing a music career or having a natural talent for it. But it’s that thing of having the right look and appealing to a mass audience and if you get the machine behind you in the form of a big label then that’s obviously your worth to them. That’s always existed but that sort of star always has a shelf life and that’s not negative against them, they never had the intention of becoming a musician in the first place, they were just spotted on another platform and sold that way. It happens, it’s not what I personally look for from my music because I like to really deep dive into back catalogues and deep cuts and really follow artists growths throughout their career.

It’s a business at the end of the day, right?

Alicia: Right! And you can’t blame them for that. That’s part of their job and I think a lot of labels find that balance, they’ll bring in these flavour of the month artists that they know will make them insane numbers, but they’ll also have the workhorses that will create the sort of art that will last throughout the years. It’s absolutely a business at the end of the day.

Let’s just cycle back because you touched upon your own reasons for stepping away, you said you needed to re-evaluate your own life. What brought upon that clarity in your own mind, was there a specific moment where you thought you needed to make a change?

Alicia: There wasn’t a specific moment of clarity. I think it was a build up of things and it got to the point where I couldn’t see the whole cycle stopping at any point. If I wasn’t recording for the next album, I was promoting a single or I was touring. I did three straight world tours and recorded three albums, beyond work I didn’t live any semblance of a life. And I don’t want this to be a pity me story, I’m aware of the luxuries that came my way financially and the doors that opened for me during that time but I also know that I worked incredibly hard during that period. I legit didn’t have a break for three years, pretty much and it led to me becoming a little disillusioned at the industry which hurt me inside because all I wanted to do was be a musician.

Would you say that you had fallen out of love with music?

Alicia: From a creative aspect, absolutely I did. I couldn’t keep up with the pace that I was expected to go at. But bear in mind that I kind of stepped away from the industry at a time when things really started to take off in a big way, the creativity was off the charts in those first couple of years where I took a step back. So I was loving all of this interesting and provoking new music but I never felt part of it and wish I did. I think I was definitely burnt out and a little lost in my own mind at that point. I had other things in my life that I needed to.

The family life that you have now?

Alicia: That was just as big a part of it too, yeah. I was single at that big period of success in my life and like I said, it was relentless so there was no time for relationships, there just wasn’t the time to invest in a relationship. Not enough time to even allow any meaningful connections, my closest friends were people I would see once every couple of months. My truly human interactions came via text at that point. Looking back it was an even lonelier existence than it felt at that point. I think it was around the time I started working on the third record (“Reign Over Me”) that I truly felt it and really started to yearn for my own family. In reality I was missing that bond, that closeness and I think in my mind I figured that to be a family. Really, all I needed was some form of love in my life and the space to truly let it grow and develop naturally. The only way for me to do that was to step back.

But you could have taken a couple of months away and come back at a lesser pace, surely?

Alicia: I never planned to be away for as long as it ended up being, sure I’ve done an E.P and released a couple of songs since then. And at that time I’d have said, yeah I’ll take around three months for myself. Really slow things down and sit back and enjoy my life but that urge to return didn’t come back and I tried to force myself back into things and find that inspiration when I put out the E.P. which I thought would lead to this wave of inspiration and love for the industry again but it didn’t and I stepped even further away. At the time I had put the E.P out, that’s when I started a relationship that would fill that void that I had been missing and suddenly returning to the industry was something that I no longer had any yearning for.

That relationship was with DeAndre and would eventually become the beginning of your family life. That led you out here to Arizona and for as long as I’ve known you guys, you’ve never gone after the spotlight, you’ve both just quietly built your family life out here.

Alicia: Yeah, I mean we’ve kept it super low-key. We never publicly announced anything, like you know DeAndre pretty well, ya’ll go fishing and mountain biking and all that. You know he’s just as private as I am and sure he’s not that universally known, he works behind the scenes, producing and working for his label. You know our vibe, we’ve got a deep love for each other that transcends the whole pageantry nature of the industry. I think most people didn’t even know we were together. I know some people have been trying to figure out who I got married to for a few years now. We just don’t live our life that way and it’s been wonderful to be able to have the time to really truly get to know each other and fall in love with each other. To really be able to invest that amount of time in somebody is important, I think that’s why a lot of industry relationships are so short lived because the time dedicated to spending with each other isn’t a lot at all.

We’ve spoken at dinner parties and just in hanging out about the things that you guys did early on together, the trips that you had taken and the places that you spent your time in. You once said to me that those were important because it gave you the opportunity to see who DeAndre was a person and whether you were compatible.

Alicia: Absolutely, you really discover a persons core being when they’re in a situation that forces emotion. One of our first trips away together as a couple was when we went to Africa. We spent three weeks over there, Lagos in Nigeria, Rwanda and Botswana. It was a developmental excursion, where you go out there for a few weeks or a few months and help out in all kinds of ways. I mostly taught English, but we helped build homes and plant life and a whole bunch of things. It was an incredible time that humbled us both, deeply emotional but so truly life-affirming at the same time and that’s where myself and DeAndre’s connection really deepened.

And that’s what led you to where you are now. You moved out to Arizona, away from the craziness of New York and California and in 2018 gave birth to your son Rocco. He’s a bundle of energy, for sure.

Alicia: Yeah, myself and De got married in 2016 and moved out here to Arizona. We still have our place in New York but return less and less each year. We adore the life that we have out here in Arizona. It’s close enough to California but just far away enough to give us the tranquility that we were searching for. Like apart from the occasional fan, nobody really cares if they see us out in public. They just live their life. Plus I think I’ve been gone from the spotlight long enough for people not to really care all that much. I like it and it’s given us the space and freedom to raise our beautiful child in a way that we consider more natural than if we part of that world. But with that being said, that’s probably all about to change when this Star Factory thing gets going again. But I think I have the maturity now to really know when to do things, when to step back and when to push forward. I certainly feel in a better place now, to be able to raise a child in this world without him losing what I’d consider to be a relatively normal upbringing.



Let’s just go back slightly and take a look at your career, your debut album came out in 2010 “This Is Who I Am”, it was fundamentally RnB and Soul. Nothing too out there, but just music with feeling and emotion and that’s a pattern that flowed throughout your career. But it wasn’t until 2011’s “Waking Up” where you really took off and became a huge name in the industry. Do you consider that your turning point?

Alicia: The debut album was an indication of how things were going to go but it didn’t quite get there, it gave me a taste of that success but you’re right. It wasn’t until the second album came out where it was like, ‘okay, how far can we really take this thing?’. I’d say musically you know what you’re going to get from me and that was the case with all three records. I need my music to invoke some feeling, there needs to be a little depth to the songs that I’m writing about and I’ve got to really feel what I’m singing. I think if you look through my music, there’s a lot of positivity and hopefulness in the lyrics but I’ve never been the sort of person to shy away from difficult emotions and topics. I think if you’re an artist today, you have to be able to tap into that in order to create the most important and powerful music but there’s also a responsibility to that.

With all of that being said, do you think you’re going to be ready to step back into the recording studio again any time soon?

Alicia: I can’t lie and say that I don’t miss creating in that way. But I will say that I never said I was retired, I never said anything really. I just sort of left and didn’t return. I still play, you know that, you’ve heard me a couple of times. I still write, very much so and that’s not something I ever stopped doing. I was always continuing to play piano and write songs. I just never went into a studio to lay them down. We got some things to figure out, like we’ve got a space out here that we’re converting into a home recording studio. If I can find a way to still be at home and record an album then that would be the best of both worlds. I know if I did record stuff and get back into the swing of things that there would be travel involved, so logistically that’s my issue. I don’t like being away from home, I have a three year old so touring isn’t an option for me.
But I know you want an honest straight up answer, so if all goes according to plan, there’ll definitely be new music coming.

So what can we expect from new material from you? Are you that far into the process that you already have an idea of the tone and content of your upcoming work?

Alicia: My main aim with any new material that I create is that it’s fundamentally human. After the past year we’ve had, it’s opened a lot of our eyes and minds up to the fragility of the human spirit and just how much we truly need each other. I had a lot of Skype and Zoom conversations with people, just listening to their own personal stories and difficulties, both relating to being locked down and the mental health aspect to that. I worked with a few charities throughout the past year to support as much as I could without physically being able to. Conversations with so many people that have really highlighted that side of myself. So some of the stuff that I have written centre around those stories and conversations. Taken inspiration from real life emotions and challenges and paying tribute to the human spirit and paying tribute to the fragility of life.

Could you give us any specifics of what’s been written so far, track titles or particular lyrics?

Alicia: I mean, I haven’t recorded anything yet, so I wouldn’t know what will make the cut or not. But there’s a song called “Envious” which is about a friend that is sadly no longer with us, it was written last year at a period where there was nothing but negativity and hopelessness in the world and the tone of the song is saying that I’m a little envious of those that get to enjoy her presence up in heaven now. Just like losing anyone that means a lot to you, the idea that you’re envious of those that get to enjoy their presence now and you no longer have that. There’s a song I really like, from the perspective of a new mother paying tribute to her own mother and finally understanding the sacrifices that were made, it’s a personal one but really drives home how I’ve felt in recent years.
There’s some songs about mental health battles, taken inspiration from conversations with parents that have had to see their own children struggle and even take their own life. There’s stuff about the strength of the human spirit and enduring everything with the belief that things will turn a corner. There’s some socially conscious stuff, stuff drenched in religious imagery which is something I’ve clung to in order to help in difficult moments during the past year. It’s all very emotive, sometimes painfully so but I like to think there’s some positivity and strength flowing through the work to. Like I said, if I do put out a new record I want it to really cover the breadth of human emotion.

So it sounds like a lot of the stuff you’ve written so far has been inspired by events of the past couple of years?

Alicia: Well honestly, my last full length record was in 2012 so that’s a lot of ground to cover. Like I said, I never stopped writing music. I just never went in and recorded it. So there’s fully finished songs and half-written songs and voice notes and notepads and all kinds of stuff that I’d need to really delve into and take a deeper look into. Some of it may no longer be relevant but some of it I’m sure will be. I can say for certain that the world has changed so much since I last put out an album, so the topics that you’ll see touched upon will no doubt be the sort of thing that has come to the forefront in recent years. Social issues like the me too movement and what that meant going forward, LGBTQ issues and how far we’ve come with that over recent years but how far we still have to go. Gun violence, terrorism, racism, police brutality and mental health issues. There’s a lot that has happened in an ever changing world. I think any record that is described as a human album in twenty twenty one or twenty twenty two will have many of those core issues touched upon. Providing of course that I can find the right voice to bring them forward in a meaningful way.

Your last single, taken from the ‘New Heroes’ soundtrack titled “Humans Without Humanity” came out in 2016 and from the lyrical content, certainly seems along the same lines as what you’re suggesting. Do you consider that as a pre-cursor for what fans could expect from new material?

Alicia: I think the core of the lyrics related to the real world we were living in at the time and still are very much living in. But of course that was a song written specifically for a fictional supernatural blockbuster movie, so it was heightened to relate to the insanity of this futuristic world. But at it’s core, it felt very relevant to the times. I think you could put that with potential new stuff and it will fit, but I think where “Humans Without Humanity” went big in tone and scope, the newer stuff will be a little more grounded and even truer to the world we’re living in now. I think if you’re coming up with something for a big movie like that you’ve got to play to the giganticness of the movie, but when you’re writing and recording for yourself you’ve got to find where the material is grounded and keep it a little more real and raw. But for sure, I can see the link.

And I know it’s early stages, but could we see you working alongside some current artists. Maybe a couple of collaborations some way down the recording process?

Alicia: Man, that’s far too early to be thinking in those terms. Like, I feel positive that we’ll get a new record out at some point in the near future but I haven’t sat down to really bring all these ideas together. There’s some insane cats out there right now though, for sure. If a song or an idea calls for a collaborative effort then you know I’m not afraid to reach out to some people. But it wouldn’t be something I’d do for the sake of it. I’d imagine there’d be one or two collaborations just because I find it such a beautiful way of stretching yourself as an artist and I like that way of working. But yeah, there’s some really dope artists out there that I’d love to work with whether it’s on a track of my own or on something of theirs. Always up for the conversation.

And just before we wrap things up here, I initially thought this conversation would be about your returning to Star Factory, doing your thing and step back once more. I can’t tell you how excited I am at the prospect of hearing new music from you someday soon. And I get the feeling that you’re in a place now where you are ready to truly come back into this world on a more permanent basis. Can you just reassure fans that there is a future where regular Alicia Lena projects can be expected?

Alicia: Man, don’t call it a comeback. That’s what they say, right? I don’t know what the future brings, I don’t have those abilities. But what I can say is that for the first time in a long time, I feel the itch to create and put my work out there for the world to enjoy and to scrutinize. It’s different now, I feel like I can find a balance between motherhood and career that can sustain me in the very best ways. I can say that I hope we can have another conversation like this in three or four years and I have added a little more to my catalogue. But I know the industry is a fragile thing too, I’ve been gone so long that there may no longer be an audience waiting for me. I hope that there is though.