{"id":5977,"date":"2014-10-27T17:38:41","date_gmt":"2014-10-27T22:38:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alexz.net\/?p=5977"},"modified":"2014-10-27T17:38:41","modified_gmt":"2014-10-27T22:38:41","slug":"alexz-johnson-interview-cmj-music-marathon-whatsthesmack-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.alexz.net\/?p=5977","title":{"rendered":"Alexz Johnson Interview: CMJ Music Marathon — WhatsTheSmack.com"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the CMJ festival Alexz was interviewed by WhatsTheSmack.com<\/a>. It’s a pretty lengthy interview and a good read:<\/p>\n

\nSource<\/a><\/p>\n

Last week we got to sit down with Alexz Johnson at the CMJ Music Marathon. Alexz has just released her album \u201cLet \u2018Em Eat Cake\u201d which was funded by PledgeMusic and has been featured on the TV show Instant Star. She told us a little about the new albums, her inspirations, and what her goals are. We loved seeing her show on Wednesday night, it was absolutely fantastic.<\/p>\n

Tell us a little about your history with music. What inspired you to get started in the first place?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I just always had it in me and it felt like I didn\u2019t really have a backup plan. I came to the planet singing and I started writing when I was really young. I felt like being in the middle of ten kids, from the same mom and dad, it was a way for me to be heard and get my pain out.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet \u2018Em Eat Cake\u201d just dropped! How exciting is that! What was the writing and recording process like?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was awesome. I Pledge funded it so I raised money to make the album. I got to work with David Kahne which was amazing. I got offered a major record deal on completion of the album but I chose to not take it because I\u2019ve already signed twice to majors and it didn\u2019t really work out to be the best choice for me. I just like having control over what happens.<\/p>\n

What are your biggest inspirations?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I like a lot of classics, Things that\u2019ll never go out of style and have long lasting careers. Annie Lennox, Regina Spektor, Aretha Franklin, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, and Fleetwood Mac<\/p>\n

What do you like most about being a musician?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Being able to connect with people through music and move people with my voice.<\/p>\n

What has been the most fun project you\u2019ve worked on so far?<\/strong><\/p>\n

This most recent album, \u201cLet \u2018Em Eat Cake\u201d, has been the most exciting thing I\u2019ve worked on this year. A lot of heart and soul and gone into it and I\u2019m going to be touring it for years. I\u2019m doing a music video for \u201cLet \u2018Em Eat Cake\u201d the song.<\/p>\n

What motivates you the most in your career? What do you ultimately want to achieve?<\/strong><\/p>\n

To be able to continue doing what I\u2019m doing. I want to keep touring. I don\u2019t really have any expectations to be Iggy Azelea. I just want to have a long career. The fans that I have now, I want to keep them happy with the music that I make and hopefully they\u2019re fulfilled. I just want to keep making albums and touring.<\/p>\n

How important is it for you to maintain a personal relationship with your fans and how do you go about doing that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s hugely important. Especially doing Kickstarter and Pledge, I find that that\u2019s one of the coolest things about that whole process is being one on one with the fans and able to have them be a part of my projects. It gives me the momentum to keep doing what I\u2019m doing and to tour. So I\u2019m hugely thankful. I love having Twitter and Instagram to keep them in the loop of my life. I also have a blog and an email that they can reach out to me on too. I offer VIP packages at my shows and that\u2019s a chance for them to get to meet me and do acoustic songs. I like being very interactive with my fan base.<\/p>\n

Do you often find it difficult to balance what you want in your career versus what your family and friends want you to do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not at all. Everyone in my life has always been super supportive of me and my career. I feel like I couldn\u2019t have done it without them. With tackling something like this it really takes a village, people behind you that believe in you. My parents have been nothing but sportive, they have their quirks but they\u2019re so supportive of my music career which is amazing.<\/p>\n

If you could go back is there anything you would\u2019ve done differently in your career?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know if I would have. Sometimes I wonder if I would\u2019ve done Instant Star. I wonder if that\u2019s put a damper on my career. I think it\u2019s a great show and I loved playing Jude. It has its positives and negatives being on a TV show because you get compared to your music sometimes as an indie artist. Instant Star I did 5 or 6 years ago and It was a gift. I can\u2019t think that way I have to just know that I wrote music for that show and it was a time in my life and now music is my life and hopefully people can just listen to the music.
\n
\nDo you think you would ever go back into acting?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh yeah, I just did a series on Hulu with Julia Stiles called \u201cBlue\u201d. I played a musician and I wrote music for it. I\u2019m always going to do projects as they come in. But my goal is touring and music. I\u2019m just trying to get the ball rolling on my music and that takes so much of my energy. I\u2019m not really searching in the acting end right now but that\u2019s not to say I won\u2019t in the future.<\/p>\n

What are some of the things that you love to do the most in your free time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I love cooking. I love wine. I love hanging out with my friends and going to shows in New York because I live in Brooklyn. I love just chillin\u2019 and listening to records.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re originally from Canada. Why did you decide to relocate to Brooklyn?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m here for now. Maybe I\u2019m off to Europe next. I came here for music. I moved here to meet amazing musicians and tour with them in the States and that was my goal and so far since I\u2019ve moved here it\u2019s been my fifth tour.<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t checked out Alexz\u2019s new album \u201cLet \u2018Em Eat Cake\u201d, you\u2019re really missing out!<\/p>\n

alexzjohnson.com\/<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the CMJ festival Alexz was interviewed by WhatsTheSmack.com<\/a>. It’s a pretty lengthy interview and a good read: Source Last week we got to sit down with Alexz Johnson at the CMJ Music Marathon. Alexz has just released her album \u201cLet \u2018Em Eat Cake\u201d which was funded by PledgeMusic and has been featured on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[13],"tags":[72,155,302,874],"class_list":["post-5977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-article","tag-cmj","tag-interview","tag-whatsthesmack-com"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t