Q&A: lexi Explores the Blurry Line Between Devotion and Losing Yourself on Burton-esque Single “corpsebride”
WRITTEN BY AMANDA COLLINS
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Alt-rock/alt-metal artist lexi recently released her single “corpsebride,” a haunting track that invites listeners to immerse themselves in the intensity of a devotion to someone that is deep and unflinching. The song highlights a loyalty and longing that is uncontrollable in nature, diving into the aspects of devotion that are for the better or for the worse.
As can be inferred from the title, “corpsebride” will indulge all fans of themes of the undead and, more specifically, Tim Burton fans. Inspired by his stories and aesthetics, the track feels like it would successfully fit right into a gothic, Burton-esque love story.
Based in Houston, lexi has been an exciting part of the city’s metal scene. With a voice that is crisp, both angelic yet foreboding, and instrumentals that create an intense atmosphere, her music is a must listen.
Read our full interview with lexi below, where we discuss “corpsebride,” explore where the line between intoxicating devotion and losing yourself lies, and talk about drawing musical inspiration from fantastical worlds.
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LIFE ON JUPITER: Can you tell us a bit about yourself as both an artist and a person?
LEXI: My name is Lexi, and I make a mix of alternative rock and metal. It depends on how I feel that day. I am based in Houston, so I thrive in this Houston rock scene that we have, even though it's very bad. I started writing music at 18. I didn't start at an early age. I don't have any stories about writing a song at the age of four. I didn't do that. I grew up in music. My family is very music-oriented, so I've always had a love for it. I've always sung my whole life, but I didn't grasp onto it and realize I could do it as a job until I was about 18. I just turned 21 back in December, and I, for a long time, was doing the pop punk thing, and magically was introduced to the world of Houston metal and Houston hard rock, and that changed my life. I fell in love with it, and decided one day to make metal music, and that's where I'm at now, and I think that it fits my aesthetic and who I am as an artist and who I am as a person. My artist persona and I are the same person. What I write about is my real life. I don't make up stories. I don't do any of that. These are real things that I have experienced that are heavily metaphors, but real things that I experienced in my life, and they're just like little pockets of time that happened. The best way I can explain it or get my feelings out is by writing my music. Everything you hear is live in a studio. I tell my stories through music and through songwriting.
Congrats on your June 12 release of “corpsebride”! What did the journey from the first idea to the finished version of "corpsebride" look like?
LEXI: Well, it's kind of funny because it was a random thought. I didn't really have an idea. I just heard the riff, and right away it was like: corpsebride. It's kind of a weird song, because the meaning of it is up to interpretation. It's kind of a Tim Burton-style song, because I love Tim Burton, and I love Corpse Bride, so I really wanted to write something that was my version, based on that. I wrote the song in January, and I produced it in February. I wanted something pretty like monotone. I didn't want too much going on, but I wanted to tell the story of being fully consumed in someone's love so much that you would want to die. It was just a random thought, it was a feeling that I've had, and it was something that I really wanted to write about at the time. And we did it, and it's what it is now. I don't know. There's no way to explain it. It's weird.
You have mentioned that “corpsebride” is “about loving someone so deeply that it consumes you…devotion at its most extreme and how easy it can be to lose yourself in another person.” Why did you feel called to make a song dedicated to this? Is there a personal experience behind it?
LEXI: Yeah, I think I have had these feelings throughout my years of life, and I think people can really relate. There are so many people that, either you get stuck in a crazy relationship and you can't let go of this person, or you are in a situationship, and you can't let go of this person, and just their feelings and thoughts of them consume you for everything that you have. That was something that I had gone through, but I was kind of getting out of the phase of writing about that, so my final thought that I had was that song.
What does “corpsebride” mean to you?
LEXI: Tim Burton forever and always. Tim Burton and Corpse Bride. I felt like the emotion that Emily goes through for Victor. I felt like I was always the other woman, even though I never was. So I, on a deep level, have always connected with that movie, especially, you know, realizing what had happened in my years of growing up, that I just... it meant so much more than just some random movie. It was really deeply connected to this feeling of being the other woman. “corpsebride” can mean anything, but my thought is just being deeply devoted, even though you feel like the other woman, or you're not who you used to be, and you lost everything, but you still love this person.
Is “corpsebride” a love song, a warning, or both?
LEXI: I think it's a song of devotion. I wouldn't say it's a warning. I wouldn't say it's love. I think it's almost like telling somebody or telling yourself that you're so consumed that you would die for this person.
What does devotion mean to you personally, and where do you draw the line between devotion and losing yourself?
LEXI: That's a great question, because that's a question I've had to ask myself. I feel like too much devotion is almost like you're just losing yourself. That's what happened, and I think this journey in music made me find who I was again. This is something that we, my producer Wilson and I, talked about, because it's kind of almost losing yourself, it's very much on the cusp of, you could lose yourself, but you want that to happen. Not that I particularly want that to happen, and I don't wish that on anybody, but it's definitely like somebody really trying to change you, and you're already far gone. You can't change yourself for somebody; nobody's worth it.
The opening line, 'fell on the blade,' feels like it immediately sets the tone of “corpsebride.” What does that line symbolize for you, and is there a reason you chose for it to open the song?
LEXI: I gotta think about it. I've been playing it live for months, and I just never was going to release it, because I had other things lined up. So, I think it was just really trying to set this gothic mood, of really trying to show death. I think that's really what we were trying to go for. When we write, it's kind of just in the spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. I think we just really love the metaphors of everything, and we really love how Edgar Allan Poe writes his poems, so that's a lot of inspiration that we take on. But I think we just really want to romanticize death as much as possible.
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You’ve mentioned that “corpsebride” is Tim Burton-inspired. When coming up with songs, do you often use these alternate universes to inspire you?
LEXI: I wrote a song called “soulless sam” about the TV show Supernatural. So this was the second time that a TV show or movie was brought up in discussion as an inspiration. Normally, I hear a riff, and I think of a word, and we kind of base a story off that word, or we go through periods of time in my life, or how I feel in the moment, and that's how we really bring these songs to life. But this is the second time I've really used a character. I normally don't do that, but I try to do different things, kind of just depends.
If you could make a song from the other person’s perspective, the object of the corpse bride’s affection, what would it be called?
LEXI: I think it would be about maybe.. feeling like I don't want to feel suffocated. Probably sounds really mean, but that's the first word that pops into my head, being suffocated.
What would their view be? Do you think they would receive the corpse bride’s devotion, or would they feel, like you mentioned, suffocated?
LEXI: I feel like it could either be taken as being suffocated in a good way, like love this kind of devotion, but also at the same time, it feeds into the ego of the other person, and they don't like being suffocated. It feeds their ego so much that they keep drawing into it and feeding it. It's like a fire; they keep feeding this fire, even though they don't want it to keep burning. They're doing it, not knowing that they're just feeding into it. I think that would be what the counter song would be called.
What is your advice to someone who finds themselves in such deep yet painful devotion like that found in the song?
LEXI: What I wish I had told myself, my younger self, is Are you genuinely happy with this person?Take a step back and look at the bigger picture. There's always a bigger picture. Does this person really feel the same, or are they lying, or do you really feel this way, or is it just the thought of them that you want? It's nothing. Is it really worth losing yourself at the end of the day and being a shell of a person?
Who or what do you find most inspirational for your music?
LEXI: I would say when we're at the drawing board for making music, right now, in particular, we listen to a lot of Maggie Lindemann. If we're building worlds, we really love to use Nessa Barrett as a world-building inspiration, a lot of Alice In Chains, we listen to Poppy, and Tool. Thornhill is a metal band that we've been really inspired by recently. Spirit Box, Evanescence, a lot of women, we do like to really draw inspiration from the women in metal music. Nessa Barrett is one that we love to listen to. The worlds that she builds are spectacular, so we really like to use Nessa Barrett if we want to build worlds, and because she is great at that dark vibe.
What are you looking forward to most musically? Are there any projects you’re working on, or shows to get excited for?
LEXI: What I can share now is that I have been working on a genre change for a while. I think “lexi,” as people see it now, is going to change for the better. I think that as I evolve as a person and musically it starts to show, we're switching to a new genre, and a big project will be coming out of that soon, and some other things. But yeah, just a genre switch, and there will be a song in the new genre that I've been teasing, called “succubus”, and that will be out probably in August, so that will be the switch to the new and improved.