Alex Isley Details The Influence Of Colors And Stevie Wonder In Her Music
There are a few things you need to know about Alex Isley—she’s a mother whose favorite singer is Stevie Wonder and she sees color in music. Not to mention, she has perfect pitch and is undeniably one of the best vocalists of this generation. Maybe it’s because her father is Ernie Isley and her uncle is Ronald Isley—meaning she was literally born with this gift.
The quiet storm swung by VIBE’s Los Angeles studio for her very own V Sessions as she gears up to release new music. In addition to teasing the album, she detailed just how color shows up when she’s creating and what her favorite Stevie Wonder record is.
“I would say ‘Summer Soft,'” Isley said with a smile. “I see colors with keys, chords and with that particular song, and he loves to modulate several times. It’s just so many different colors and pictures that he paints with that one particular song, and it’s, to me, a very subtle, sweet way of a story of heartbreak. Just the way he delivers, it is such a beautiful song, and it just feels good, too.”
For her performance, the Grammy nominee put her own spin on Michael Jackson’s “I Can’t Help It,” which was produced by the late Quincy Jones and co-written by Wonder. She also did a live rendition of her classic ballad, “Love Again.”
With this record, she explained how she saw “deep, rich purple tones with hints of green.” Though it may admittedly seem “very weird to try and explain,” for her, “it makes all the sense in my head.”
With her new album, whose title remains under wraps, Isley envisions, “darker, deeper tones. I think about navy blue, I think about indigo, violet, nighttime tones.” She noted, “It’s moodier. I’ve tapped into more of myself as a woman and my sensuality and everything that goes into that. I’m much more vulnerable and much more direct, I think, in my delivery—just a little more unapologetic about what it is I’m saying.”
She didn’t disclose who she’s been working with, but did confirm that she’s branched out beyond the usual suspects. “There’s a little bit of everything in the mix, but I’m really, really excited for how it’s turned out,” Isley hinted.
As a mother raising a musically inclined child, Isley gushed over her daughter, describing her as a “genius.”
The Los Angeles native continued, “I love that she loves music the way that she does and on her own. It’s nothing forced and she’s just a natural at it. She’s brilliant. She has perfect pitch, and I think I really found that out when she was like two years old. She’s also a metronome [and] keeps time really well. It’s fun because I can harmonize with her now just about any song that has harmonies or she can pick out parts and make them up herself. I’m excited to see where she goes with that.”
Isley’s ultimate goal is to be able to do a song with both her father and daughter. She believes that not only will it be “really beautiful to capture,” but it will also be something her daughter “will come to appreciate […] as she gets older and understands the legacy of our family.”
Watch Isley’s full V Sessions above and check out her interview in its entirety.
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