Discover upcoming star Alexander 23 and his quarantine hit IDK You Yet

Get to know the ins and outs behind musical sensation Alexander 23 and his latest viral track — IDK You Yet

ON THE LOOKOUT for emerging artists you should be tuning in to? Be sure to add Alexander Glantz to that ever growing list. Known as Alexander 23, the 25 year-old Chicago native made his debut back in 2019 with his first track Dirty AF1’s. During the quarantine as the world stayed at home, we were spontaneously enlightened with his new track IDK You Yet. The somber song and its reflective lyrics are instantly relatable and easily resonates to anyone and everyone missing that honest ‘je ne sais quoi.’ As we social distance comfortably half a world away, we sat down with Alexander through Zoom chat to get to know more about him and his musical prowess.

What got you sta ed in music and made you want to pursue it as a career?

When I was little, my dad played the guitar and I was like, “Oh My God I need to try it.” So I tried it and hated it but eventually picked it up a year later. Ever since I was like 10 years old, I was playing in bands; then I went to school for engineering but dropped out after a year to pursue music more seriously. I realised that everyone has their own levels of fulfillment that they need from certain things. For me, career wise, it felt like I was only going to get that from writing songs and playing it.

How has the journey been, given the year you’ve had in 2019, from going on tour with Alec Benjamin and all the songs you’ve released?

It’s been incredible! I couldn’t have imagined a better first year of putting out music.

I’m so grateful, specifically for the touring opportunities I had that first year. As someone who grew up playing music in local pizza places and bars around my hometown, to get the chance to play for thousands of people in the first year was such a blessing.

Since you didn’t have any song released right before the tour, what was that like?

Well the timing of it worked out, before going on tour I didn’t have music out. So we were like well we’ve got to put out a song before we start touring. But actually, in theory it was like a disaster waiting to happen. But it was actually, for me the coolest thing because I got to see people discovering my music and me for the first time, in real time and if they liked the song then by the second chorus they were already singing along. It also directed future releases because I got to do, a real life data test on what songs people like, what they do not like and I shifted based on the feedback they were giving me.

What’s the significance behind selecting the number 23?

I was born on the 23rd, I grew up in Chicago and saw Michael Jordan as a huge figure in basketball and was obsessed with him; and he wore the number 23. Plus, I was 23 when I started writing these songs. I knew that I wanted to go by my first name and I just thought I’d spice it up by adding number 23 at the end.

Talking about the single IDK You Yet, what inspired the song?

So I wrote it during quarantine. Just the feeling of being isolated in my house and that headspace reminded me of where i was a few years ago when things weren’t going so well for me and I felt super isolated. So I wrote it about that time a few years ago when everything was kinda falling apart and

“I REALLY LOVE EVERY PART OF THE PROCESS. FOR ME MAKING A SONG IS LIKE

EQUAL PARTS ENJOYING SONGWRITING, PRODUCTION AND RECORDING”

it really felt like something was missing but I don’t know who or what it was yet.

Speaking on quarantine, what else have you been doing?

Learning how to DJ has been really fun, I’ve been really enjoying it. It’s something that I really wanted to learn, get good at and take seriously for a while. So I figured being locked in my house was the perfect time to do it and experiment. So that’s been good.

I’ve been writing a lot and I’ve got a lot of new stuff I’m really, really excited about. It feels super honest, emotional and vulnerable; and there’s much more to come. The quarantine certainly had its ups and downs., but I’m trying to stay grounded and grateful. As far as being stuck in my house, I have it pretty good, I can work from home and I have food in my fridge to eat. I can call my parents, grandparents, do my laundry and do the normal stuff plus simultaneously, to keep writing songs.

Going back to music, it’s quite clear that behind the upbeat track, your lyrics and the topics covered are actually heavier and deeper. Can you elaborate on that?

I love having contrasts in my music. It allows one to listen to it in two ways: because you can either passively listen to it and just have it as background noise to brighten your mood or it can be the main activity as well, you can just sit down and that can be what you’re doing and you can dive into the lyrics and the songwriting a bit more.

All my songs are really personal and they’re really about things that happened in my life. So with this quarantine, you know there’s a part of me that’s really missing going out and experiencing new things and meeting new people that could eventually turn themselves into songs, but I’ve still got a lot of experiences from life to draw from. There’s no shortage of inspiration really.

Is there a reason behind taking charge and having full creative control of writing, recording, producing all your music?

I just love it, it’s my favourite thing in the world, to have total autonomy over my space and time. The reason I learned to produce in the first place, aside from enjoying it, is because playing instruments and making music is something I didn’t want anyone else to take away from me. I take what’s in my head and put it down into a song and I really love every part of the process. For me, making a song is like equal parts enjoying songwriting, production and recording. It’s overall so entwined and connected, I’m so fluid in my process, I can’t imagine just breaking it down too much.

Do you have any advice for anyone interested to pursue music?

First of all go for it, it’s really fun. If you love what you do it’ll never feel like work. I get asked by people a lot, people who want to be a singer, “What do I need to know?” and I think my biggest piece of advice and it sounds crazy, but don’t be afraid to be bad at it. You’re not going to be the best version of yourself right away. I’m still searching within myself and learning new things about what I like and what I don’t like everyday. But I think what sets me apart and what sets people who have some form of success is that they’re not afraid to fail and they’re not afraid to be bad at something.

I mean I’ve written a million bad songs. You’ll never hear them. But I’ve written so many bad songs and at the time I was super excited about them. I was just loving the journey of making songs and getting better. I can look back now and say it was terrible, “Why did I ever make that?” I’ve made videos I don’t like and made a bunch of stuff that I now hate. But I would never be making the stuff that I love without going through that.