With Egyptian roots and UAE family, Alexis embraces her Middle Eastern heritage on her second album ‘This Is Me.’
Alexis’ second album covers a lot of musical territory, spanning everything from modern R’n’B and Trap influences to the Blues and Middle Eastern melodies, all drenched in a rich retro-Soul sound.
On this long-awaited album, Alexis tackles some of the many issues that have beset her fledging career. With cameos from family members, candid narrative interludes and ‘in your face lyrics’, she invites listeners into a world that she has often kept guarded, until
now.
Impressively, Alexis wrote and produced the bulk of the album alongside several high- profile collaborations. Grammy-award winning duo Carvin & Ivan co-produced one of the album’s tracks while Bashiri Johnson, a long-time Michael Jackson collaborator, helped create the dynamic percussion that drives the album forward.
The song-writing on ‘This Is Me’ is indebted with a sense of self, an open-hearted awareness and a searing honesty that shines through, notably on ‘Unapolagetic’, soaring plaintively over an emotive 90s-style piano ballad.
‘Morning Noon Night’ meanwhile is a brilliant Jazz-Pop odyssey with twists and turns while album-closer ‘Love Will’ is an up-tempo Pop number that’s destined to be a radio hit across the Atlantic. And on ‘Oh’ and ‘Karma’ she brings her Middle Eastern heritage to the fore, with rolling percussive beats and dramatic toplines. Joining the album together are the neat album interludes - including the Trump baiting ‘Fake News’ broadcast - which cleverly give her big-hitting tracks the breathing space they need.
With a rich, retro-Soul sound, soul-baring lyrics that speak to your heart and killer hooks that resonate with timeless melodies, ‘This Is Me’ is Alexis stripped bare, honest and brilliantly so. Alexis ‘This Is Me’ is out now on Universal.
