Interview, New Artists, New Fire Music, R&B/SOUL
Parisalexa On Staying Inspired During Quarantine, New Project ‘2 Real’, and Self-Love
Apr
One week away from her album release, we spoke with Parisalexa about how she’s staying sane during the quarantine, inspiration for her latest track ‘Slimthick’, self-love in music, and more. Be sure to check out ‘2 Real’ available everywhere May 8th.
I’m trying to be more creative in different ways than I normally would. I’m a singer/songwriter/producer/performing artist, but I’ve been painting a lot… I’ve been drawing. I’ve been trying to make clothes… doing music video treatments. Trying to just expand my creative compass a little bit. That’s been pretty helpful for me. There is always something new to learn so that’s been pretty tight.
Worst part is coming up with ideas sometimes and not having as many resources that I might have normally. But also the best part is using what you have and making something dope out of that.
The #1 thing I’m looking forward to doing is probably going on tour and doing shows again! I just came off tour and I was going to do SXSW right before corona cancelled it. So, definitely would love to get to the east coast and perform more.
‘Slimthick’ was inspired by me growing up in a predominately white area. I didn’t have a lot of representation of women of color that were thick or curvy. As I grew up, I realized there were other girls that needed that representation. This song’s a celebration of me being proud of who I am, proud of what I look like and for you to do the same no matter what you look like, and no matter who’s around you.
Yes, both ‘Chocolate’ and ‘Slimthick’ are very heavy on the body positivity, heavy on the self-love.
That is my whole aesthetic. I’m very encouraging as a person. I just had to keep that energy in my songs as well. I really care about what it is I’m putting out in to the world. So a lot of the album is a real way to uplift people in different ways; whether they’re people of color, women of all shapes and sizes, whatever it is. It’s uplifting, it’s real, and it’s authentic.
And I think this is really important. Not to say that there’s a lack of self-love in music today, but I think that there’s a lack of reality added in to it. Girl’s are talking about… “I love it when he buys me all this stuff”.
In actuality, you might not have men buying you things 24/7. And for the average girl listening to the radio, it’s like “is that where I get my value from? Am I more beautiful if a guy is just paying for me to have sex with him?” And that’s a lot of the message happening in music today. And don’t get me wrong, I love a good song like that. I love to ‘pop it’. But I do think that there is a dose of reality needed in order to truly reach the listener.
I think my versatility as an artist really allows me to kind of explore both depths of my music, whether it’s ballads like ‘Water Me’, or more upbeat songs like ‘Slimthick’. And you’ll be able to see that a little bit more across the board on the album. I try to diversify it as much as possible. But I think that it’s really fun honestly. To put on different hats and explore different topics and ideas, like I said, with authenticity being my anchor. I’m still keepin’ it real even if it is like a twerk anthem. It still has a deeper meaning.
I am proud of that and that’s one thing I want to hold on to during my career. Being able to put out whatever music I want to but with a common message.
Yes, I have some pretty dope collaborations coming up this year. Um… I can’t talk about all of them yet! But I can talk about one at least. My friend, Dante Thomas from Portland, is really really talented. I have him featured on an upcoming song on the project. Really excited for that. He’s super filthy so, check him out.
My words of encouragement for the fans are… stay safe during this quarantine, really dive into yourself (we have the time to!), reach out to family, and don’t forget that you a bad b*tch, period. Regardless of quarantine and corona and all that. Do something creative and… stay up.
