In mid-July, Alex Warren performed his then-unreleased track ‘Eternity’ live for the very first time. He has only been releasing music for a few years and, at that point, hadn’t even put out a full album. While most new artists would expect to play a small independent venue, the 24-year-old instead found himself standing in front of a massive audience at London’s Alexandra Palace Park.
When the set came to a close, the crowd was chanting for more. “I run out onstage,” he told NME. “I’m out of breath, and I go, ‘Hey guys, I’ve never sung this before; this is probably gonna go terribly. Have fun and let’s do it! To his surprise, the audience quickly caught onto the heartfelt ballad and sang along with him. “People were crying in the audience from ‘Eternity’,” he recalled.
It demonstrates just how deeply the Californian singer-songwriter connects with listeners, which is understandable considering his remarkable journey from homelessness to TikTok stardom and chart success. Even if the name Alex Warren is new to you, chances are you have heard his breakout single ‘Ordinary’. Released in February, the emotional ballad became the UK’s longest-running Number One single of the 2020s, holding the top spot for an incredible 12 straight weeks.
Now for the ‘Bose x NME: C25’ mixtape, Warren is taking another bold step by recording ‘Eternity’ with a full orchestra inside the Grand Lodge of Tennessee, an ornate Masonic hall in Nashville. It marks his first time working with an orchestra. As he sat for make-up ahead of his NME shoot at the venue, he explained why he wanted to try it: “This song is pretty big as it is. It has many build-up moments. When you listen to an orchestra version, I think it almost pulls the heartstrings a little more.”
‘Ordinary’ drew praise from the likes of Lana Del Rey and Ed Sheeran, but Warren remains unfazed by the recognition. After all, he debuted the song in front of the biggest UK headline crowd of his career. Asked if it was intimidating to sing it for the first time at Alexandra Palace, he replied:
“It would be nerve-wracking if I was in a room with a bunch of people who didn’t like me,” he said. “This was a room where I felt safe. This was a show for 15,000 people who paid money, whom I, in my opinion, gave an excellent performance. This is the moment where I think, ‘I don’t think I bomb if I sound terrible.’ They’re not gonna go home and go, ‘Wow, that guy sucked!’ They’re gonna go, ‘This guy performed this for the first time and it was special; we got to be a part of it.’ I think that’s what matters.”
Even if it hadn’t gone well, he argued, the risk would still have been worth it: “The only way you get better is by making mistakes. How are you supposed to learn if you don’t fuck up?”
That kind of honesty sums up the artist, who has essentially grown up in the public eye. Warren lost his father to kidney cancer when he was nine. By 18 he was homeless after his mother, who battled alcoholism and passed away in 2021 from liver and renal failure, forced him out. At the time, he was living out of his car and began uploading prank clips to social media. His following quickly grew and eventually led to him joining the Hype House, the Los Angeles mansion shared by fellow TikTok stars such as future ‘Diet Pepsi’ singer Addison Rae.
While the path from TikTok personality to chart-topping artist might seem unexpected, music was always Warren’s absolute dream. He had been uploading singing videos to YouTube since the age of 11, but he only started gaining attention once the prank content gained popularity. “The one time people cared,” he explained, “was when I played a character that wasn’t me. That was super-enabling for me to go, ‘Oh, people want to see this version of myself.’”
Over time, however, he began to feel distanced from the jokester persona and eventually returned to his first love: music. Warren poured his devotion to his wife, influencer Kouvr Annon, into ‘Ordinary’ and honored his father with the heartfelt ballad ‘Eternity’ (“It feels like an eternity/Since I had you here with me”), proving that his most authentic self resonated just as strongly as his online persona ever did.
‘Eternity’ came out on the same day as ‘You’ll Be Alright, Kid’, Warren’s first full-length album, a collection of raw and emotional ballads built on vulnerability. For him, it is about connection over perfection. “I want people to know that I’m just trying,” he said, “and trying to improve myself. I’m not hiding behind Auto-Tune. I’m just trying to show you authentic music.”
Stay tuned to NME.com/C25 for more on the return of the iconic mixtape.
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