Alexandra Savior

Alexandra Savior
Background information
Birth name Alexandra Savior McDermott[1]
Also known as Alexandra Semitone, Alex McDermott
Born (1995-06-14) June 14, 1995[2]
Origin Portland, Oregon[3]
Genres
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, actor
Instruments Vocals, guitar
Years active 2013–present
Labels Columbia[4]
Associated acts Alex Turner, Cam Avery, James Ford, Dark Tea
Website alexandrasavior.com

Alexandra Savior McDermott[5] (born June 14, 1995), known professionally as Alexandra Savior, is an American singer-songwriter originally from Portland, Oregon. Her debut album, Belladonna of Sadness, was released by Columbia Records on April 7, 2017.[6]

Early life

Savior was born in 1995 and attended school in the Portland metropolitan area.[1] She first became interested in songwriting at age 14.[5] Different in attitude and appearance from many of the other female students, she had a difficult go of it socially and had to change high schools.[1]

Savior, known then by her birth name, first achieved public attention in September 2012 when as a 17 year old her rendition of "Big Jet Plane" was spotted on YouTube by Courtney Love, who said "This girl is gonna be huge!"[7] By April 2013, she had done a little modeling for Erin Fetherston and said she hoped her first album would be out soon.[8] She graduated from high school in June 2013.[1] By October 2013, Linda Perry was publicly comparing her potential to that of Fiona Apple.[1] She scrapped tentative plans to attend art school.[5]

Savior's musical influences included Otis Redding, Etta James, Jack White, Amy Winehouse, and Adele,[8] as well as the films of Terry Gilliam.[9]

Musical career

Around September 2013, Savior was signed to recording contract by Columbia Records and had moved to Los Angeles and had entered the entertainment business, all steps that by her admission that she was not prepared for artistically or socially.[5] But she has stated that Columbia was the best choice given that other labels were interested in modeling her after established artists such as Katy Perry or P!nk.[9]

Previously titled Strange Portrait,[10] her album-in-progress was written and recorded in Los Angeles with producers James Ford and Alex Turner in 2014–15.[5][11] Her first demo "Risk" was featured on the soundtrack of the second season of the television show True Detective.[12] For this appearance she was billed as Alexandra Semitone.[13] Subsequently, during the recording process she decided, based on a suggestion from Turner, to use her middle name as the last for her stage name.[5]

Savior's debut official song release, "Shades", was released on June 17, 2016.[14] "M.T.M.E." was released as her second single on September 8, 2016.[15] The third single "Mystery Girl" was released on November 21, 2016 alongside the album announcement.[9] "Mirage" was released on February 3, 2017.[16] "Miracle Aligner", a song written by Savior and Turner during the recording sessions, though cut from the album, was re-recorded by Turner's band The Last Shadow Puppets.[5] The song featured on their 2016 album, Everything You've Come to Expect and was released as that album's fourth single on March 28, 2016 via Domino Records.[17] Her own paintings have been used for the covers of some of her releases,[5] while accompanying the singles visually have been what Gigwise described as "her lo-fi self-directed videos."[9]

Even though the album was essentially completed by June 2015, it did not come out; she remained "in development".[5] She has given a few limited concert appearances, usually before industry audiences in the media capitals of Los Angeles, New York, and London.[9][11][12] These appearances have been using the group PAPA as her backing musicians.[11][12] Speaking of the delay in October 2016 she said "It's been very difficult."[5] She also said: "The most important thing about the music industry I've learnt is that it's total bullshit, and that the thing you should focus on the most is just the art."[5]

Savior appeared on Lea Michele's 2017 album Places as co-writer of the track "Sentimental Memories". She has also appeared on numerous released by Brooklyn artist Dark Tea.[18]

Musical style

Alexandra Savior has described her style as a "feminist angst horror film feel."[9] She has received positive notices for her early works. British music paper NME has said of one of her efforts, "... the striking and smoky vocals belong solely to Savior and ooze a burgeoning star power well beyond her tender age of 21."[19]

Discography

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Eboma, Tatsha C. "Alexandra McDermott".
  2. ↑ "Instagram photo by Alexandra Savior • Jun 15, 2016 at 1:29am UTC".
  3. ↑ Desk, BWW News. "Alexander Savior Debuts First Official Song 'Shades'".
  4. ↑ Production, Columbia Records Digital. "Columbia Records - Music Moving Forward".
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Graves, Shahlin (2016-10-10). "Interview: Alexandra Savior on her upcoming debut album". Coup De Main Magazine. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
  6. ↑ Graves, Shahlin (2016-11-22). "Alexandra Savior announces debut album 'Belladonna Of Sadness' + drops new song 'Mystery Girl'". Coup De Main Magazine. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
  7. ↑ "Video: Courtney Love Declares Alexandra McDermott The Next Big Thing". Archived from the original on March 10, 2017.
  8. 1 2 "The Next Big Thing: Alexandra McDermott - Galore". April 29, 2013.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Trefor, Cai. "Meet Alexandra Savior who's co-written her debut album with Alex Turner | Gigwise". gigwise.com. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
  10. ↑ "Alexandra Savior". nightout.com. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
  11. 1 2 3 "Alexandra Savior, Mystery Girl, Steps out of the Shade". Noisey. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
  12. 1 2 3 "Alexandra Savior's May 2016 Williamsburg Show Reviewed". NME. 2016-05-27. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
  13. ↑ "Shazam".
  14. ↑ Desk, BWW News. "Alexander Savior Debuts First Official Song 'Shades'". Retrieved 2016-11-22.
  15. ↑ "Listen To Alexandra Savior's New Single 'M.T.M.E'". NME. 2016-09-09. Retrieved 2016-11-22.
  16. ↑ https://noisey.vice.com/en_uk/article/fall-into-the-dark-fragments-of-alexandra-saviors-mirage
  17. ↑ "Listen to The Last Shadow Puppets' new song 'Miracle Aligner'". NME. 2016-03-28. Retrieved 2016-03-30.
  18. ↑ https://darktea.bandcamp.com/album/bright-flame
  19. ↑ "Listen To Alexandra Savior's New Single 'M.T.M.E'". September 9, 2016.
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