After being introduced to the masses by way of a repost on social media from Chris Brown, studio sessions with Rico Love, a co-sign from Jazmin Sullivan, and winning Muni Long’s ‘Open Verse’ challenge which led to her singing backup for the Def Jam recording artist’s debut performance on The Tonight Show w/ Jimmy Fallon, Alabama based R&B songstress returns with a brand new single. [Photo Credit: Mackinley L. Madhere for Spex Photography]
Titled “I Need A Man,” the follow up to “Who Raised You” & “It Ain’t Easy” was co-written with James “Jay Lyriq” Cohen while production duties were executed by Abraham Poythress. The song originally made waves over the Summer when it was posted as a snippet on TikTok. It went on to garner nearly 1M views and over almost 4K user-created videos.
Explaining the song’s central theme, the talented vocalist states: “This record is about manifesting the perfect man. Making kings understand that they are needed and helping couples realize that they have a good one on their side.”
Raised in a small town called Irvington, music found Alexia very quickly. Her family has maintained long standing roots in the close knit quarters, which she describes as “super peaceful with a lot of cows, pigs, trees, crickets, frogs, and stars at night.” Her grandfather, Ben Dixon, became the first settler in the area. Owning and running sawmills, he donated land to the middle school, which now bears his name. Additionally, her family comprises the bulk of the congregation at the local community church where her uncle serves as pastor. At two-years-old, Alexia sang her first solo in church.
Growing up, her mother encouraged her to perform as much as possible. That encouragement and her raw talent resulted in winning the world-famous “Amateur Night” at The Apollo as well as talent shows in Washington, D.C., Hollywood, and beyond. At nine-years-old, she joined the local gospel group Grace and they released the Keith Bivens-directed visual for “Luke Warm,” which has now collected nearly 2M views.
Upon graduating from high school, she embraced R&B wholeheartedly. Inspired by the likes of Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, and Sam Cooke, she kept honing her voice. Following the birth of her son, she pursued this dream to the fullest and began sharing clips of her singing on social media. Among those clips, she shared an acapella performance of her original song “Who Raised You?.”
Stream “I Need A Man” via Collins Blvd / Foundation Media and stay up to date with her on Instagram: @alexiajayy__
Twitter: @AlexiaJayy__