Alex Warren feels like the culmination of several trends in music. The 24-year-old Californian – best known for his blockbusting power ballad Ordinary – sings in a husky, over-emoted folk-pop style de rigueur among male singers who wish to communicate authenticity while also moving units by the freight-load – think Noah Kahan or Rag‘n’Bone Man.
These artists have conjured a specific modus of plaid-shirt corporate pop – the backwoods as the main stage, the campfire as the spotlight, sincerity as commodity. Yet for all these commercial trappings Warren’s life has been marked with real tragedy. His father died of cancer when Warren was nine, while his mother was an abusive alcoholic who threw her son out of the house when he was 18 before she passed away four years ago. That’s a lot of heartache, and he channels it effectively across a sprawling double album marked by a pain that glimmers through the playlist-friendly production.
The other component of Warren’s success is that he gained internet fame before achieving significant musical success. By the time his mother showed him the door, he had already built an online following courtesy of prank videos with titles such as “Well that was embarrassing”, which saw him amass two million YouTube subscribers. It also primed him for a new level of celebrity when TikTok came along. He duly achieved it when co-founding content creators’ collective, Hype-House (with other members including soon-to-be-huge Addison Rae) – which, in turn, spawned a Netflix spin-off.
A background like that suggests an artist hungry for overnight fame and willing to do anything to get in. But You’ll Be Alright, Kid defies his billing as a TikTok urchin who has blagged his way into a music career. Heavy with angst, burnished with melodrama and propelled by a Hozier/Noah Kahan/Rag‘n’Bone man-croon, it’s expressive and exhaustive – a blizzard of woe that now and then cuts through the sheen and communicates genuine spiritual turmoil.
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If there’s a weakness, it’s that the songs often feel like a singular idea revisited from different angles. Warren’s vocals stay in the same register, and the tracks all take a more-or-less identical trajectory, where the angst builds and builds and then a dam bursts.
In terms of lyrics, he wears his heart on his cuffs, with a storyteller’s flair for melodrama and a hint of religious fervour (he is a practising Catholic, and his fan base is fixated by the degree to which his faith informs his writing). The Outside tells the tale of a young person seeking fame only to discover that it is a fruitless chase that leaves you hollowed out inside.
“She moved away when she turned eighteen/In search of home, didn’t know what that means,” he sings. “She thought she’d find it somewhere on the big screen ... Hollywood wasn’t all that she thought.”
His talent for big moments is showcased throughout the 21-track LP. Typical of that strategy is On My Mind, a Coldplay-esque ballad with backing vocals from Blackpink’s Rosé (fresh from her internet slaying get-together with Bruno Mars, APT).
There are occasional tweaks to the formula. Bloodline – a collaboration with country rapper Jelly Roll – has the stomping energy of a 16-wheeler with an overheated carburetor. Elsewhere, Troubled Waters lands like a barn dance restaged for the Grammys, while Chasing Shadows is sprinkled with minimal guitar.
Warren’s mentors have included Ed Sheeran, who has guested with him on live performances of the inescapable Ordinary. However, if he lacks something, it is Sheeran’s everyman pop chops. You’ll Be Alright, Kid is an agreeably portentous album. But it cries out for a lightness of touch – a sprinkling of pop stardust amid the bombast. It marks Warren as quite the paradox. Behold, the TikTok star who needs to learn how to play to the gallery.
