Alex Warren’s music helps him “keep (his) parents alive”.
The Ordinary singer lost both his parents at a young age and believes that his material is a way of preserving their memories.
Alex – whose father died of kidney cancer when he was nine and mother passed away from liver and renal failure in 2021 – told People: “The coolest thing that I’ve been able to do is keep my parents alive in some ways, whether it’s the music or the shows, and never not talking about them.
“Some people view that as a bad thing, but I love to keep them alive with my silly little jokes and my silly little songs.”
Warren released his debut album You’ll Be Alright, Kid earlier this year and explained that the track First Time on Earth – which is about his late parents – is the most cathartic on the record.
The 25-year-old star recalled: “I remember when we finished that song, I bawled my eyes out.
“I think that was one of the songs where every time I listened to it on a drive by myself, I just start crying. It’s something really beautiful where I never got any closure with my parents before they passed.
“This is a song for me to be able to kind of remind myself, but also have a conversation with them, if they can hear me, you know?”
Alex revealed that he had a “pinch-me” moment when he shared the bill with Ed Sheeran at the We Can Survive charity concert in New Jersey last month in his first performance at a “big boy arena”.
The Burning Down artist said: “Ed was someone I looked up to. Ed has always been someone I look up to… I think as an artist, he can pick up a guitar and play anything, anywhere, anytime. And I think it’s so cool.
“And he’s also one of those people that just genuinely loves it. I don’t think he does it for the accolades and the fame – he just loves what he does.”
Warren’s hit Ordinary has topped the charts in over 30 countries this year but he explained previously that he didn’t go into the music business for fame and fortune.
He said: “Truthfully, making music has never really been necessarily like, ‘Oh, I’m going to get famous and rich off of it.’
“I got really lucky off the bat. People liked it.”