From spending nights in his car in Los Angeles to celebrating massive streaming numbers, Chezile’s Alejandro Sanchez is celebrating and navigating success with the same openness that first made his music resonate with listeners.

Stream: “Mr. Man” – Chezile, Dominique Da Silva

As the first guitar strummings of Chezile’s 2023 breakout hit “Beanie” rang out, mouths across the festival audience cracked open into a knowing “O.”

Alejandro Sanchez stood amidst the giant mushrooms and kaleidoscopic orbs of the Duboce Stage at Outside Lands Music Festival, performing his second set of the day: An intimate, acoustic performance that allowed his voice to take center stage.

The first few rows entered a trance-like state, swaying back and forth with Chezile and swooning at his paper-thin vibrato. His latest single, “Mr. Man,” is a delicate admission of serenity, which the audience immediately absorbed. Young couples embraced each other, swaying as if the rest of the festival had fallen away.

The child of Mexican musicians, Sanchez grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where skateboarding and music became fixtures of his childhood. Before “Beanie” broke the charts, Sanchez was spending nights in his car while navigating the move from Albuquerque to Los Angeles, which he detailed on his debut EP, 47.

He was opportunistic, recording wherever and whenever he could. The result is a patient, ambient sound that he mirrors today, two years after “Beanie” went viral on Tiktok and provided Chezile with 1.6 million monthly listeners in fewer than two months. Listeners resonate with Chezile’s approach, an atmospheric blend reminiscent of Cigarettes After Sex and Beach House, marked by delicate top string fingerpicking and atmospheric reverb.

The sensitivity in the 25-year old artist’s music is seen both on-stage and in person. His warmth is magnetic. Backstage, he enters his trailer with an arm around a family member, while friends freely drift in and out of his orbit.

Offstage, Chezile answers my questions with child-like excitement, buzzing in a bent-over stupor, hugging a pillow tightly to his chest.

He is a live-wire, Spicoli-esque, spontaneous in the way he calls out to others in the middle of our chat, yet sincere in the apology he issues immediately after. Chezile is delightfully himself, a young artist who not only finds joy in what he makes, but seems fulfilled by the act of creating itself.

Maybe that is what makes his sudden success feel so genuine.

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A CONVERSATION WITH CHEZILE

Atwood Magazine: You performed at two very different stages today! How did the acoustic set feel compared to the full band?

Chezile (Alejandro Sanchez): It’s really fun bringing the ideas to life with a full band. But, the acoustic set felt really like me! I like the stripped back stuff. It lets me express myself and be with the crowd. It’s a reminder to them that I am just like them. I loved both sets, but I felt in the moment with the acoustic set.

Do you still experience anxiety around performing?

Chezile: I don’t feel it anymore. The first tour, I was a total sh*tshow. I was backstage freaking the f*** out. I was confused that people wanted to see me and they had heard my music. I learned to find myself in my own skin.

What is your relationship to performing “Beanie?”

Chezile: At the end of the day, I am a nerd when it comes to making music. It’s my love, it’s my obsession. I am always focused on being present to that. I am the same me that made that song, “Beanie.” I am creating, having fun, and putting together ideas that come from the heart. If it resonates, amazing. If not, so be it.

As a producer, how do you know a Chezile song is finished?

Chezile: When I make it in like ten minutes, honestly. I make thousands and thousands of arrangements and songs. When it gets finished in a flow state of mind, I know it’s done.

What have you been listening to lately?

Chezile: I love Sam Evian. I love the last Clairo project, the production was so incredible. Leon Michaels, too. I have a lot of incredible resources that have come from my rise. I am excited to use them

Lastly, do you have a favorite Frank Ocean song?

Chezile: F*** man! “White Ferrari.” I love “Nights,” too. It’s so innovative and the production is so brilliant.

Two of my favorites. I also love “Self Control.”

Chezile: That’s exactly what I have imagined creating.

“Nikes” too. Those are my top four actually.

Chezile: It’s the perfect freestyle. He inspires me so much that it drives me crazy. He is so special. He has a great mind. He’s captured exactly what I have captured with “Beanie” on every song he has made.

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