LA-based songstress Alexandra Savior speaks to Atwood Magazine about reclaiming her power on her third LP, ‘Beneath the Lilypad’ – a hauntingly beautiful reflection on the highs and lows of growing up in the music industry, mental health, and falling in love.
Stream: ‘Beneath the Lilypad’ – Alexandra Savior
Alexandra McDermott, known by her middle name Savior, is making the music she always wanted to make, though the journey to getting here has been anything but easy.
A survivor in every sense of the word, the Portland-born turned LA based singer/songwriter has undergone a major label drop at the tender age of twenty-four, crippling arthritis in her hands that has, at times, made it impossible to play guitar, and a manic psychosis that left her hospitalized and mentally trapped in-between worlds. Though these hardships could be enough to break a person’s spirit, Alexandra Savior has turned them into something beautiful, telling her story for the first time on her third LP, Beneath the Lilypad (May 16 via RCA Records), in hopes of helping someone else facing similar battles.
It all started in 2012 when Courtney Love – founder and front woman of beloved ‘90s alt-rock band Hole – discovered a then seventeen-year-old Alexandra Savior on YouTube. The singer describes the unexpected yet wholesome mentorship formed between her and Love in a past interview, saying, “We had a landline at my house, and the phone was shaped like a big tomato. So she [Courtney Love] would call me on the tomato phone, and I would sit in the kitchen and we’d talk and talk. She gave me good advice. She told me not to let anybody turn me into a puppet.”
From there, things would only get more surreal for Alexandra Savior. After catching the attention of Arctic Monkeys’ frontman Alex Turner, who would go on to co-produce her 2017 debut Belladonna of Sadness, Savior, for the first time, got a taste of commercial success. It seemed she had caught lightning in a bottle; her wildest dreams were coming true by the minute. This success, however, wouldn’t come without struggle.
Just two years later in 2019, while in the throes of making her sophomore record, The Archer, Savior was dropped from Columbia Records. This was a devastating loss for Savior as it meant she’d have virtually no financial or managerial support to finish the album. On top of this, the pandemic hit the States, and along with it came a series of chronic health issues for the singer. Left to fend for herself, Savior pitched her music to a handful of independent labels and landed a deal with 30th Century Records, through which her sophomore record would be released.
Five years later, Alexandra Savior is returning perhaps more brilliantly than ever before with her haunting and radically honest LP, Beneath The Lilypad, released via RCA.
Written and produced over the past few years alongside her partner, Drew Erickson (Lana del Rey, Father John Misty), Beneath The Lilypad is a product of perseverance and unwavering determination – a true labor of love. Although this is Savior’s third album, it feels like a debut– a reintroduction to the artist we’ve come to know and adore. Only this time, she’s the one in the driver’s seat, introducing us to the artist she’s always been all along.
Sitting in her LA bedroom with her dog, Marvin, at her side, Alexandria Savior opens up to Atwood Magazine about the stories behind Beneath The Lilypad and the laborious journey that helped shape her into the profound artist she is today.
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:: stream/purchase Beneath the Lilypad here ::
:: connect with Alexandra Savior here ::
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A CONVERSATION WITH ALEXANDRA SAVIOR
Atwood Magazine: Who is Alexandra Savior? What are her likes and dislikes? Where is her happy place?
Alexandra Savior: That’s a good question. Alexandra Savior is, in a way, a persona. I think it’s sort of like twelve-year-old me, like the most raw version of me. I feel like in general I glaze over the deep feelings in life, so I think that my music is a way for me to be more serious within my emotions. And I think that my happy place is when I’m making things. I like to make stuff. It doesn’t even matter what it is. Just being focused on creating is the thing that makes me feel the most joy.
Speaking on that, I read that you made the cover art for Beneath the Lilypad, as well as the cover art for many of your past releases too. What role does visual art play into your music?
Alexandra Savior: I think that they both lend to each other. I guess I would say that the music comes first, because that’s my main priority for the most part, and then the visuals kind of surround it. When I’m making music, it comes out like vapor; it comes out really organically. But I have to think about visual art more, because it’s not my job necessarily.
What does the album title Beneath The Lilypad mean to you?
Alexandra Savior: I was hospitalized – I went into a manic psychosis – and when I got out of the hospital, the first song that I wrote was called “My Mockingbird.” The first line of that song was: “Beneath the lilypad, I find it hard to last.” It was not a very good song. It turns out when you’re in psychosis, you’re kind of all over the place [laughs]. So it wasn’t the best song in the world, but lyrically I was attracted to that line and how it really represented being separate from reality and being separate from how other people experience the world and looking through this blurred perspective – knowing that the beauty of the lilypad is above the surface – knowing that you’re beneath it, and you can’t see it. It’s suffocating, in a way.
It’s so interesting because my own meaning that I made from the title is so different!
Alexandra Savior: What did you think? I’d be interested to hear.
While listening to the album, I was instantly teleported into this mystical place in time. Even though the songs deal with heavy subjects, I felt like I was floating in this very mystical realm that felt soft and light. So it’s really interesting to hear that it came from such a painful time in your life.
Alexandra Savior: It’s beautiful to be able to see things in a different way, so that’s nice to hear.
What emotional state were you in while writing Beneath the Lilypad?
Alexandra Savior: I was all over the place [laughs]. It’s really been a journey, which started when I was 24, and I’m gonna be 30 in the next week. I think it’s really just about growth. I was first diagnosed with bipolar disorder a year before I started writing this record, and I went through so many cycles of being completely unstable. “You Make It Easier” – which is the last song that’s on the record – I wrote when I was released from the hospital, and it’s about recovery. So I think it’s really about a journey through instability to recovery. It’s just about my life.
That’s really beautiful. If this album were a world, what kind of place would it be? Who or what would live there? What would it look like?
Alexandra Savior: I feel like there would be no cellphones. That would be the number one thing I would hope for, just because I get so tired of that. My dreamworld is to just live on a plot of land in the middle of nature somewhere and have it be essentially all women. I think a lot of this album is about my femininity and trying to express that, because I had subdued it for so long. I think it would just be a place of full expression. The only man would be young Leonard Cohen.
That’s so awesome, I’d want to live there.
Many songs on Beneath the Lilypad are reminiscent of 1950s ballads, and there’s hints of western influence in there too. They all have this ethereal yet slightly eerie mood about them, like something you’d hear on a Julie London or Billie Holiday record. What were some of the records and artists you recall listening to while making this album? Who are some of the artists that inspired that sound?
Alexandra Savior: It’s interesting that you say “western” because at the time I was writing it, I was listening to a lot of really early folk music, like Jean Ritchie who is an Appalachian folk singer. I was listening to a lot of her. I was listening to Benny Goodman and this one record called “Small Groups 1941-1945” – it’s a compilation record. I was listening to just very pure jazz. I was drawing inspiration from more of a soft palette of music, which I think lends to why the album is not as fast-paced and loud.
There are many orchestral elements to this record, which is part of what makes the instrumentation on each song so full and captivating. How were those string parts written and was the process like recording them?
Alexandra Savior: Drew Erickson, who also produced the album and helped me write a couple of the songs, did all of the orchestra parts. Basically, we booked the studio, and then the night before, I laid on the ground in this room and pretended like I was paying attention while he wrote everything. It’s really interesting because he wrote an entire string part in the studio while we were recording other things without listening to anything. It’s really interesting how he was able to do that. We have almost exactly the same taste in music, so I didn’t have to give him any direction, which was nice.
That’s incredible.
The album opens with “Unforgivable,” which is a song that sounds cheerful at first glance, but when listening to lyrics, you’re actually singing about quite a grave subject matter, such as the mistreatment you faced at a vulnerable age. What does this song mean to you, and was it a conscious decision to make it the opener?
Alexandra Savior: Yeah it was. It was me saying, “This is my f*ing album.” It was the last song that I wrote for the album. I think I needed it to be a happy-sounding thing so that I could touch on a very serious subject while also expressing my power within that. That was just a coping mechanism, it being more of a happy sound.
Track 4, “All of the Girls,” is a personal favorite of mine. The lyrics really struck me, particularly when you sing: “No more transformations / the dead of myself / she calls, silently waiting for anyone else to become.” I thought those lyrics were really beautiful and resonated with me. I’d love to hear the story behind that song.
Alexandra Savior: That’s really sweet, thank you for saying that. When I was around twenty-five, I was constantly comparing myself to other people, and I think a lot of that was through Instagram and how toxic that whole thing is. I think when it first started out, it was harder for us to see how clearly the algorithm manipulates us. So I think it was from a perspective of feeling like I was comparing myself and just wanting to stop caring so much about what other women are doing – wanting to stop feeling hatred towards people that I didn’t know because they had something that I wanted. I wanted to just be able to be who I really am and express that to the world without feeling inadequate. I just wanted to stop feeling like other people had more than I did.
I think that’s why that song resonated so much with me, because I sometimes feel trapped by those feelings as well. It’s a growing pain.
Alexandra Savior: Once you find who you are, you stop caring who other people are and just appreciate them. And going to therapy helps [laughs].
There’s a song on the album called “Old Oregon,” which is a tribute to your home in Portland. What is your relationship like with your home?
Alexandra Savior: I miss home a lot. I feel really lonely when I’m away from home. It’s just the most beautiful place in the world, the most beautiful place I’ve ever been in the world, and I’ve been to some places – not that many, but I’ve been to a good chunk of places – and I just still feel like there’s something special energetically there. The people are not concerned with fame or money or vanity. It’s a very down-to-earth place. I miss it a lot, because L.A. can be really challenging. But yeah, it’s my home. It’s hard to explain what home feels like. It just is.
Do you find that where you are in the world brings out a different side of you creatively and in your day-to-day living?
Alexandra Savior: Yeah, I feel that being connected to nature is one of the most important things for me to be happy. Growing up in a rainforest and then moving to a desert is a really big jump. It took me a long time to understand how to navigate accessing nature in Los Angeles. But I feel like wherever I go, I wanna bottle it up whenever I get that feeling of being in the woods or on a lake or by the river or the ocean.
If there was a song you’d want someone to hear from Beneath the Lilypad, a song that you feel encapsulates the record’s overall sound and meaning, which song would it be?
Alexandra Savior: It’s so hard to pick ‘cause they’re all my babies. I think I feel really proud of “Venus,” and it’s also an example of something being born from love, which is something I’ve never done before I don’t think. I feel lyrically really proud of that one, and I’m proud of Drew [Erickson] for the composition that he did.
I know that you’ve been through so much on your musical journey, not only battling mental health and debilitating illnesses, but also having to deal with exploitation and mistreatment in the music industry at a young age. What is your relationship now with the industry, and what are some of your hopes and dreams moving forward?
Alexandra Savior: I feel like it’s changed a lot since I started. It’s been thirteen or fourteen years since I entered into this industry, and it’s just so vastly different than it used to be. I feel really grateful to be surrounded by so many young women now within this project and to see how creative people really are. But it’s also challenging because everything is on social media now. I hadn’t thought that that was what I’d end up being or having to focus on. It has a lot of changes in a really beautiful way, and I feel good about it. And my biggest hope is to be able to buy a house.
Thank you for sharing and for being so open. Any final words? Anything you’d like to share with our readers?
Alexandra Savior: Just thank you for listening is really what I want to say. Or “Go listen, please, I beg you.” That’s what I’d also want to say.
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:: Upcoming Tour Dates ::
August 6 – Music Box – San Diego, CA
August 8 – Outside Lands – San Francisco, CA
August 10 – The Observatory – Santa Ana, CA
August 14 – The Troubadour – Los Angeles, CA
August 15 – The Troubadour – Los Angeles, CA
August 16 – The Troubadour – Los Angeles, CA
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:: stream/purchase Beneath the Lilypad here ::
:: connect with Alexandra Savior here ::
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© Angela Ricciardi
© Angela RicciardiBeneath the Lilypad
an album by Alexandra Savior
