Before Alex Warren became a multi-platinum, GRAMMY-nominated artist with record-breaking hits and sold-out arenas, he was simply his father’s ‘wildchild’. The nickname came from childhood antics, climbing, backflips and a general refusal to stay on the ground, but years later, it would become the title of Warren’s second studio album and a fitting description of the person he has become.
‘WILDCHILD’ finds Warren looking backwards and forwards at the same time. The album is deeply rooted in his family, particularly the memories of his late parents, while also representing an artist who has arrived at a point in his career where he feels free to experiment without worrying about recreating the success that changed his life.
“Growing up, I was always climbing, doing backflips, and jumping off things, so my dad referred to me as ‘Wildchild’,” Warren explains. “It stuck with me until my mom passed away. When I was writing this body of work, I would often think of my parents. My dad knew he was dying, so he filmed this series of videos where he’s talking to me. On the first album, you were learning about who I was. This album teaches you who my parents were and who I am now.”
That shift in perspective gives ‘WILDCHILD’ much of its emotional weight. Where Warren’s debut introduced audiences to his story, the new album expands the frame, exploring the people and experiences that shaped him and the grief, love and memories that continue to influence his life.
It also arrives after the extraordinary success of ‘Ordinary’, the song that transformed Warren’s career and turned him into a global pop name. Rather than attempting to manufacture another version of that hit, however, Warren approached his second album with something that can be surprisingly difficult to find after a breakthrough: freedom.
“It’s funny because everyone would always ask me if there was a lot of pressure to make another song like ‘Ordinary’,” he says. “I actually have no pressure anymore. I had this weight lifted off my chest. That song changed my life, and I never had to worry about having another one like it because it’d be virtually impossible, so I have the freedom to experiment and have fun with music.”
That freedom is audible throughout ‘WILDCHILD’. The album moves between widescreen pop, cinematic production and more intimate songwriting, giving Warren space to explore different sides of his musical personality.
He created the record alongside longtime collaborators Adam Yaron, Cal Shapiro and Mags Duval, working between Nashville and Los Angeles as the songs developed naturally across his home studio and recording spaces including Gnome Recording Studios, Gold Pacific Studios and Woodshed Recording Studios.
One of the clearest examples of that creative experimentation comes with ‘Emerald Eyes’, the album’s focus track. Built around twinkling piano, a driving rhythm section and an unmistakably danceable groove, the song also features guitar work from disco and funk legend Nile Rodgers. “It’s my pump-up song,’ Warren says. ‘It’s a love song, but it makes you want to dance like a song you’d hear at the club in the early two-thousands with a modern twist.” Rodgers’ contribution gives the track another dimension, but it is the album’s title track that ultimately reveals why the name ‘WILDCHILD’ means so much to Warren.
The album closer begins with acoustic guitar and choir harmonies before building towards a soaring instrumental featuring a guitar solo from John Mayer. Before the music arrives, however, listeners hear a voice memo from Warren’s father asking a simple question: ‘Are you having fun, Alex?’
For Warren, the moment carries the emotional weight of the entire project. “‘WILDCHILD’ was difficult for me because my dad and I never had closure,’ he says. ‘I was nine-years-old, and I didn’t get to say goodbye.”
Warren returned to the videos his father recorded as he was dying while writing the song, ultimately imagining the track from his father’s perspective. It became a way of creating the goodbye they never had, and of imagining his father telling him that he was proud. Music itself is also woven into that relationship. Warren recalls that his father encouraged his children to perform and enrolled them in talent shows, making music part of his childhood long before it became his career. “When he was alive, the music was beautiful. When he died, the music stopped,” Warren says. “If there was a goodbye, it would be this.”
The decision to end the album with John Mayer’s guitar carries another personal connection: Warren’s father was a fan of the acclaimed singer-songwriter. “I thought it would be cool to end on an instrumental with a solo from him,’ Warren says. ‘The last thing you hear is John ripping on the guitar.”
That combination of personal history and increasingly ambitious pop production makes ‘WILDCHILD’ feel less like a difficult second album and more like a declaration of creative independence.
Warren is no longer introducing himself to the world. He is deciding what he wants the world to know about him. “I’m so proud of WILDCHILD,” he says. “Creatively, this is where I wanted to go. If you relate to even one part of it, I’m happy.”
At its heart, ‘WILDCHILD’ is an album about what remains after loss, and what becomes possible when you learn to carry it with you. Warren writes about love, grief, family and finding hope again, but the record is ultimately less about looking back than understanding how those experiences have shaped the person moving forward. “I’m happy with who I am now,” Warren says, “and I’m ready to take over what my dad didn’t get to finish as a husband and, someday, a father.”
For an artist whose career has accelerated at remarkable speed, ‘WILDCHILD’ offers something more revealing than another collection of potential hits. It is Warren taking ownership of his story — and proving that the boy his father once called ‘wildchild’ is still very much there, only now he’s got a much bigger stage to play on.
Listen to ‘WILDCHILD’ below and read more music news here.
