Alexandra Kay knows where she belongs in country music. The singer-songwriter has been tenacious in getting her music heard, starting from playing to an empty room, to opening for Jelly Roll on his massive 2024 Beautifully Broken Tour, and later signing a record deal on BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville, where she just released her sophomore Second Wind album.
Her slow and steady climb, marked by numerous highs and lows, is why she can now celebrate the fruits of her labor.
“I don’t think I really have that much imposter syndrome, because I worked so, so hard,” Kay tells iHeart. “I did all of the meet and greet things, and Jelly Roll and I were talking about this, too. We started from the absolute bottom. I played shows where not a single person has walked in the entire night, and I just played for the bartender. I have played shows where I traveled to North Dakota, to play a show, and not enough people showed up, and they didn’t pay me, and I couldn’t afford to pay for my hotel room to sleep that night, or my gas to get back, because they refused to pay me for the show, ’cause not enough people came.
“I have had two record deals, and lost them both,” she continues. “Was on a Netflix Original series, lost that. It was supposed to change my life. I can stand up there, and I can have those teary moments, where I’m standing in front of an arena that Jelly Roll gave me as an independent artist, and be like, ‘Girl, you worked so hard for us.'”
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Alexandra Kay’s Friendship With Jelly Roll
Few people have had the impact on Kay that Jelly Roll has, both personally and professionally. When Jelly Roll invited Kay to open for him on his Beautifully Broken Tour, she was still an independent artist. Throughout the entire tour, Kay took notes from the superstar, who remains one of her biggest supporters.
“The way that Jelly Roll treated me as a first of three, on his arena tour. That is so awesome,” Kay boasts. “It’s so awesome that the people that you look up to, and then to see not only how they treat you, but how they treat every single person in that arena, who is being a small to a huge part of putting on his show every single night. He is so gracious and so kind in the way that he gave me a platform. … He’s just always the first person to reach out and help somebody.”
Especially as a female artist, Kay is grateful that Jelly Roll continues to do all he can to support her and other rising stars.
“You just don’t see that happen a lot, where people are willing to really reach out and pull someone else up,” Kay says. “Whenever I experienced Jelly Roll for who he is, in those moments, I was like, ‘Wow.'”
“Straight For The Heart,” Kay’s debut single from Second Wind, is at radio now.
Photo Credit: CMA / Erika Goldring