Alexandra Kay is only a few days away from the release of Second Wind, her sophomore album, and her first on BBR Music Group/ BMG Nashville. The record follows All I’ve Ever Known, her debut project she released in 2023, an honest look at her life as she navigated a painful divorce from her first husband, and the recovery that followed.
Kay determined to be just as honest on Second Wind, even though her life and emotions are much different than it was two years ago. Now, Kay is happily in love with her bandmate, Rocko Beall. Her happiness, and healing, are both evident in the songs on Second Wind.
“It was a very conscious decision to describe what it felt like opening my heart again to someone else,” Kay tells Billboard. “I was very much living that, so I was like, ‘Let me just start writing love songs,’ which I had never done. You don’t just flip a switch and automatically you’re trusting and open to love again. I wanted to take people through that process.”
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Alexandra Kay Reveals How Rocko Beall Inspires the Songs on ‘Second Wind’
Beall’s influence permeates through all 14 songs on Second Wind, including a song called “Feminine Energy,” which Kay and Beall wrote with Lauren McLamb, Andrew Capra, and Matt Wynn.
“We were at a writing retreat in upstate New York and I was like, ‘I want to write a song about how he makes me a girly girl,'” Kay recalls. “I just feel safe around him. I was in the session writing ‘Feminine Energy,’ and Rocko came upstairs and ended up helping us write the rest of the song.”
Kay was with her former husband for more than a decade, although their marriage was short-lived. Kay was aware of problems in her relationship with her ex-husband, problems that became even more pronounced when she began dating Beall.
“As soon as Rocko and I got together, I realized it was a very different relationship than the relationship I was previously in,” Kay reflects. “Everybody around me saw a change in me. I was just softened. In my past relationship, I was the person that was always prepared to handle things if things went south. That’ll toughen you as a woman, just being in a relationship where you’re just waiting for the other shoe to fall. It’s exhausting.
“When Rocko and I first got together, I remember my shoe was untied while I was walking through the airport,” she continues. “He bent down and tied my shoe, and it was something that just stuck in the back of my head. With my ex, I would’ve walked around with my shoes untied all day.”
Kay is so grateful for Beall, who not only inspires her music, but brings her immense happiness and peace.
“He just meets me with just kindness,” Kay boasts to People. “As soon as I trusted Rocko, he never gave me any reason to feel like I had to protect myself. And so, I became so feminine and carefree and happy, and I just felt so protected.”
Kay’s debut single from Second Wind, “Straight For The Heart,” will soon impact radio. See a track list for Second Wind below.
‘Second Wind’ Track List:
1. Better Off (Alexandra Kay, Dan Pellarin, Jet Harvey)
2. Nobody (Alexandra Kay, Emily Falvey, Pete Good)
3. Straight For The Heart (Jimmy Robbins, Karley Scott Collins, Sasha Sloan)
4. Right Now (Alexandra Kay, Jon Nite, Andrew DeRoberts)
5. Tomorrow Problems (Alexandra Kay, Jon Nite, Andrew DeRoberts)
6. Big Boy Boots (Alexandra Kay, Ava Suppelsa, Kevin Gruft, Maggie Champman)
7. Hell Right (Alexandra Kay, Andrew Capra, Ava Suppelsa, Lauren McLamb, Rocko Beall)
8. Measure Of A Man (Alexandra Kay, Allison Veltz-Cruz, Andrew DeRoberts)
9. Old Me (Shane McAnally, Sasha Sloan, Henry Agincourt Allen)
10. Cupid’s A Cowgirl (Alexandra Kay, Kevin Gruft, Cheyenna Rose Arnspiger)
11. The Last (Alexandra Kay, Jon Green, Andrew DeRoberts)
12. What He Does (Alexandra Kay, Andrew DeRoberts, Allison Veltz-Cruz)
13. Feminine Energy (Alexandra Kay, Lauren McLamb, Andrew Capra, Rocko Beall, Matt Wynn)
14. Second Wind (Alexandra Kay, Rocko Beall, Cheyenna Rose Arnspiger, Kevin Gruft)