A spacey rhythm with just the right amount of scruff is the ideal canvas for AleXa’s stacked harmonies to sit at the forefront. It’s the kind of tune you’d turn up on your Walkman in a fit of romantic angst à la ‘Sk8r Boi’ or Saving Jane’s ‘Girl Next Door.’ But the narrative is more complex than the great girly-girl-vs-tomboy debate of the 2000s outlined by her prototypes. Rather, AleXa’s battle is the doubt within herself, her inability to accept the love of a partner she glorifies. Even in moments of intimacy, she’s too in her head: “I search your body for a fucking flaw / Baby you’re so perfect and I’m not.”
Despite deeming him “someone you don’t wanna live without,” she still asks, “Why won’t you leave? / I just don’t get you.” In a bout of low self-worth, AleXa's narrator simply waits for the other shoe to drop, self-sabotaging when things seem too good to be true. “Maybe I’m just sick,” she concludes. But the glass is still half full if you ask me; in deciding that it’s all in her head, she’s now got room to grow.
‘sick’ first caught fans by surprise at Jingle Ball where AleXa made history as the first Korean soloist to perform at the high-profile holiday festival. And while AleXa has been a unique force in the K-pop world since her 2019 debut, ‘sick’ turns a full 180 from her past offerings, propelling her forward in the songwriter space.
It’ll be fun to see where this creative exploration takes AleXa, from whom we’ll no doubt be seeing more in 2024. In a statement, she divulged, “This era of my career feels like the most authentic version of myself.”
