Alexa Villa Shares A Stripped-Down Version Of ‘Call Me Crazy’: ‘It Felt Right To Play It This Way’
Get ready to go mad — in love! After electrifying fans with her energetic new song, pop-rock supernova Alexa Villa unleashes a whole new kind of cool with an acoustic version of ‘Call Me Crazy.’
It’s been a month since Alexa Villa, the self-described “Bubble Rockstress,” served up a heaping helping of attitude with her song, “Call Me Crazy.” Equal parts glam and punk, trash and sex, pop and rock, “Call Me Crazy” might have been the perfect introduction to anyone unfamiliar with this superstar-in-the-making. Now, she’s serving up a second course – while serving up a whole different swagger. In the Stripped Live version of “Call Me Crazy,” premiering here on HollywoodLife, Alexa proves why she deserves to be on your radar. With the extra space afforded by the acoustic production, Alexa’s sultry voice doesn’t just go for a walk; it struts its stuff. It’s a testament to not just the power of the song but its singer as well.
“I always love playing after a release,” Alexa tells HollywoodLife, “because by this point, I’ve worked so long on the original version, and now I get to mess it up and break all of the rules. We got to the rehearsal space, jammed through ‘Call Me Crazy’ a few times, and it just felt right to play it this way. My band also has such a creative ear and adds so much!”
“Call Me Crazy” is Alexa’s tribute to all those who feel like they’re always going to be on “the outside” – of society, life, and everything in between. “For a long time growing up, I didn’t feel like I belonged to any certain group of people,” she said when she released the song in September. “This song is about embracing that and stepping into who you are. I was always the one with my head in the clouds and was always told I live in a fantasyland for having big dreams. I was the loud, wild one with crazy ideas and too much to say. This song, for me, was a way to overcome that and find my identity. It’s not crazy to dream.”
It isn’t crazy to be a fan of Alexa Villa. The singer-songwriter – who cites both Led Zeppelin and Gwen Stefani as influences, as well as artists from Willow Smith to 5 Seconds of Summer – has been making waves for a minute now, and it seems the world is ready for her. Though 2020 saw the world go under lockdown, she still put out new music – singles “Invisible” and “Queen Mary” – and continued that momentum into 2021. Earlier this year, she put out a Dan Heath Orchestral Reprise of “Invisible,” and she’s readying her new EP, Good Girl, which should arrive in the coming months. It marks the first major release since her 2017 album, Act I, and as “Call Me Crazy” proves, the show is just getting started for Alexa.