Skip to content
They Told Alex Warren He Couldn't Sing... He Proved Them Wrong (Ep 51) artwork

They Told Alex Warren He Couldn't Sing... He Proved Them Wrong (Ep 51)

Behind The Wall

October 8, 2026

Alex Warren has had one of the craziest journeys in music. Before millions of people were listening to his songs, Alex was homeless, had lost both of his parents, was afraid to sing in front of people, and was being told that maybe singing wasn’t for him.

Speakers Daniel Wall, Alex Warren

TopicsMusic

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

This episode is brought to you by Nordstrom.

For 125 years, Nordstrom has been part of your story. The stylist who found the perfect outfit for your big interview. The first pair of walking shoes for your one-year-old. The tomato soup you shared with your sister at the cafe. These are the moments that make Nordstrom, Nordstrom. Big or small, we're here for all of it. Celebrating 125 years with new moments still ahead. Discover it all in Nordstrom stores and at nordstrom.com.

Daniel Wall (0:30)

We have Mr. Alex Warren. Hey. We're going Behind The Wall with Alex Warren today.

Alex Warren (0:35)

What's up?

Daniel Wall (0:36)

It's very exciting because this, I don't know if you know this, this conversation was actually supposed to happen several times in the past. I don't know if you know this.

Alex Warren (0:44)

How long ago?

Daniel Wall (0:45)

When I first started the podcast in 2021

Alex Warren (0:49)

What?

Daniel Wall (0:49)

Yeah.

Alex Warren (0:50)

No way. Yeah. I just started music around then.

Daniel Wall (0:52)

Yeah. Yeah.

Alex Warren (0:54)

That's crazy.

Daniel Wall (0:55)

There's actually a reason for that, and it may go over at the end, may go over now. I don't know. Retention.

But where I always like to start is every interview. For anyone who doesn't know who you are, what are some of the songs they know you from?

Alex Warren (1:10)

Oh, my, you might know me from Ordinary. You might know me from Carry You Home or Eternity or Fever Dream.

Daniel Wall (1:21)

How many songs? The reason I asked that. So I ask, I ask that question every time because I want, I feel like there's a sentiment that everyone has that success comes overnight. But my next question I would like to ask is, how many songs do you think you wrote until you got your first hit?

Alex Warren (1:41)

Oh, wow. Like finished a song or just in general, just started writing one?

Daniel Wall (1:47)

What did you define as success when you first started writing in that way then? Because that would be like this finishing a song mean you wrote a song or do you think?

Alex Warren (1:55)

No, I think at the end of the day, whatever gets you to start writing a song is, in my opinion, like we come back and finish songs all the time. And like what started as something was Frankensteined into three different songs, right? Like every single song, even on this album now, we have songs that were a different title with a different course, and we use that verse and we use it for this song and it works out every time. It's pretty cool.

So I would say I probably wrote 80

Daniel Wall (2:20)

And the first song you, so what I do to prepare for Behind The Wall, I usually try to listen to as many interviews as possible.

Alex Warren (2:26)

Yeah.

Daniel Wall (2:27)

And the first song sounded like it came from a poem you wrote, is that right?

Alex Warren (2:33)

Yeah.

Yeah, when I was 14 years old, I started writing poems because I wanted to get into songwriting and I thought that was kind of like the way to do it. And I would write poems about my dad that later turned into songs about my dad, that then turned into a better song about my dad.

Daniel Wall (2:48)

What made you want to start writing poems about your dad?

Alex Warren (2:51)

I don't know, actually. I think in school, especially, I did the choir and I think it was called Chorus or Choir.

Daniel Wall (3:01)

Tenor? Baritone?

Alex Warren (3:02)

I don't even know. I don't remember. I remember my choir teacher telling me I had to, I should probably explore other classes.

Daniel Wall (3:09)

You mean like, don't do choir?

Alex Warren (3:11)

They just didn't think I... I was not a very attentive person and I had a lot of stage fright. So whenever it was my turn to sing, I never really could get it out or I would shake. And a lot of times she would say that people have other qualities that people would like and maybe singing isn't mine.

That's what she said.

Daniel Wall (3:30)

Has that came up a lot in your life? Because it sounds like, based on interviews I've heard, it sounds like that sentiment has came up over and over again.

Alex Warren (3:39)

Yeah, I think that I was a very outward person. I always wanted to sing. Like if I was in a car with my friends and their parents, I would rap for them.

77 more minutes of transcript below

Thousands of transcripts fetched by people building searchable podcast archives

Fetch the whole transcript

The demo key returns a sample episode in full, no card needed:

request
curl -H "x-api-key: pt_demo" \
  https://spoken.md/transcripts/1000651996090

Markdown with the speakers named, for your notes, your knowledge base, or anything that makes HTTP calls.

From $0.10 per transcript. No subscription. Credits never expire. Prices exclude VAT, added at checkout for EU customers. Not what you expected? Email us within 14 days with 20 or fewer credits used and we refund the pack in full.

Using your own key:

request
curl -H "x-api-key: YOUR_KEY" \
  https://spoken.md/transcripts/1000793913418