Lexi Jayde is a singer and songwriter, but that doesn’t mean she can sit down and magically write a fully formed hit. Sometimes, it starts with a voice memo, a guitar, or a melody she can’t stop repeating. “I love to start with a guitar in my room and just turn my voice memo on and see what happens. I like to just ramble and mumble melodies,” she tells Her Campus in an exclusive interview. “And I’m constantly journaling, so I pull inspo from there.”
Jayde leaned heavily into her own personal experience for her debut album, Lover Girl, which she released on Aug. 21. The project explores the deep emotions that come with being a woman in her 20s, like vulnerability, misunderstanding, and heartbreak. The original project feels like a romantic New York summer, drawing inspiration from ’90s aesthetics. The deluxe edition stays in that world, while exploring a more emotional, edgier side of the story. That shift is especially clear in “Had to Leave,” a song about recognizing when a relationship is over. “The song is about choosing yourself at the end of the day, and getting up and leaving something that you know is not right for you,” Jayde says.Â
Even when a song comes from a deeply personal experience, Jayde hopes listeners can find themselves in it. “I’ll never not be specific with my words just because, at the end of the day, we all go through the same things,” Jayde says. “I truly do feel that everybody feels the same things no matter where you are in the world, or who you are. We all go through the same stuff at some point in your life.”
Jayde started working on Lover Girl four years ago. She finally dropped her album two months ago, and has since embarked on a nine-city tour across the U.S. and Canada through October and early November. “I’m so proud of the show. I’m proud of the album, and my favorite thing in the world is to be in rooms with everybody and sing these songs,” Jayde says. She doesn’t seem eager to leave the stage anytime soon, either. “I’m so grateful. I never want it to end,” she says. “I wish I could be on the Lover Girl Tour forever.”
Performing the songs live now feels different for Jayde. She’s grown beyond some of the situations that inspired them — but that doesn’t mean the feelings have disappeared. “Feeling deeply is not a weakness. It’s such a gift. I look back on the past four years and I just really, fully believe everything happens for a reason,” she says. “There’s not one moment that I wouldn’t take back or regret because I believe it made me into the person I am right now, and it made Lover Girl what it was.”
Writing about heartbreak can be difficult, especially when the songs bring you back to a version of yourself you’ve outgrown. But Jayde wouldn’t change the experiences that shaped her music. “I will always feel things deeply and wear my heart on my sleeve. I will never go into things halfway,” she says. “I will go full throttle, giving my all into everything.”
That openness also influences what Jayde wants from her future relationships. While she’s willing to pour her whole heart into someone, she’s ready to leave one thing behind: bad communication. “It’s OK if you don’t want to be with me. Just send me a nice message,” Jayde says. “Be a good person. Be mature, please.”
And when it comes to romance, Jayde wants to bring back the classics. Think flowers, handwritten love letters, opening doors, and actually asking someone out instead of leaving them guessing. “Chivalry is dead and we need to bring it back,” she says. She’s also encouraging people to take a chance on a little real-life romance: “People are afraid to go up to one another. People are afraid to dance. Like, go ask a girl to dance!”
As for what’s next in her professional career, Jayde’s already thinking about future projects, but she’s not rushing herself out of this chapter. “I haven’t allowed myself fully to step into a new world because it took me so long to get to Lover Girl that I’m not quite ready to leave it yet,” she says. “In a way, I am closing this chapter. But also, in a way, I feel like I’m just beginning.”