“‘Cry Again‘ came in the wake of a long battle with chronic pain, a time when I was unable to sing or play music without intense discomfort,” says queer NYC artist STEFAN ALEXANDER to Forbes who premiered the title track to his sophomore EP of the same name (which will be released independently on April 3, 2020). Succumbing to a phantom illness that left him in chronic pain for three years, he was diagnosed with a relatively new disease called “Central Sensitization Syndrome” which led him to a much-needed road to recovery. “During that time and for many months after I had recovered, I felt so emotionally limited, which likely was a coping mechanism for what I was going through. When my family’s dog died, the flood gates finally opened. I felt like a real person again. I’d forgotten the catharsis that comes with shedding tears. There’s nothing else like it!”
“Cry Again” is a celebration of expressing deep thoughts and feelings. “I wanted to make this song the title track of my upcoming EP because the emotional release that inspired it opened me up to tell a lot of the other stories on the EP,” he explains. “I’ve consistently found that the times I can make myself vulnerable are the moments I feel most connected to other people, and that’s really what the EP is all about.”
“Cry Again” starts out subtly with Stefan recalling how he’d put up his emotional guard when talking to others, but nearly 30 seconds into the track, he breaks free and belts out pridefully “If you let your tears run free, you can be royalty,” turning this upbeat ballad into a fully realized electro-pop tune.
His sophomore EP features a collection of transparent, autobiographical pop that he wrote over a large chunk of his 20s. Take for instance the first single off the EP, the R&B-infused “Photograph“, which is about how all those dating apps can often suck the life out of you and lead you to “empty promises.” He explains to American Songwriter who premiered the track, “All you have is four or five photos and three sentences. It’s so irrational, and then you’re left waiting to see if they swipe right like you did on them.”
Elsewhere on the EP “Signs,” he says, is about his difficulty as a young gay person, “not wanting to be part of the fast-paced, late night culture and wanting to find someone to be with who could move at the same speed,” while “Up and Away” was a song he wrote to motivate himself politically and to remember that even as an individual he has power. That sentiment of introspection and self-improvement runs through all of Stefan’s music. He says, “Above all, I try to be as vulnerable as possible in my songwriting and my vocal delivery to inspire others to think about their own lives and maybe even get up and dance.”
Though they feel like part of one cohesive package, the songs on Cry Again actually took five years of writing and recording. Stefan released his debut single “Skeleton” four years ago (which has racked up over a million streams on Spotify) and has garnered press from sites such as Earmilk and Indie Shuffle, but his career trajectory was cut short when he succumbed to a mysterious pain disorder (known know as “Central Sensitization Syndrome”) that made it impossible for him to perform music, much less most physical activity. “Central Sensitization Syndrome” is a relatively new diagnosis where the brain can hardwire injuries, so it continues to send pain signals even after the body is healed. Now that he knows what is ailing him, he has learned to harness it so it has minimal effect moving forward, hoping to pick up where he left off.
In 2019, Stefan broke the surface with his much-lauded Thunderclap EP (released last Summer) signaling his return to form, with All Things Go heralding, “Alexander is back and better than ever”. The New Nine praised the EP as “an emotional pop masterpiece that will get stuck in your head but also make you cry if you let it sneak up on you.” Last November he also put out a very modern, cover of the classic Tweet (ft. Missy Elliot) single “Oops (Oh My)“