IWD - Lexus Melodie

Life imitates art...

Livestream for March 8th: http://198.27.68.65:8112/stream

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” ― Maya Angelou

If there is one thing I have learned about Lexus it’s that she wields her music skills like a surgeon. By that I mean she sees and cares with a kind of brutal honesty that cuts through any tendency to write or sing about fluff. Which is not to say that she can’t laugh at herself or situations she finds herself in (listen to her song Blueberries). But when something hurts, Lexus is probably going to stop the pain by writing a song about it. As she puts it, “I like music that is about fighting your way out of darkness.” And that’s precisely the kind of songs she writes.

Not surprisingly, Lexus is drawn to strong female songwriters like Sia, Nina Simone, Jessie J, and Pink as well as “…women who write about their pain and hurt in an interesting fashion like Amy Winehouse and Alanis Morrisette.” If she had the chance to collaborate with any one of them, she’d choose Sia because “I’d love to be able to write like her and working with her would be amazing.”

Lexus learned the mechanics of music through a combination of osmosis and hard work. “My parents used to hold these wild costume parties with themes like ‘dress as your favorite musician.’ I’d spend my time listening to the music they played, soaking up everything from the Village People, the Beatles, and Cyndi Lauper to Simon and Garfunkel and the Mamas and the Papas.”

But when it came to actually choosing an instrument to play, she got stuck learning the trumpet. “I grew up in a poor part of the country and music education was free. They even provided the instrument. The instrument I was given was the trumpet, so that’s where I started around the age of five. Next came the cello and the piano around the age of seven.”

This early exposure to a variety of instruments meant Lexus had a tough choice to make. “Eventually, I was told I couldn’t be a jack-of-all-trades and needed to focus on one instrument. At the time, the trombone was the instrument I played the best so that’s where I focused. I traveled around the world with orchestras until I was 18. That’s when I was introduced to the guitar. I dropped the trombone like a hot cake for the guitar and never looked back. I’ve never had an official guitar lesson, but from the moment I picked it up the guitar felt like a freedom-move for me.” 

These days Lexus is enjoying writing songs and performing as an avatar. She has no desire to be famous and enjoys the anonymity that performing online gives her. “I have no hopes and dreams in music to be anything other than what I am right now. I write to get things out. I sing because it always makes me feel better. I never wanted fame, though a previous dream would have been to write songs for others to sing and to remain in the background.”

I am officially requesting that Lexus sing her original, “Eliminate,” and anything by Adele.

To hear some of Lexus’s songs, visit:
https://bit.ly/35yNy5M

And here is a video she made for “Eliminate.”

P.S. If you would like to make a donation to cover the costs of hosting the event and paying these amazing musicians, you can do so here: https://paypal.me/BraidedLives?country.x=US&locale.x=en_US

Braided Lives is my project and Joanne is my given name :-)

If you are interested in being a sponsor of the event, with your name mentioned and logo displayed, please email me at JenaBall@CritterKin.com

Thank you!

Jenaia