Alexa Ray Joel Finds Her “Wall of Sound” Moment – and Her Own Voice, Fearlessly
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Alexa Ray Joel
Finds Her “Wall of Sound” Moment – and Her Own Voice, Fearlessly
by Ron Sklar
Alexa Ray Joel is back in rehearsal – back in the room, back in the band setup, back in the thick of sound. After years of performing in the intimate, candlelit world of Café Carlyle with a small musical configuration, she’s returned to a full-band experience, preparing for shows in the year ahead.
“I just started rehearsing with a band again after quite some time,” she told me. “With the new material, some of which has more of a rock sound, I wanted to get a full band and get prepared for shows in the new year.”
That return is more than logistical – it’s emotional time travel. Joel is rehearsing at Euphoria Studios; a space tied to her earliest chapter as a live performer.
“The last time I was there, I was 19 – almost 20 years ago – when I first got my whole band together,” she said. “So it’s been really fun getting back to it after so long.”
The catalyst for this new season is her latest release, “Heavy Eyes,” a track that feels simultaneously classic and deeply personal – an unapologetic embrace of melody, romance, and atmosphere.
When I told her I loved the song, she didn’t hesitate. “That’s actually been getting the most positive feedback,” she said. “So I’m really glad people are taking to that one.”
If “Heavy Eyes” feels like a stylistic shift, Joel doesn’t see it that way. To her, it’s a return to center.
“It’s actually very much in my comfort zone,” she explained. “I do gravitate to Tin Pan Alley–type music. And ‘Heavy Eyes,’ to me, is very ’60s.”
That era isn’t a costume – it’s a foundation.
“I don’t think they had any better melodies than they did in the ’60s,” she said. “That was really the time.”
Her references read like a syllabus in emotional pop history: Ronnie Spector, the Wall of Sound, Irma Thomas, the Crystals. “I love that Wall of Sound – that became so definitive of that period,” she said. “I really wanted to mimic that but put my own spin on it.”
There’s lineage in that instinct, too – something she’s keenly aware of but never overshadowed by. Growing up as the daughter of Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley, music and aesthetics were simply part of the air – absorbed rather than instructed.
“My dad really wanted to echo that sound with songs like ‘Say Goodbye to Hollywood’ and ‘Until the Night,’” she said. “So that was very palpable in my mind.”
She speaks of him not as a monument, but as a working musician.
“He just plays by ear. He says Ray Charles is the greatest of all time – and I don’t disagree.” She paused, then added with admiration, “I’ve learned so much just watching how effortlessly he tells a story through a song.”
Like many songwriters, inspiration strikes her in unexpected places. The origin story of “Heavy Eyes” is refreshingly human.
“I was sitting in my bathtub,” she laughed. “Water really helps creatively… there’s something cleansing and purifying to the mind.” In that late-night stillness, the song began to pour out. “I wanted something sentimental – something that aims straight at the heart.”
Joel’s creative world is intensely visual, too – bathed in dim, golden light. “I’ve always had an obsession with light,” she said. “My mom loves chandeliers, so there was always this warm, golden glow around me growing up.”
That imagery flows directly into the music video for “Heavy Eyes,” set for release in January.
“Everything,” she said firmly. “I came up with every scene. I produce everything myself. It’s going to look straight out of 1965.”
The recording process was deeply personal. “We recorded in my family house,” she said, “in my family piano room, on the piano I’ve had since I was a teenager.”
Working closely with producers Tommy Burns and Tony Bruno, she focused on nuance – subtle vocal treatments, a glockenspiel discovered in the family room, small details that mattered.
“Little things make the difference,” she said. “They create that warm, romantic torch sound we were going for.”
What stands out most about Alexa Ray Joel today isn’t nostalgia – it’s confidence. Over time, she’s moved away from perfectionism toward something rawer and truer.
“The older I get, the more I love the imperfections in records,” she said. “Now I’m like, ‘Let’s dirty it up a little.’”
Her philosophy is simple and hard-won: “You have to be fearless,” she said. “Trust yourself. Stop apologizing for how you feel. Channel it. Express it. Share it.”
With “Heavy Eyes,” Alexa Ray Joel isn’t chasing the past. She’s claiming it – on her own terms, with her own voice, and with the quiet assurance of an artist who knows exactly where she stands.
Copyright ©2025 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: December 16, 2025.
Photos ©2025 by Vincent K. Caruso. Courtesy of Claire Mercuri Public Relations. All rights reserved.