Today, singer/songwriter Alex Di Leo shares the dreamy visuals for his spellbinding single "Youth," a moody alternative flavor to the laid-back coastal-pop sound he's long embraced. Inspired by a life-changing skydiving trip that brought a new level of spontaneity to his songwriting and performance, the video symbolizes Di Leo teetering on the edge of his youth.
Watch the video here
On his latest single "Youth," Di Leo reveals his newly heightened ability to capture complex feelings in perfectly crafted pop music. With its mesmerizing textures and heart-melting melodies, the achingly confessional track was largely inspired by a skydiving trip Di Leo took with touring artist Cody Lovaas in June.
"I've definitely had a different mentality since then," says Di Leo. "I was so scared to jump, but it ended up sparking this sense of adventure in me, and I really took that to the limit."
Made with producers/ songwriters like Zack Djurich (Kanye West, Ty Dolla $ign, Thirty Seconds To Mars), Di Leo's latest output echoes a certain tension within his emotional life, a conflict he refers to as "being torn between young and reckless and a hopeless romantic." Laced with dreamy electric-guitar riffs and lower vocal tones than Di Leo's ever attempted before, "Youth" candidly examines how that shift in mindset impacted his relationship. "It was a really confusing and darker time in my relationship and all the feelings just came out in the moment as I was writing 'Youth,'" he says.
2019 was a nonstop whirlwind that radically altered his perspective as an artist. After moving to Nashville from his Southern Florida hometown, the 23-year-old musician found himself thrown into an endless cycle of eye-opening experiences and occasional bad choices, relationship struggles and wild new adventures. While touring around the country with artists like Max Frost and Cody Lovaas, Di Leo created a new batch of music that channels all that chaos and self-discovery into beautifully detailed, yet hard-hitting pop songs, ultimately offering up his most powerful work to date.
Now at work on his album, Di Leo notes that all the upheaval of the past year has brought on an intense period of personal growth. "I'm realizing now that it was more important for me to go through everything that's happened," he points out. And as he's gained a new level of self-understanding, Di Leo has begun following his instincts more boldly than ever-a move that's profoundly impacted his artistry.
"There were so many moments where I felt drawn to a particular sound or way of singing that was so different from what I've done in the past," he recalls. "At first I held myself back, like, 'Should I really go there?' But then I decided to just go with it-if something happens that naturally and it feels good to you, you've got to trust that it's right."
