I’m chatting with Alexandra Richards—daughter of Rolling Stones legend Keith Richards and supermodel/actor Patti Hansen—on a virtual call from her home in Brooklyn. I notice a large piece of art hanging on the wall behind her. It’s a photograph of the Overberg in South Africa taken by her husband, cinematographer and director Jacques Naudé.
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“He actually just flew down [to South Africa] yesterday,” she tells me. “He just went down to film another project down there and see some family, which we’re really excited about. So he’s going to hopefully come home with more of these.”
Richards has been busy herself. In September, she helped launch the Coral Collective, an international environmental initiative to raise awareness and funds to help save the world’s coral reefs. Then, on October 4, she released her debut single, “Feel You,” a mesmerizing piece of house music voiced by celebrated dance music duo Louis Courts and Jadeyn Madsen, better known as JAIKO.
Modeling since she was 14, Richards moved to New York City in 2004 to attend the School of Visual Arts. She began dating a DJ, accompanying him to different nightclubs, helping him carry his crates of records and pick out songs. “It was really electrifying,” she tells me. “And I think during that time when I was at art school dating him and really like, kind of diving into fun music and getting people to dance together, I think it was just something I just kind of lit up inside and was like, ‘this is really fun.’”
After buying her own turntables—which she still has, by the way—Richards began DJing one night a week at a small bar with a friend and eventually, started booking her own gigs in Manhattan clubs like Goldbar, Bungalow 8, and R Bar. Then her worlds of music and modeling collided when she was asked to DJ a fashion event, which led to more high-profile jobs.
But as much as she loved DJing for fashion shows and other events, there was an energy Richards felt like she was missing. “There’s something more about kind of sticking to the dance floor and what’s current and creating this beautiful night of energy and dancing. You don’t really get that when you’re DJing an event. People are not dancing at these things.”
Richards signed with Total Smash to move away from curating other people’s music and focus more on her own ideas. And that’s how “Feel You” was born.
I feel like that was a natural evolution for you to move from DJing to creating your own music. Was it?
I think doing the bars and the nightlife scene and getting this opportunity to do this fashion event, it really did help. Louis Courts and I go way back. Our families were family friends throughout the ’70s and ’80s. I saw that he was doing a lot more dance music and I knew with the natural progression of me signing with Total Smash and Louis being where he’s at, I was like … ‘Hey, do you want to work on this together?’ And it felt very organic because I wanted to come into the dance world of music, authentic and real. And working with a friend … it was a fun experience…. They just got married this summer and I had just found out I was pregnant. And I think it all just feels really magical. The song itself kind of speaks into that human connection and the blurred lines of meeting somebody new and taking that leap.
For “Feel You,” I feel like there are a few ways you can take it when listening to the song. There’s a purely physical attraction element when meeting someone new, and then there is that deeper connection with somebody you first meet.
Also with Jadeyn and Louis being newlyweds and myself being married as well—it’s not about the union of marriage by any means—but it brings you to this place of you first meet and just kind of being in your head spiritually of like, ‘Oh my gosh, things are aligning’ and you’re feeling all of these really deep feelings for this person. Are they feeling the same way? And when Jadeyn sings it just resonates with you like, ‘Oh my gosh, are we meant to be? Is this our journey together?’ And it is a scary place because it is the world of the unknown, especially if you’re dating … So it does bring you to this human connection place that I think we all kind of have fear in a little bit. But it’s also something not to fear.
What was your collaboration like with JAIKO when creating your song?
It was supernatural. I mean…them being also available during a time where I was just diving headfirst into the electronic dance world and being a fan of Afro House and EDM…and knowing that they were also in the dance world themselves. I feel like us aligning and knowing what we wanted out of this track was the intention of having these unknown feelings, wanting to portray that and really take the time to perfect it, to make sure that the audience was also going to pick up on the feelings of the unknown world of love and what that brings.
Love is always an adventure. We were talking about connections. What does that mean for you in your life?
I think, us as humans, it’s everything … you know, human connection. And I hate to bring up COVID but I think during that time we also had seen that we all really need one another. And putting us in isolation was a true testament to what we do as humans. I think taking care of one another and doing that with grace and listening to one another and our differences, you know?
Do you have other music that you’re working on?
Currently, yes. I also have a lot of friends that I want to work with, up-and-coming artists that I really want to shine a light on that I’m very excited about. So that will be happening. This one was the first one. So I just wanted “Feel You” as the little seed and see how we do. But yeah, the plan is to make more and I look forward to that.
What would you say is the biggest creative lesson you’ve learned from your parents?
They both grew up taking care of their families and they both grew up loving what they do and really not answering to anybody but themselves. So [for] my dad, falling in love with the guitar and really nobody believing in him, or just thinking it’s silly, and then it growing to what it is. And my mom being in fashion and not knowing how that was going to turn out for her. But doing it and having so much fun doing it. And I think for myself, they know me so well that I’m not going to ask them like, ‘Oh, should I do this?’ They just know I’m going to go.
They never really sat me down and gave me this kind of advice. And I kind of appreciate that because it lets me live my life from my perspective and how I wanted to live it.
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