Alexandra Savior McDermott is an American singer-songwriter originally from Portland, Oregon. Her debut album, Belladonna of Sadness, was released by Columbia Records on April 7, 2017. Savior's second album, The Archer, was released by 30th Century Records on January 10, 2020.
Early life
Savior was born in 1995 and attended school in the Portland metropolitan area. She first became interested in songwriting at age 14. Different in attitude and appearance from many of the other female students, she had a difficult go of it socially and had to change high schools. Savior, known then by her birth name, first achieved public attention in September 2012 when as a 17-year-old her rendition of "Big Jet Plane" was spotted on YouTube by Courtney Love, who said "This girl is gonna be huge!" By April 2013, she had done a little modeling for Erin Fetherston and said she hoped her first album would be out soon. She graduated from high school in June 2013. By October 2013, Linda Perry was publicly comparing her potential to that of Fiona Apple. She scrapped tentative plans to attend art school. Savior's musical influences included Otis Redding, Etta James, Jack White, Amy Winehouse, and Adele, as well as the films of Terry Gilliam.
Musical career
Around September 2013, Savior was signed to recording contract by Columbia Records and had moved to Los Angeles and had entered the entertainment business, all steps that by her admission that she was not prepared for artistically or socially. But she has stated that Columbia was the best choice given that other labels were interested in modeling her after established artists such as Katy Perry or P!nk. Previously titled Strange Portrait, her album-in-progress was written and recorded in Los Angeles with producers James Ford and Alex Turner in 2014–15. Her first demo "Risk" was featured on the soundtrack of the second season of the television show True Detective. For this appearance she was billed as Alexandra Semitone. Subsequently, during the recording process she decided, based on a suggestion from Turner, to use her middle name as the last for her stage name. Savior's debut official song release, "Shades", was released on June 17, 2016. "M.T.M.E." was released as her second single on September 8, 2016. The third single "Mystery Girl" was released on November 21, 2016 alongside the album announcement. "Mirage" was released on February 3, 2017. "Miracle Aligner", a song written by Savior and Turner during the recording sessions, though cut from the album, was re-recorded by Turner's band The Last Shadow Puppets. The song featured on their 2016 album, Everything You've Come to Expect and was released as that album's fourth single on March 28, 2016 via Domino Records. Her own paintings have been used for the covers of some of her releases, while accompanying the singles visually have been what Gigwise described as "her lo-fi self-directed videos." Even though the album was essentially completed by June 2015, it did not come out; she remained "in development". She has given a few limited concert appearances, usually before industry audiences in the media capitals of Los Angeles, New York, and London. These appearances have been using the group PAPA as her backing musicians. Speaking of the delay in October 2016 she said "It's been very difficult." She also said: "The most important thing about the music industry I've learnt is that it's total bullshit, and that the thing you should focus on the most is just the art." Savior appeared on Lea Michele's 2017 album Places as co-writer of the track "Sentimental Memories". In 2016, Savior appeared as a guest vocalist on the song "Providence Sky" by Brooklyn music groupDark Tea. In June 2019, two years after releasing Belladonna of Sadness, Savior returned with the lead single from her second studio album, The Archer, titled "Crying All The Time". It was released on June 14, 2019. The song was released on music streaming platforms through her newly signed recording label, 30th Century Records.
Musical style
Alexandra Savior has described her style as a "feminist angst horror film feel." She has received positive notices for her early works. British music paper NME has said of one of her efforts, "... the striking and smoky vocals belong solely to Savior and ooze a burgeoning star power well beyond her tender age of 21."
