Alex Kinsey and Sierra Deaton won the third and final season of X Factor USA. In the process, they wowed mentor Simon Cowell as well as American audiences with covers of Britney Spears' "Toxic" and Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines."
Their debut album, It's About Us, was released last year, teaming them with artists such as Jason Mraz and John Legend. They toured recently in support of the new record and Windy City Times went backstage at House of Blues to talk to them.
Windy City Times: So both are you from Florida. Does that mean you are from the South?
Sierra: It's like the north of the South.
Alex: It is the most southern point.
WCT: Where did you meet, in the first place?
Sierra: We met on the beach. I'm from Orlando and he's from New Smyrna Beach in Daytona Beach.
Alex: You can drive on the beach there, which makes us the coolest beach.
Sierra: Alex was in the back of his pickup truck playing guitar. He was totally trying to pick up chicks.
Alex: It worked!
Sierra: Me and my friend were walking by. My friend knew one of his friends so I wasn't being creepy and hitting on him. This was in high school and we didn't start dating right then, we were friends for awhile. We started dating in college.
WCT: How was your journey to X Factor?
Sierra: It was really random. We didn't set out to do it. I saw on TV one day to send in an audition. We were just playing shows around town. I worked at a radio station and they helped us get some gigs. We played outside of Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran's concert. We told our friends we were opening for them when really we were in a tent outside in the parking lot!
Alex: We played the same six songs over and over because by the time we finished all six the line would have moved inside the building.
Sierra: We saw the online audition for X Factor and knew we didn't have to fly somewhere to audition. We were hoping a producer might see it and get some exposure.
Alex: We thought we might get on the show and get a few extra Twitter followers.
Sierra: We filmed ours in Alex's bathroom because of acoustics. He had a rubber ducky shower curtain.We did find out that the producer watches like 200 videos a day and the only reason we were picked is because she went to our college and had a rubber ducky shower curtain like ours!
Alex: It is very serendipitous.
WCT: What advice would you give to people trying out for Simon Cowell's latest project? This time, he's doing a reality competition about finding a Latin boy band.
Alex: Be true to who you want to be because I think people get caught up in the TV mentality.
Sierra: It is easy to when you are thrown into it.
Alex: None of us know what we are doing in that situation. The producers are telling you what to do but at the end of the day if you want to be a musician do things you want to do beyond the show. That is the important thing. If you want to get fans then play the music you want to play afterward. You have to be true to who you are and not allow people to mold you into something. Once you are in that world it is tough to create something new.
Sierra: Another thing for people going on reality TV shows, you go from no one knowing who you are to millions of people watching the show. People think they own you and can judge you. Stay off YouTube comments because that is where my faith in humanity goes to die. They are not the kind of people I would want to be my friends. I can read a hundred nice things but the one bad thing is really going to get in my head. I struggled with that on the show.
Alex: I can read the negative comments and be okay but I get on YouTube and my heart breaks.
WCT: It's About Us is a good album to listen to on a road trip.
Sierra: I love that. The car is my favorite place to listen to music. I feel the speakers are so good there.
Alex: The heat on and the windows down!
WCT: The song "Scarecrow" is similar to a Johnny and June Cash song.
Sierra: I like that comparison to the others we usually get.
Alex: Like Sonny and Cher. It would have been easier to come out with a ballad first. It would have been a better choice for radio. We didn't want to be in a place where if we came out with a ballad that would be all they wanted to hear from us. We decided to have fun since we are fun people!
WCT: Do you hear a Christina Perri style in the song "Bumper Cars?"
Alex: I absolutely do. That's all I hear when I first listened to that song but then it grew on me. It might be my favorite song on the album. It is top three for me for sure. I love that song. That song was written for us and we weren't sure with the name being "Bumper Cars" at first.
WCT: What was it like working with different producers on the album?
Sierra: We had a lot of fun. Right after X Factor we went out to Malibu to work with a lot of the people that we worked with from the show. There were ten of us and in five days we wrote 20 songs in a summer camp fashion. Eight of them ended up on the album. It happened really naturally. We didn't feel pressured. We literally were hanging out at a friend's house.
Alex: It was very productive but very organic, which I think is important.
Sierra: The people we worked with knew us very well from the show so that helped a lot. I had never written a song in my life.
Alex: I had only written a song with my cousin before. It was nice to be in a professional setting.
Sierra: It was professional because they knew what they were doing but it was relaxed.
WCT: Are you working on new material?
Sierra: We were writing before tour but then we had to relearn how to do our songs since we went acoustic for this tour. As soon as this tour is over we are going to get back into writing.
Alex: Whether it is a second album or just to have new music to listen to. We don't know what our plan is but we are definitely going to write.
WCT: I saw you perform opening for Colbie Caillat. How was that experience?
Sierra: We were really grateful. It was our first tour and we were nervous and timid. You have heard stories where the headliner doesn't even talk to the opening act. She was very welcoming.
WCT: You both come out and meet fans after the show, which I think is very important.
Alex: That is probably my favorite part.
Sierra: I love hearing their stories and how they relate to our music. It is weird to think we affect people's lives.
WCT: Have you noticed many LGBT fans?
Sierra: We just did a photo shoot for NOH8, by the way.
Alex: That was so cool. At the meet in greets we have about 50 people on average and I would say about six of the dudes are totally loving me.
Sierra: They do love you. It's amazing. Oh, and a girl asked me on a date, remember?
Alex: That's right. She asked my permission first. I don't know if our songs speak to the gay community or what but it's cool that they feel a connection.
Sierra: I love that. Even though our songs are written to each other it is not like they are written for a certain kind of love. To us love is love no matter who it is.
Alex: Totally. I think in the same way Sam Smith writes his songs for his boyfriend and I am able to connect to those. It's not anything strange for me. It's about love and that is the bottom line. I think at the end of the day if it's about love people are able to connect.
Find the love over at www.alexandsierraofficial.com for the duo's future endeavors.
