Chartbreaker: How Alex Warren Turned a Painful Past Into ‘Something That Can Help People’ — And a Breakthrough Hit

Alex Warren is in the middle of packing when he logs on to Zoom, sitting in a bedroom with only a bed and some taped-up boxes behind him. It’s just before the holidays, and the pop singer-songwriter is preparing to move from Los Angeles to Nashville with his wife (and fellow Internet personality) Kouvr Annon. “We’re young,” he reasons, “so let’s go experience some other things and see what we like.”

The 24-year-old is accustomed to whirlwind life changes. His latest single, the piano-backed ode to resilience “Burning Down,” became his first Billboard Hot 100 hit in October, and signaled his breakthrough as a musician. Prior to making music his full-time gig, from late 2019 to 2022, he and Annon were major players in Hype House, a popular group of TikTok content creators that frequently collaborated and lived together. (They both starred in the 2022 Netflix docuseries of the same name, which lasted one season.)

Even before the Hype House disbanded the same year, Warren had already begun to pivot into a music career, a passion of his since he began playing guitar as a child. He released his aching, guitar-driven debut single, “One More I Love You” as an independent artist in June 2021, and the track quickly drew a following on streaming platforms. With a manager already in tow — Odd Projects’ Brian Sokolik, whom he first met four years ago through a former agent — the two began to field major label offers. Warren signed with Atlantic Records in 2022.

“We were looking for a label that really understood Alex as a person and would teach him what works best,” Sokolik recalls. “Our first meeting with Atlantic, it was pretty obvious that it was home. They came in and were brutally honest about what was good and what wasn’t, but in a really productive, constructive way.”

In the months that followed, Warren’s life, both professionally and personally, continued to accelerate: he dropped his first single under Atlantic, “Headlights,” in August 2022, and followed it with “Chasing Shadows” that December. He then kicked off 2023 by proposing to Annon before embarking on his first headlining tour. He continued releasing more singles through last year all while maintaining his content creation career, pumping out daily TikTok videos and Instagram Reels.

Over time, Warren has become more comfortable with his music reflecting his challenging upbringing. His father passed away when he was nine years old, after which he lived with his mother, who struggled with alcoholism and died in 2021. She kicked Warren out of the house just after he turned 18, and he spent the next five months homeless. Reflecting today, he’s grateful to be able to channel such painful experiences into his music.

“I recently started doing this thing where I write about those [experiences], and I try to take control in a way,” he says. “For me, something really beautiful is taking something so sad and dark, and what most would view as something that ruined their life, and turn it into something that can help people.”

Last May, during a set of studio sessions in Los Angeles, Warren felt particularly inspired by such memories, and began to write with collaborators Adam Yaron, Cal Shapiro and Mags Duval. The result was “Burning Down,” which came together in just a day, among other tracks over the course of the productive week.

“I’ve always let people walk all over me, and ‘Burning Down’ was a song I always wanted to write, but never had the balls to do it,” he says of his biggest hit to date, released on Sept. 20, one week ahead of his debut album, You’ll Be Alright, Kid (Chapter 1). Warren’s deep, husky voice frees himself from the blame of an unhealthy relationship over a stomping piano beat.

He put his social media savvy to good use to bolster the song’s hype leading up to its release, posting a number of videos to his 16 million TikTok followers lip synching to the song with Annon. From Warren’s perspective, there’s no gimmick in getting his followers — whom he affectionately calls his “friends” — to listen to his music.

“The drawback for a lot of musicians is that they don’t necessarily understand social media,” he says. “In my career, I have been so open with my friends who follow me. They know everything about me and we’re so connected and I love that. I’m thinking of these people while I’m writing these songs, because I’m thinking about what I would want to hear if I was still going through that.”

“He knows what his fans want and will respond well to,” Sokolik adds. “Alex will tell me, ‘I have an idea for a video. I’m going to tease this and see how people respond to it.’ If they respond the same way we are, then full steam ahead — and that’s exactly what happened.”

“Burning Down” became Warren’s first Hot 100 entry, debuting at No. 76 on the Oct. 5-dated chart, and reaching No. 69 the following week. As the song continued to build both on streaming platforms and at radio, Atlantic’s A&R team reached out to Joe Jonas’ team to gauge interest in a potential remix. Jonas was already a fan. “He told us he heard the song, had it saved to a playlist on Spotify and wanted to jump in and do it with us,” Sokolik recalls.

The “Burning Down” remix arrived in December, with Jonas and Warren trading lines during verses before blending together seamlessly in the chorus. In the week following its release, the song (in all versions) was up 70% (Dec. 6-12) from the week before to 6.2 million U.S. official U.S. streams, according to Luminate. Since the arrival of the remix, “Burning Down” has also lifted on multiple radio-based Billboard charts: in January, the single hit new highs of No. 25 on Pop Airplay and No. 31 on Adult Pop Airplay.

Ahead, Warren is booked for a world tour that kicks off in February in Europe — and he has plenty of songs to come, teasing an impending Chapter 2 installment of his debut album. “I’ve always dreamed of this moment,” he says.

“There are very few people I’ve met in my life who are willing to do whatever it takes,” adds Sokolik. “Alex is one of those people. Whatever he puts his mind to, he will accomplish.”

This story appears in the Jan. 25, 2025, issue of Billboard.