Urban Grandstand: What is lacking in R&B that you can bring? I ask that because depending on who you ask, and how honest they are, R&B has slipped in a since. There’s a lot of good music, and there’s artists who sell no matter what, but the reality is music sales are down across the board. R&B is not really selling. What can you do to revitalize it?
Rome Alexander: First of all, I do everything myself I terms of writing and producing. There is a certain level of authenticity that comes along with that. There are certain artists who have evolved, and changed their styles and sounds over time. My favorite type of artist is someone like Musiq Soulchild. He’s someone who has stuck with his same sound his entire career. I consider him to be a really authentic artist, and that’s the way I want to be. I want to stick to myself and do my own thing. I want to be involved in every step of the music process.
Urban Grandstand: Talk about what you have out now. I know you released a series of singles in 2013. What do you have that you’re working on now.
Rome Alexander: My most recent single, ‘Crush’, came out in November. Right now, I’m working on stuff for my next album. My first album, “Built in a Day”, came out in June 2012. I think with my first album, I really wanted to get it out there, so I put a lot of music on there. I don’t think the quality was necessarily consistent. I want to make sure that with this album, I put my heart into every single song. I’m taking more time to work on this next project.
Urban Grandstand: Is there a timeline?
Rome Alexander: It’s really too early to say. I can definitely say 2014, but it’ll be another month or two when I have a date I can commit to.
Urban Grandstand: You mention a number of people as mentors for you, namely Stevie Wonder and Ne-Yo. In what ways have artists like them and others influenced you?
Rome Alexander: Well, with Stevie Wonder, I just love his variety in his music. I’ll like being able to do a slow ballad, and then come back and do an upbeat song. My genre isn’t so pigeonholed that it doesn’t allow me to do that. With Ne-Yo, he’s writing all of his own stuff, and writing for other people. He’s been a huge influence in regards to be honing my skills as a songwriter. That’s a hard thing to do, and he’s got it down. I’m trying to learn from him in that sense.
Urban Grandstand: Where should people be checking for you online?
Rome Alexander: My website is http://www.romealexander.com, my twitter handle is @MrRomeAlexander. And I have Facebook also. I have a YouTube channel. All of my links are on my primary website.
Urban Grandstand: Any final comments or thoughts you really wanted to get out there?
Rome Alexander: In addition to working on my album, I’ll be releasing some covers in the next few weeks. For anyone seeing this, I want to thank them for the support.
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