Lexy LaVey Is The Queen of Shock Pop!
At the intersection of “The Girls Next Door” and “Resident Evil” is shock-pop princess Lexy LaVey. Her songs blend a candy-coated Britney purr with the metal tradition of inverted crosses, and the music video for her third and most recent single “RSDNT EVIL” crystallizes that dichotomy perfectly. Filmed on the set of the aforementioned zombie movie series, LaVey writhes around and eats brains in a crumbling, vacant train station. The visual effect feels like playing an early-2000s MTV music video backward and seeing a message from Satan.
Citing the influences of Britney Spears and Marilyn Manson, along with Slipknot, Lana Del Rey, and Rammstein, Lexy is the persona of her creator Julia, a Frankfurt am Main-based performer. She describes herself as “too pop for the goth kids and too goth for the pop kids,” which is lucky for us because it results in some darkly sexy beats and lyrics that mix cheeky fast-car metaphors with “Underworld” references. A best-of-both-worlds situation! On her single “Lamborghini” Lexy sings “Hitman Hart, Baby Spice / fall apart or paradise” and Very Famous envisions humming along to this as we blast down a “Grand Theft Auto”-esque desert highway at 2 am.
Today, we enter the Very Famous World of the queen of shock pop. Calling 1-900-Lexy-LaVey…
Tell us about Lexy LaVey! Who is she and what’s her story?
Lexy is the fearless, badass version of me, her “creator” Julia. She used to be my escape in a way, now she’s more of a passenger that comes out when she feels like it. Depending on the “mode” I’m in, I actually like to talk about Lexy in the third person, which might seem creepier than it should lol. The Lexy character was born about six or seven years ago, at first just as an alter ego when I was an alternative model and then, since 2018, also as a musician.
“RSDNT EVIL” is your hot new single! It makes me wanna drive fast or pole dance on a neon stage in the desert or something. It’s so good! What/who inspired the song and its music video?
“RSDNT EVIL” was inspired by a past relationship, where my ex really let me starve intellectually. He wasn’t dumb, don’t get me wrong, but he pretty much refused to show his intelligence and to grow as a person although he definitely had the potential to do so. It drove me insane. There’s nothing I find more attractive in a person than intelligence and creativity, and I just found it really f*cking evil of him to deprive me of this. After all, that’s what I was craving the most.
So when I was writing the song, I happened to use a lot of words in the context of “mind,” “brain,” “hunger,” and so on, so the zombie theme happened naturally. That the movie “Resident Evil” is actually one of my favorite movies was a big bonus of course! The even bigger bonus was, however, that the movie was partially filmed in Berlin. So I had the chance to go there and shoot a lot of my music video for “RSDNT EVIL” on the actual movie set of “Resident Evil”. I’m totally geeked out by this, but I think most people don’t even get that haha.
I really love the concept of shock pop, which you describe as a genre that merges Britney Spears with Marilyn Manson, both musicians with an iconic public persona but obviously with a different set of aesthetics. I see that so well on your song “Blasphemy” which has a Britney “Lucky” quality but with this dark beat and open sexuality. What excites you about that blend of Britney and Marilyn?
Those two opposites influenced me the most in my childhood and teenage years, and I was always looking for music that merged both, but I couldn’t really find it. I always wanted to be a mixture of both. Some music I found came close, but there was always something off or missing for me. There are actually musicians who have used the “Britney/Manson” reference for themselves as well, but I didn’t want to give up on my idea that goes way back, just because someone was quicker than me, ugh. But that was years ago. I don’t even know if they’re still around. Long story short, no matter where I turned, I always felt like the odd one out, because I was too pop for the goth kids and too goth for the pop kids, as I like to say. So I’m creating this missing genre myself and maybe a couple of other people find a home in it, too.
Was there a moment in your life that inspired you to pursue music fully?
Yes, definitely. The career I was pursuing at the time had been stagnating for a long time, no matter what I tried, I couldn’t get my foot in the door and nothing seemed to work. It seemed like the universe didn’t want me to follow that career path. I was super frustrated and was depressed a lot because of that, because my whole life I thought I would have “made it” career-wise by a certain age. I was just wasting time and potential, and it killed me. When I eventually ended my relationship on top of that, I was like *extremely* depressed. There was literally nothing left to lose in my life, and I realized that the thing I actually wanted to do since I was a little child was being a singer and writing my own music. But I never pursued that because it was too “unsafe” and risky, and I didn’t have the guts to make that step for years. I realized it was now or never, and here I am 😃
What non-music things inspire your music and style?
Definitely the pop culture of the early 2000s! I still rewatch “The Girls Next Door” way too often haha. There might even be a song called “Playboy Mansion” coming in the future… 😛
The other thing that inspires my music is my past, my relationships, and my kinda unstable mental state. This is where the darker side of my music comes in.
I feel like you’re creating your own world of Lamborghinis, of possession and eating brains, of “The Girls Next Door” meets upside-down crosses. What do you want people to feel when they enter the world of Lexy LaVey?
Ugh, I love that description! Well, I want them to be entertained most of all. Some of my songs are for my listeners to have fun and take it easy, and some are more on a serious note and are supposed to connect with my listeners on a deeper level. I’m aiming for awakening some sort of nostalgia with my music and the videos I’m creating, but I’ve noticed that I’m still finding my sound and aesthetic and I’m not exactly where I wanna be creatively. But I feel like I’m getting closer with every project I do.
What are you excited about in 2021? Can fans expect some new music from you?
I’m very excited about my upcoming new release that’s dropping very, very soon actually! It’s the first song I produced completely myself, instrumental and all, and I’m really curious about how listeners will respond to it. Besides that, I’m planning on many more single releases this year, and I also wanna write with other artists and maybe even produce for other people.
Thanks for having me, Very Famous! It was a party <3
And now, channeling Twist’s 1999 interview with Britney Spears, Lexy took The Very Famous Quiz!!!
***All gorgeous photos courtesy of Lexy!***
