By Clare Bratten
NASHVILLE, TN — What do you do when you are an aspiring singer/songwriter from Roswell, New Mexico and you want to write songs about suffering from illness or disability rather than broken hearts, cheating and beer? Why, you still come to Nashville. At least that’s what Alexandra Fresquez is doing. She came to town to record a song which could apply to a broken heart but, really is a tribute to the suffering with breast cancer her mother endured.
“My last song I just did was to raise some money for cancer awareness. My Mom had just passed, so I did that for her.”
Her song called “Flame” is a tribute to her mother. “My mother never let anything get her down, I don’t think I ever heard her complain. I just wanted something to honor her – whatever you’re going through you can’t let it put out your flame or your light. There’s so much hurt in the world, everybody’s going through something that’s difficult for them.”
The song’s lyrics cast the foe, cancer, as a dark force trying to defeat the light in a person.
“With each song I want to do something similar to that. It’s something close to my heart – [other topics like] mental illness and homeless, so I think I’ll do something with that in my next two songs. It’s not really about the money, so I just want to help a cause while I’m doing something for myself.”
“One of my mentors has connections with a producer here and everybody here seems so easy to work with – so helpful and encouraging and they want to help. It’s actually a very homey place – it’s big but it feels small.”
Fresquez has an identical twin sister who lives in New Mexico as well. “My dad is still there, that’s why my sister and I are there–to be supportive.”
Fresquez’s father played music in the home, her aunt is in a band. When Fresquez lived for a while in Los Angeles, her boyfriend at the time pushed her to sing. “Everyone there is so driven artistically, and it’s one of those places like here where everybody encourages each other.”
She categorizes her music as more pop. She is on social media and her music is on youtube, spotify, amazon, and itunes.
She is a surgical nurse in New Mexico and is thinking about moving to Nashville and using her nursing skills to support herself while working on music. Fresquez, like so many young artists, wants to be in a city where other creatives work and live. And that city, for her right now, is Nashville.
