INTERVIEW: Lex Gibbon on her powerful new single 'Audacity': "I want to be the big sister that people find comfort and connection with."

Lex Gibbon is an emerging young talent from the UK who has made it her mission to ensure her music always portrays a strong message. First releasing music in 2022, her songs have covered mental health, bullying and social anxiety.

With her recent single ‘Audacity’, Gibbon tackled her most confronting topic to date - stalking, harassment and intimidation. Inspired after her she was accosted and followed by a man when she left a London Underground station one evening, it is a beautiful, haunting ballad that lays bare Gibbon’s experience and the resulting emotional turmoil that followed. ‘Do you think it’s okay to put your hands on me? / Don’t know how else to say it’s not happening…why do you feel the need to make me so small?' she sings. It is even more heartbreaking as Gibbon struggles with irrational feelings of being at fault that many victims carry: ‘Must have looked at you the wrong way / Giving you some kind of hint’.

Gibbon is using the release of ‘Audacity’ to promote the Text 61016 service that has been implemented by the British Transport Police that allows people to discretely report any behaviour that makes them feel uncomfortable or to report an incident they may witness.

“I was followed through an underground train station by a man who made me feel extremely unsafe, scared and vulnerable,” Gibbon says. “At the time I had no idea that Text 61016 existed. I believe it’s really important to help women feel safer on public transport, so when I wrote ‘Audacity’ about my experience I felt it could really raise awareness for the initiative.”

Gibbon has been a powerful force for change since she was a teenager. Challenging body stereotypes, her first career was as a model where she was the first curve teen model to walk at the London, Paris, New York and Los Angeles fashion weeks, followed by collaborations with major brands St Tropez, River Island and Pepe Jeans. In 2022 she switched her focus to music where she felt she would have a greater opportunity to share her message with young people. She has since collaborated with Anne-Marie, and received support from BBC Introducing and last year released her debut EP I’ve Got Something To Say.

With a beautifully warm voice that makes Gibbon feel like a close friend, and music that is instantly connective with lush melodies and production that stays with you well after the last note, Gibbon is an impressive new talent that is destined to be your favourite discovery of 2024. We recently caught up with her to find out more about her music and career.

Hi Lex! Thanks so much for chatting with us! How is life with you right now?
Hey, thank you so much for having me, so excited to talk to you all a little bit more about everything going on in Lex land right now. I’m sooo super busy writing new music for the rest of the year and also writing for other artists. So happy that ‘Audacity’ is finally for everyone to listen to! 

We’ve so thrilled we get to listen to it to! ‘Audacity’ is a gorgeous song with such a powerful message that reflects your experience of being sexually harassed by a man on the Underground.  What was the creative process to turn this experience into a song?
Writing ‘Audacity’ was such a cathartic experience, writing music is how I process what’s going on in my life so having an outlet like songwriting is really important for me. I’m really proud that I was able to turn a pretty traumatic experience into a song that hopefully will help others. I got followed from the train station to a session where I wrote ‘Audacity’ with my lovely friend Nina. I think because it was such a fresh and quite honestly traumatic experience the song basically wrote itself, it just flowed out of me. After creating a rough demo of the song, I know instantly that I wanted Ink, an incredible female production duo to produce the song for me and I couldn’t be more proud of how the song came out.

I can imagine reliving this experience in a song is probably a mixture of triggering and empowering, how does the song make you feel now?
The first couple of time I performed the song live i couldn’t get through it without crying, it  was definitely upsetting to relive the experience again but now I feel super proud of myself for being brave enough to talk about something so taboo. I know so many people who have been through similar experiences and I hope when others hear  the song they don’t feel so alone In what they’re going through. 

As you mentioned, you created this song with an all female team, from your co-writer Nina to your producers Ink. This is still unfortunately a rare situation in music, how was that experience for you?
Being a woman within the industry myself I feel it is so important to bring together strong and incredible women to create an absolute dream team. I think if I had written ‘Audacity’ with a man, it would’ve been a completely different song. We definitely need to see more women stepping into producer roles as it’s such a male dominated part of the industry. If you’re a female producer reading this right now, I wanna ride with you!! 

 A lot of your artistry is about empowerment, challenging so called societal norms and standing up for women. How important is it for you for your music to have  a strong political focus?
My music doesn’t have a political focus, I try to stick to empowering people and using my music to connect on a level that people don’t hear enough about. I want to be the big sister that people find comfort and connection with. 

I love the track ‘Let Them Down’ from your debut EP last year I’ve Got Something To Say. A beautiful soundscape and really heartfelt lyrics. Can you talk me through a little of the story behind this one?
Awww I’m so glad you like ‘Let Them Down’. I wrote it as I was transitioning from childhood to being a young adult, I was really struggling with the feeling that my career wasn’t progressing as quickly as I’d hoped it would. It’s a really hard age to navigate I think because you’re still trying to figure out the answers to literally everything in life. My parents have done so much for me and literally my worst nightmare is to let them down so I thought I’d write a song about it. 

What part did music play in your childhood, and who were your musical sheroes growing up?
When I was growing up, there was always music playing in my house. I literally popped out the womb singing ha ha. I’ve always loved Adele, I think the way she embraces exactly who she is and doesn’t give a shit what anybody else thinks about her it’s just incredible and gave me such an amazing role model to look up to.

You have worked as a model in the past, what convinced you to segue into music?
If I’m absolutely honest, music has always been my main priority. I kind of just fell into the modelling. I was singing at a kids fashion show years ago and I met a designer there who ended up dressing me for catwalks all around the world! I’m so incredibly grateful for the opportunity, it was so much fun to have a taste of modelling

‘Audacity’ deals with just one of the challenges women face today, this is a big question but what do you think needs to change in society to keep women safer?
I partnered up  with British Transport Police and Transport for London for the release of ‘Audacity’ in the hopes of raising more awareness for their Text 61016 service that helps to keep predominantly women and girls safe on public transport. It’s a discrete text line that you can text if you feel uncomfortable in any way on public transport. I had no idea about the service when I got followed so I’m really hoping that me coming out and talking about it, can raise some more awareness and help keep people safe! 

‘Audacity’ is out now, what else is coming up for you in 2024?
I have a few big summer bops coming in the next couple of months. I’m really excited about the songs, really hope people are going to love them! You can keep up today on everything that’s going on with me on socials @lexgibbon and keep streaming ‘Audacity’!! 

‘Audacity’ is out now. You can buy and stream here.
Follow Lex Gibbon on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.