We first heard from Kita Alexander back in 2015, when we premiered her single “Like You Want To.” Since then, the Australian singer-songwriter has released a handful of stellar pop songs, including 2019’s heart-racing “Between You & I” and her 2017 breakout “Hotel.” What was going on behind the scenes, though, was far from the dream that appeared on the surface. In 2015, Alexander’s partner, pro-surfer Owen Wright, suffered a traumatic brain injury that left both he and Alexander reeling. It led to Alexander refocusing her life. “Being there for Owen [in his time of need] was really important to me, because what is life if you don't know what's important to you?” Alexander asks The FADER. “I was working as hard as I could on music whilst wanting to be at home with my partner, who just went through what he went through… it’s about priorities.”
A few years on, Alexander is finally ready to explain the suffering she and Wright went through with “Against The Water,” a new single and video premiering above. “I wrote this song really close to [Owen’s] injury,” Alexander explains of the track. “I didn't know how I was feeling until I just got into the studio and it came out. I was like, ‘Oh, this is where it's going.' And I actually did learn a lot about myself when I wrote it.”
An emotive, mid-tempo tale of struggle and survival, “Against The Water” complicates the carefree image Alexander has projected with her music to date. But as with everything she’s made, it was still a labor that centered her loved ones. When deciding how the final mix of the song should sound, she turned to those close to her for some impromptu guidance. “[Some friends and I] all had a big night in Hawaii, and Owen was like, ‘Kita, play both versions,’” Alexander explains, “And as soon as I played the version that it is now, everyone was quiet, jamming along … afterwards, everyone was like, ‘The first one.’”
Listen to “Against The Water” above.