October 4th 2023.
Alexis Strum's career was left in turmoil after confusion on Lorraine. When the now 46-year-old was promoting her upcoming single Addicted on the popular TV show hosted by Lorraine Kelly, a misunderstanding caused her career to take a drastic turn.
The song included a line that the Lorraine producers believed to be a drug reference, which was 'I'm a junkie, I've overdosed on Chunky Monkey'. The lyric was actually referring to Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey flavour of banana ice cream, but at the time nobody thought to ask.
As a result, her promotion was axed and her label Warner Music quickly turned their backs on her. At the time, losing prime spots on TV shows or radio plays could make or break an artist, especially one with only a handful of songs under her belt. Her two ready-to-go albums were lost to time as doors shut in her face every way she turned, leaving her career dead in the water.
Seeing the hilarity in it now, Alexis laughed: 'Banana ice cream basically ended my career'. Two decades later, she is releasing the albums independently and is gearing up to release her second album Cocoon, thanks to her 'determined' fans. Fans were sharing her songs through 'blackmarket' trades of exclusive promotional EPs, which captured snippets of the lost albums.
Now as a single mother with plenty of perspective, Alexis admits she 'wasn't ready' for superstardom the first time around. She's worked as a songwriter, actress and influencer since, and is even a TikTok star, known for her popular celebrity impersonations such as Jennifer Coolidge, Moira Rose, and Holly Willoughby.
Listening back to these songs written during her teenage years, Alexis feels 'fondly' about her younger self - no embarrassment just a refreshing optimism. She cites other artists like Claire Richards, Shania Twain and the inimitable Kylie for giving her courage to release the tracks now, despite being 'too old'.
As for the ice cream incident, Lorraine Kelly did offer an apology to Alexis in March, claiming she 'had no idea' about the debacle. Laughing, Alexis of course accepted the apology and as for her own love of the ice cream, she's a big fan and joked: 'I still eat it!'.
Alexis Strum's long-awaited album is available from October 6 and she will perform an intimate London gig on November 3, tickets are available now. It's a reminder of how the industry failed her and others, and she hopes her story can give courage to others to pursue their dreams.
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