Alex Warren opens up about a deeply personal song inspired by his late dad's dying letter

'Ordinary' singer Alex Warren joined us at Hits Radio for a special chat, where he opened up about his newly-announced album 'Wildchild' and the deeply personal song called 'I Miss You More'.

Speaking to Fleur East, on Hits Radio, Alex also revealed how there's a surprising song on his album which he described as a "hype up song", his inspirations and friendship with Ed Sheeran.

Alex Warren's second album 'Wildchild'

Alex has now announced the follow-up to last year's debut full-length album called 'You’ll Be Alright Kid'. Speaking to Fleur, he explained how his next album will be very different.

"The best way I could describe the album, I think, is..." he started. "I think my first album was really interesting. So it was too many songs, it was 20-something songs, way too many...

"And this one, I think, is a really palatable, digestible version of me, kind of coming to terms with who I am today in my childhood and my dad's a huge part of this album.

"You know, there's snippets of his voice. If you watch the show, there's snippets of him in it. And I think especially now, you know, I had such a grief album before and this is another way of kind of explaining that.

"And also, the way I would sum up this album is I hate you, I love you, and I love my wife, and I miss you. It's like the best way possible."

He continued: "I wanted to have at least a song or two for each emotion you feel. And so if you're going through a breakup, if you're going through a loss of some sort, if you get wronged by someone in the world, if you are falling in love, I have a song, I have at least two songs per that on its own."

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The writing process

Opening up about the writing process, Alex told how it was put together with a close-knit group who have worked with him since the beginning. He explained: "I can't write songs that I don't feel attached to and I can't sing them either.

"Like when I try to sing a song and it's like a cover, or I try to sing a song that someone maybe had written for me, I've never done it.

"I've never put out a song I didn't write because it's just so difficult for me to kind of get into it, because I don't believe in it. So I think that's also something really special about these albums is it's just me and the same people.

"I've only worked with the same people, but that entire album is all the same three people."

Watch the full interview with Alex Warren below

He added: "We get in a room together... And we literally on and off just talk to each other all the time, they know everything about me.

"They've read every single letter my dad's ever written. They've been there for a lot of it. And it's really powerful to be able to have the same people to work with."

Alex also revealed how songs such as Ed Sheeran's 'Castle on The Hill' and Adele's 'Rumour Has It' inspire him every day, he explained: "I go into the studio every day and I go, 'I need to write this song'. And so I try to write it and every time I somehow come up with a song that is out, but we are so far away from the original that I'm like, 'OK'.

"The amount of songs on my album that have been inspired by 'Rumour Has It' is actually insane."

The personal song 'I Miss You More'

Following the release of his breakthrough song 'Ordinary' in early 2025, Alex has opened up about his upbringing, and how both his parents have passed away. Alex's dad died when the singer was just nine-years-old, but Alex revealed how his dad had written a letter for him to read when he was older. He also spoke about how his dad was still very much part of this album, and the songs.

Alex told Fleur about one song in particular which he can't perform live because it is too emotional. "There's a song called ‘I Miss You More’," he started. "And that to me it is really, really difficult for me to listen to, I don't even play it live because it's so difficult to sing emotionally.

"When we wrote it, I went to my dad's grave and I played it for... I play my songs when I write them for my parents and I go to their grave and play it. And I just think it's like a beautiful moment. And I just... I bawled my eyes out."

The singer went on to explain: "What had happened was my dad knew he was dying and he was writing me a letter, and he wrote me and all my siblings letters saying 'Goodbye'. Because obviously when we're older and we can understand it, and I had never read the letter.

"And so I went to his grave and I read the letter and we wrote this song and it was just this beautiful, emotional... really hard record to write." 😢

Alex then revealed how the version fans can heard on the album has him crying on the song.

"The song progressively gets bigger to the point where you're pretty much crying," he told us. "I cried while I sang it... So at the beginning I'm not crying, but by the second half, I'm crying while I'm singing the song. And you can hear that and it's really cool."

The hype up song 'Won't Go Back Again'

In contrast to 'I Miss You More', Alex also revealed there's a song on his album that will surprise many fans. "There's one song, ‘Won't Go Back Again', it doesn't sound like a song I would put out," he admitted.

"Like it really doesn't... When we were writing it, we were just trying to find a hype up song. I love hype up songs and I listen to them like if I'm about to go play a show, or if I'm about to go skateboarding or whatever.

"I listen to like a hype up song and I wanted one that was like cool, but it could also one day be a sink for like basketball or any sport. Like I think it was really cool that I had a lot of songs in Madden and a bunch of other things. So I wanted to write a song for like ESPN and stuff like that."

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Alex Warren's friendship with Ed Sheeran

During the chat, Alex also revealed he is good friends with Ed Sheeran and also a huge fan of his music. The singer explained how he emails Ed regularly, but he hasn't heard back from him recently.

Alex admitted: "I used to email him at every minor inconvenience in my life. I'd be like, 'Hey, dude, this just happened', like a therapist at one point.

"The beginning of this year he hadn't responded in like two months. And I was like, my New Year's resolution is to stop emailing you every single time something happens in my life. And he just laughed at it."

When Fleur asked if that could mean there's a collaboration in the works, Alex admitted: "Yeah, one day I would love that, seriously, if he'd have me, but even then his friendship means a lot to me too. Or what's left of it!"

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