Riverside Way
Alexa Ray Joel Explores Rebellion and Escapism in New Single Riverside Way
Alexa Ray Joel, the daughter of iconic singer/songwriter Billy Joel and supermodel/actress Christie Brinkley, is out with a new song, Riverside Way, which takes her music and lyrics in a bold new direction. In the song, the lead single of her new 5-song EP, Joel sings about losing control in a wild adventure with a love interest – “going under, with a thunder, got a hunger.”
The EP was produced by Tommy Byrnes, Billy Joel’s longtime guitarist, and Tony Bruno. Joel says she wanted Riverside Way “to sound like a car speeding down a highway like 200 MPH. I want that rush. I want that heat, I want that fantasy. And the three of us had a natural rapport and musical chemistry.”
In addition to producing and arranging Riverside Way, Byrnes and Bruno played guitar; Bruno also played bass and did the horn arrangement.
An accompanying video for Riverside Way will depict a bored couple in a dead marriage, having their afternoon tea, when the man decides to reignite the relationship by becoming a different character. Joel wanted to show the duality in people.
he title of the song plays off Manhattan’s famous Riverside Drive.
“I do enjoy reminding people that I'm a very proud New Yorker, born and raised, and my father's the king of New York, right?” says Joel. “So I always love throwing in a reference to the East Coast or the Hudson or New York.” But she concluded that Riverside Way sounded better in the song than Riverside Drive.
Joel tapped into her personal feelings with Riverside Way.
“I was really exploring a lot of different styles, genres, different experiences, different emotions. So I wanted to channel that – my feelings about lust and fantasy and escapism and adventure and rebellion,” she says. “And so I was taking all of those concepts and experiences that I had and put them into a fun fiery little banger.”
On the EP as a whole, Joel says she wanted to “give listeners a ride.” She notes that while some of the songs are dark, the third track, Heavy Eyes, is an uplifting one. “I really feel like it sounds straight out of the ‘60s, which is exactly what I wanted,” Joel observes.
“So you're up, then you're down, then you're back up with Heavy Eyes. And I just wanted listeners to feel a little bit of a roller coaster with the highs and lows, and Heavy Eyes was certainly a high, and I just hope that listeners can feel happy and nostalgic, and that warm, loving tone when they hear that song. Because it is my ode to romance, and also my ode to nostalgia. I'm so glad that we have an uplifting track on the EP. I think it rounds everything out.”