Pop Essays #44: Alex Parks, ‘Get Out’

Welcome to this week’s Pop Essays, our look back upon some of our favourite hidden gems of our extensive music library down the years. And we’re back at the Fame Academy once more this week…

• Artist: Alex Parks
• Song: Get Out
• Released: 24/10/2005 (on “Honesty” album)
• Writers / Producers: Alex Parks / Graham Kearns / Judie Tzuke
• Highest UK Chart Position: #24
• Chart Run: 24 – 50 – 86

The recent triumph and success of Raye as an independent artist, singer, songwriter and producer of her now multi award winning debut album My 21st Century Blues, and her chart topping single “Escapism” from last year, has been made all the more illuminating when the seeds of it were – how should we put this? – well fertilised.

Just two years previously, still stuck in development hell on a record deal she first signed with Polydor Records back in 2014, and tired with the endless guest vocals on here today, gone tomorrow dance tracks and the goal posts being continually moved before she could release her own album, she has now long cut free from them altogether and proved to their execs – who must now surely be kicking themselves for ever letting her go – just what they were missing.

Sadly, in the case of Polydor – and a lot of other major labels – this situation is not a completely unique one, of showing total neglect to newly signed talent and keeping them in development hell or simply losing interest whilst keeping the artist signed. Just over 20 years ago, in 2003, the second (and final) series of pop reality series Fame Academy, aired that autumn on BBC One. It was following a first series that, as we’ve already chronicled in these blogs, was both poorly received initially and intensely scrutinised for all the wrong reasons, airing as it was on a national publicly funded broadcaster, even if it did rally and gain an audience towards the climax of the series.

Not to mention that, Lemar aside, almost all the alumni from the first series – winner David Sneddon included – had been unable to sustain their initial post-show chart success and had slid down the dumper. So some radical changes were abound for the start of the second series. First was the shakeup of the judging panel. Gone was Kevin Adams (although he did remain the dance instructor giving morning fitness classes in the Academy), and in his place was Carrie Grant’s husband and fellow vocal coach, David Grant, and there was also a fourth judge, in the shape of legendary Bee Gees singer and songwriter, Robin Gibb.

The live shows also aired inside the Academy itself (Witanhurst in Highgate in North London), and the overall coverage of the series was a little less of the intense media frenzy that had come a year previously. The eventual winner of the series, on 5th October 2003, was Alex Parks, a then 19 year old vocalist from Cornwall, who had fronted a covers band, One Trick Pony, performing songs by Joni Mitchell, Michelle Branch and Ani Di Franco.

She was more or less a runaway winner from the start, with a captivating, powerful voice that called to mind Annie Lennox and Alison Moyet, and a tomboyish, almost pixie-esque skater girl image. After winning the show, she signed to Polydor Records as part of her win, and rush recorded her debut album, Introduction, for release in November, in time for the all important Christmas market.

Consisting half of covers she’d done on the show (amongst them, “Beautiful” by Christina Aguilera, “Imagine” by John Lennon and “Everybody Hurts” by R.E.M) and half original songs – some of which she co-wrote, including her debut single, “Maybe That’s What It Takes”, which debuted and peaked at #3 – the album peaked at #5 and went onto be certified platinum for sales of 300,000 copies.

But further promotion of the album was then immediately curtailed just a couple of months later, in February 2004, when the second single, “Cry”, debuted and peaked at #13. And then all went quiet along the watchtower for Alex Parks. It was to be 18 months later, in October 2005, before she finally re-emerged with her second album, Honesty.

By this time, bi-annual Comic Relief spin-off series aside, Fame Academy had all but been confined to the great big broadcaster in the sky, and reality pop loving audiences had moved onto The X Factor over on ITV. So it was very much a case of having to re-introduce herself to an audience that may have all but forgotten her. But this was not the only issue facing Alex.

If Introduction had been a product of circumstance, then Honesty was very much one of her wanting to establish more of herself as an artist and songwriter. Her roll call of collaborators was impressive; amongst them was Greg Wells (Celine Dion, Rufus Wainwright, OneRepublic), Peter John-Vettese (formerly of Jethro Tull), Karen Poole (of Alisha’s Attic fame, and the pen behind hits for Kylie Minogue, Will Young and Sugababes), Marcella Detroit (formerly of Shakespears Sister) and 70s folk pop singer and songwriter, Judie Tzuke.

It was very much an album crafted with a contemporary folk and indie pop sound, and lyrically explored themes of love, loss, heartbreak, and also, for Alex, who had been out as a lesbian from her teenage years, finding her identity as an artist from the LGBTQ+ community. Although, as subsequent revelations have emerged, this appeared to be against the vision of what Polydor Records wanted Alex to fit into. Amongst the songs that they wanted her to record for the album, which she ultimately rejected, were “Shiver” (which eventually went onto be a top 10 hit for Natalie Imbruglia) and “Crazy Chick” (which then found a home and became a huge hit for an even more reluctant Charlotte Church).

Put simply, Polydor didn’t believe the album had any surefire “hits” for radio. But such a belief was missing the point entirely; Honesty, in the best possible way, was not that sort of album, neither was Alex that sort of artist, nor did either of them need to be. It was a rich, guitar driven pop rock album full of sonic and lyrical depth, and was intended to establish Alex more as an albums artist, rather than as a popstar, which by her own admission, she had no interest in being.

That’s not to say the album is without its moments that stand out as potential singles; “Get Out”, which she cited as one of her favourites, is one such moment. It’s got a gentle, dream-like, wandering guitar backing that gradually builds in and out of each chorus, and is about finding the courage to speak of secret love for someone: “Cause I never wanted anyone more than you / Eyes so blue, like an angel’s tears, I’ll fall into / I could find the rain in the desert / And that’s what I do / When I need a way out / I’m looking for a get out”.

It’s one of those songs where you find yourself singing bits of it for hours afterwards. And indeed, some of the tracks which did end up being singles from the album held a similar resonance. Except hardly anyone heard them, because Polydor seemed to turn the money off for promotion, all before it was even released.

The first single, “Looking For Water”, received a digital download only release, and was thus rendered inelligible to chart without a physical format to accompany it, and was scarcely promoted. Hence it was with a sense of disappointment but lack of surprise that the Honesty album debuted and peaked inside the top 30 before falling away fast.

Hopes were high that the rousing title track and second single, released in January 2006, would resurrect the album’s fortunes. And with much more pre-release airplay interest on TV and radio before its release, it did seem that things were hopefully heading that way. Except when it did finally come out, Polydor seemed to not distribute enough copies of the single into the shops in order for it to become a hit. The result? A peak and entry outside the top 40, of #56.

And thus, after just one more small tour of UK venues, the inevitable happened and Alex and Polydor parted company. Writing on her own blog at the time, she spoke in words not dissimilar to the ones Raye said ahead of severing her ties with them 16 years later: “I’ve had no support from the media … Whether that’s because they don’t like my music or they don’t like me, or because I’m from a reality TV show, I don’t know.”

It still remains the last music that has been heard of Alex’s at time of writing in April 2024. But could now, with festivals that would embrace her such as Mighty Hoopla in existence, and the recent re-emergence of other 00s artists such as Natasha Bedingfield, be the time that Alex Parks makes a comeback on her own terms? We would certainly like to hope so.

Don’t forget to follow our Pop Essays playlist on Spotify, which includes this and all the songs we’ve written about. What are your memories of this week’s featured song or band? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or message us on our Instagram.