It’s hard to think that Lexi Sidders‘ “Better Off (A Loser)” came from a painful moment in her life since it starts with an undeniable groove that will get your head nodding along. Yet, in her debut single – premiering here on HollywoodLife – Lexi transforms the darkness into light. “Better Off” is a proud declaration that sees Lexi done with the “overthinking / over-drinking / and search for who I am.” Instead, she enjoys “doing what I want to do” and “being who I wanna be,” ditching society’s pressures and standards by the side of the road. It’s a phenomenal bop of a song, one that will inspire fellow “losers” to enjoy the skin they’re in.
“[‘Better Off’] is based on a topic near and dear to my heart, bullying,” Lexi shares with HollywoodLife. “Hearing that word makes me think of elementary school and the classic name-calling on the playground. Yes, that is a form of bullying, but it can be much more. For me, it showcased itself in high school. Before high school, I was a happy kid, but there was one’ problem’ with me. I was overweight, and unfortunately, I was bullied because of it.”
After dealing with such pressures and schoolyard taunts, Lexi says she found her world “flipped upside down,” and she spent most of her time “scrolling through Instagram and Youtube, feeling as if I needed to be thin and beautiful to get my peers’ approval.” Sadly, this led to her developing an eating disorder, and she was also diagnosed with depression. “Not only was I scared of food, but my mental health was unstable, and I couldn’t even recognize myself,” she tells HollywoodLife. “After a few years of putting up this facade of being ‘perfect,’ I couldn’t do it anymore. That’s when I decided to stop the vicious cycle and start living.”
“I believe that music and writing songs saved me,” she adds. “At first, I hated that I had to go through years of this, but in the end, I came out a new person who learned a lot and became wiser! To me, the key is to embrace who you are; embrace being that loser! You’ll realize deep down inside that you’re better off without the ‘in crowd.’ I wrote this song to encourage others and show that you’re better off being different, standing out, and, most importantly, being a loser.”
This poignant statement marks a powerful first impression from this young rising talent. Hailing from Templeton, California, Lexi first caught the spotlight when, at age 19, she placed in the MyCollabStreet Singing Contest. Her success continued with another competition, resulting in Keith Urban invited her to sing at his show. Not one to turn down a sign like that, Lexi relocated to Nashville to pursue her country music dreams. Since moving to Music City, she’s split her time co-writing tracks with top songwriters like Rob Pennington (Luke Combs, Chris Janson) and Michael Woodrum (Eric Clapton, Joss Stone) and performing.
At 22 years old, she’s already shared the stage with such luminaries as Russell Dickerson, Cheat Codes, Brandi Cyrus, MacKenzie Porter, and Lindsay Ell. Expect that list to grow as she continues her rise, proving that even “losers” turn out good in the end.