“I learned that remaining grateful while releasing control and guilt can be a key to healing”
BY NIC CROSARA, IMAGE BY SOPHIE BUCKLEY
Many DIVA readers were first introduced to rising superstar Anthony Lexa when they were introduced to her in Sex Education’s fourth and final season. And we didn’t just fall in love with her through our screens; we also became obsessed with her sound.
Her previous singles, Early Nights and Sleepy, have resonated with listeners and seen the singer-songwriter take home the Musician Of The Year Award at Rainbow Honours.
And now, we have even more musical offerings from Anthony to stream on repeat. On 11 July, she released her most personal project yet, her EP titled A Guide To Healing. Here’s what she had to say when we got a chance to catch up with the DIVA-favourite.
DIVA: How does it feel that A Guide To Healing is now out in the world?
Anthony: This is my debut EP, so I have certainly been nervous about this release day approaching, particularly as it’s such a candid, self-produced piece of work. However, all I ever desire is to find purpose in pain, and hopefully, connecting to new listeners through this EP will achieve that goal.
Do you have a favourite track from the EP?
It definitely changes all the time, but my current favourite is Again. The darker, cinematic sonic landscape is different than that of my previous singles, so it’s exciting to take my music in a new direction. I began writing this song with an ex of mine about our tendency to repeat cycles and face difficulty confronting our intrusive thoughts. When we broke up, I finished writing this track with the love and pain I had leftover from the relationship. To see emotions so raw transition into art has been a beautiful development in my healing, which is what this EP was intended to celebrate.
The EP is extremely personal and, to me, it really seems like you found power and strength through vulnerability. Would you say this is accurate?
[Accessing this vulnerability in order to connect with my listeners in turn] allowed me to access the parts of myself that were hurt and angry, in a way that often felt too scary when in therapy or in friendships.
This EP gave me an outlet to recognise and celebrate all the areas of healing I had been thrown into while I was suffering with my skin condition, and simultaneously going through the hardest break-up of my life. I wouldn’t have been able to feel proud of myself to the extent I was if I couldn’t have accessed that vulnerability through writing music. It truly is healing.
You wrote this EP while healing from Topical Steroid Withdrawal (TSW). You were also very transparent about your experiences on social media which helped to raise awareness on the condition. What motivated you to do this? And did this help you connect with others who have experience with this?
Similarly to why it’s so important for me to write music during my continued healing, it was also important for me to share the realities of having a severe skin condition. I was looking for purpose in the pain.
Topical Steroid Withdrawal is an under-researched, often discredited and underrepresented condition. My initial motivation to document my experience with TSW was purely to raise awareness. However, sharing the realities and complexities of my health online led me to make so many beautiful friends who also suffer from chronic health conditions or have visible differences. They truly have changed my life. I feel unworthy to have received the amount of beautiful messages and lovely words on the street from followers about my strength and honesty, as truthfully, I couldn’t have got through the past year without my platform and the community it helped me to access.
When we last spoke, the SAG-AFTRA strikes were going on, so we weren’t able to talk to you about your amazing performance as Abbi in Sex Education. What does that role and show mean to you now, two years later?
Sex Education has become a bit of a modern cult classic, and two years on, it feels surreal to even acknowledge that I was part of a show so culturally notable and significant in my own acceptance of my queer identity.
Abbi still teaches me things, and this EP feels like a little love letter to her, particularly Terrified, which echoes how terrifying and isolating healing is to someone who has experienced heartbreak, trauma or difficulties. Like in the series, Abbi and I learned that remaining grateful while releasing control and guilt can be a key to healing, and that’s what I wanted to celebrate in that final track.
Are you interested in taking on more acting roles or is music your only focus for now?
Acting will always be cathartic to me, but it has been very special to focus on music and take a bit of a step back from my other commitments over the last couple of years. Telling other people’s stories is a gift and can help you embody and release difficult emotions that you’re not able to access in everyday life, but music has been necessary to me to focus on since finishing filming for Sex Education. I wanted to discover how to process my own pain and tell my own story, which, as a trans woman with a chronic health condition, I think is particularly needed in today’s climate.
But I am always open to it, and would love to give my all to a role I am passionate about when it comes my way.
I am also excited to announce that I am playing Glinda in the all-transgender production of Wicked which will be on at The Clapham Grand on Sunday 27 July to raise money for Trans Pride. Growing up queer in a rural area, I often looked to Wicked to find comfort and belonging, so being able to play my dream role of Glinda and let my operatic, musical theatre roots shine once again is very exciting. It’s all non-profit, so it would be great to see many of the DIVA readers in the audience!
Any parting words to our readers?
To any readers out there who still feel isolated, who have been made to feel small and wrong, I see you. There are many people, within and outside of the queer community, who will validate you, who will love you, who will celebrate you. Your strength and your hope are resistance, and you’re more powerful than you know.
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