Collaborating on a love song with Alex Whorms

Happy new year to all our listeners and supporters! For our first episode of 2026, we had Alex Whorms back on the show to talk about her latest collaboration with Garrett Lajoie and Gavin McLeod. Download the lyrics to Let You Down to follow along.

We talked about:

• $9.8M stolen from FACTOR bank account, Canadian provider of music grants alleges
• The new version of Studio One and how it might affect your songwriting
• How Alex and Garrett streamlined the song after Garrett and Gavin first wrote it, and after they invited her to sing it as duet with Garrett
• How’s Garrett and Gavin first envisioned as a solo song, not a duet
• How Alex probed Garrett to go deeper with details about the relationship
• How having two singers can change your perception of there being two characters or points of view in the story
• Being conscious of how the structure of the song support the narrative
• If you’re pitching for sync, having alternate versions of your song – see our episode Sync Songwriting with Chris SD

About Alex Whorms

Alex Whorms crafts music that is a genre unto itself. The singer-songwriter and screen composer flawlessly blends indie, alternative, pop, jazz and cinematic styles into a sound that is at once intimate, anthemic and unforgettable. Growing up in Pickering, Ontario, she found early inspiration in fellow hometown artist Sarah Slean, the theatricality of Tori Amos, and the eccentric grit of Fiona Apple—shaping her distinct piano-driven style. But Whorms rarely sits at the piano—she’s on her feet dancing as she plays, with a voice that dares you to feel it all.