On Alex Warren’s breakout hit, “Ordinary,” the singer-songwriter is infatuated, telling a woman that, with just one look, she’s taking him “out of the ordinary.” Yeah, it’s a sweet thing to say, but it’s also pretty on the nose for an artist like Warren — who, at first glance, does seem pretty ordinary. His deep voice is capable and free from sharp edges; on Instagram and in press photos, he presents as a typical 20-something boy next door, with an auburn beard, blue eyes, and a wardrobe full of comfortable-looking earth-toned pieces.
No wonder he’s everywhere right now — performing on Love Is Blind, soundtracking romantic TikToks, sitting at No. 12 on the Hot 100. Warren is just the latest iteration of one of the most consistently powerful forces on the pop charts: a seemingly boring white guy with a good voice. Sonically, he falls somewhere between Ed Sheeran, Lewis Capaldi, and Noah Kahan. But he’s also building on the recent successes of Teddy Swims and Benson Boone, two fellow singers with big emotions and bigger voices who have yet to loosen their grip on the top of the charts after taking hold last year.
Okay, maybe boring is a strong word. But placed next to the charismatic women running pop right now, it’s clear that Warren and these other guys are lacking some pizazz. Chappell Roan just released a lesbian country stomp and sent the enthusiastically garish “Pink Pony Club” to the top five. Doechii flipped Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” into her next rap hit. Sabrina Carpenter’s retro, sexy pop hits are still ruling radio. Blackpink members like Rosé and Jennie have proven they can be full-package stars away from their group. These women seem fresh and unique, while their male counterparts can blur together.
But Warren’s image is just as considered as those women. Before he started making future wedding songs, he was a successful YouTube prankster in the mold of David Dobrik, and a co-founder of TikTok’s infamous Hype House. Warren left the Hype House in late 2021, shortly before he signed with Atlantic Records. His pivot to music has involved a purposefully mature rebrand, aided by his marriage to fellow influencer and Hype House resident Kouvr Annon last year. Warren already had the voice, and he knew the best way to sell it: singing vaguely sentimental love songs that telegraph authenticity.
Warren’s new air of seriousness widened his appeal from his YouTube days. Now, everyone from high-schoolers to grandmas can swoon at his wife-guy sweetness. His songwriting isn’t especially profound or personal. “Ordinary” is a knot of religious and classical metaphors that wouldn’t make it out of a high-school creative writing class. But it gets by on emotional signifiers like its film score percussion and choral backing vocals. It’s an essential skill on the internet: seeming like you’re saying something when you’re really not saying much of anything.
Warren’s songs themselves may not appear to be the work of an ex-YouTuber, but his marketing does, like featuring Annon in the “Ordinary” music video and releasing that orchestral “Wedding Version.” He knows how important engagement is. It’s no accident that all his songs have perfect Instagram-caption lyrics, like this one from his previous single “Carry You Home”: “In this and every life, I choose us every time.”
The list of mundane, good-voiced guys to conquer the charts is full of one-hit wonders. Even more recent examples have struggled to maintain their early chart success, like Capaldi, who was touted as a male Adele after sending two songs to the top ten in 2019 and 2020, but has barely sniffed the Hot 100 since. The men who stick around tend to have more to show, like Sheeran, who became a stadium headliner with his solo-looped sets catchy pop hooks. Warren seems to be making a different bet, that he can craft the perfect image to play this game better than everyone else. So far, with “Ordinary,” it’s working. Now, he’ll just have to outlast the next round of guys selling the same thing.
