Alex Marshall On His First Album, Working With Justin Timberlake [EXCLUSIVE VIDEO]

Singer-songwriter Alex Marshall, who previously played in rock band The Cab, released his debut solo single “Hurricane” earlier this summer and is putting the finishing touches on his debut solo album.

Alex Marshall Exclusive

Marshall got the solo career break he was looking for after doing some songwriting and production for an artist named Katelyn Jae for Wright Entertainment. A month and a half after performing a duet with Jae for a demo, he got a phone call he’s unlikely to ever forget.

“I get a phone call from this European number. I’m like, ‘Hello, who is this?’ and they’re like, ‘Hey, this is so and so from [Justin Timberlake’s] camp, Wright Entertainment, could you be in Amsterdam in two days?’” Marshall told uInterview in an exclusive interview. “I’m thinking it’s one of my friends messing with me or something and they were like ‘No, we need you to — can you be in Amsterdam in two days?’ Needless to say, two days later I’m landing in Amsterdam.”

After kicking around with Timberlake’s security team and meeting his wife Jessica Biel — whose mother happened to work at Marshall’s grandfather’s old taco shop — he eventually got the chance to show the “Can’t Stop the Feeling” singer what he could do.

“I finally got the opportunity to play music for Justin and he walks in — I didn’t really know how or what to expect,” Marshall revealed. “He walked in, and he was so cool, but so very intimidating at the same time. He crossed his arms and was like, ‘Go ahead.’”

After Marshall played two songs, he recalled Timberlake saying, “Ok. Take him to Timbaland.” Marshall added, “As an artist and producer, I really look up to Timbaland’s productions, so when I heard him say that, that was kinda the validation I needed to kinda push me over the edge to complete the record and get it done as fast as possible.”

Marshall’s album is now a year and a half in the making, with the material largely being inspired by Marshall’s past relationships.

“I would say the first record is the record from your life. It’s like a collection of work from everything you’ve experienced, and I’d say it’s half of love songs and then you have half of the darker heartbreak songs. My experiences are of both,” Marshall explained. “I just felt like [“Hurricane”] was the right song to release first for the project, kind of get the dark out of the way and follow up with a brighter pop single.”