Alexandra Lynn’s 2017 single Not Worth Hiding became an anthem for marriage equality in Australia. On her first full album, the personal and universal collide
One of the most affecting moments on Alex the Astronaut’s debut album tells a story that is not her own. I Like to Dance is a striking first-person account of domestic violence, charting an abusive relationship as it turns from innocent romance to something ugly. Sung in her trademark folk-pop style, accompanied by swelling strings, the climax is quiet but stark: “I just wish he’d stop hitting me.”
“I went to a barbecue with a judge, and he told me about a case that he had,” says the singer-songwriter, Alexandra Lynn, down the line from her
Sydney home “He’d spoken to a woman in court who had been beaten up by her partner. She was telling him that he was a great guy and that he would never do any of these things – she just fell down the stairs. And then at one point, she just broke down and said, ‘I just wish he would stop hitting me.’ He said it cut like a knife.