Similar to many of her classmates at North Broward Preparatory School in Coconut Creek, 18-year-old Alexa Aronson is eagerly anticipating high school graduation and waiting to learn if she was accepted into her first pick of colleges, the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami.
However, unlike most of her peers, the Boca Raton resident has already kick-started her career as a pop and R&B singer.
When we first spoke to Aronson, she was heading to Tampa with her mother and co-manager, Emily, to try out for NBC’s“America’s Got Talent” show. Her father,Jeffrey, also co-manages her career.
“It was very nerve wracking because I didn’t know what to expect, but everyone was nice and welcoming,” Aronson told us after the audition. “When I tried out in front of the producer, she made me feel so welcome, it wasn’t scary anymore.”
She finds out this month if she has been selected.
Aronson started voice lessons at 5 years old but performed only in front of family until 2015, when the then-15-year-old decided it was time to launch her singing career and began performing locally.
“My parents said I sang before I could talk,” she says.
Armed with ample talent – combined with hard work and some good fortune – Aronson was noticed in 2016 when her producer, Bryan Todd, played one of her tracks for David Foster,a Grammy-winning musician and producer. Foster went on to share it with the management team of rapper Snoop Dogg.
“They loved it,” Aronson says. “Snoop Dogg asked me to sing in the chorus of ‘Music Feels Better With You.’ The song rose to No. 16 on the chart.”
Since then, Aronson has recorded her debut EP, which will be released this year. The lyrics for the song “Lighters,” a collaboration with rapper Fat Joe, were inspired by the victims of the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland and those impacted by recent hurricanes and other natural disasters.
Aronson is optimistic about her chances of making it in the rough-and-tumble world of show business.
“I’m putting out records, getting my name out there and performing,” she says. “I express who I am through my music.” O