"I definitely don't feel strongly about anything else in my life as I do artmaking," says Alexandra Levy. The Montréal-based singer-songwriter, who records as Ada Lea, has released three LPs of wordy, twisting tunes: 2019's What We Say in Private, 2021's One Hand on the Steering Wheel the Other Sewing a Garden, and her brand new album When I Paint My Masterpiece.

For When I Paint My Masterpiece, Levy channeled her love of artmaking through an approach called 'The Songwriting Method', and ended up writing 200 songs for the record.

"I've always been interested in creative methods," Levy explains. "I just got into the Art Education masters at Concordia. So, I think I'd like to continue this research into 'What do deadlines do for artists?' and 'How does art get made?' and 'Why for some people is it difficult?'"

In conversation with Anthony Carew for The International Pop Underground, Levy talks about her love of songwriting, her devotion to good lyrics, how songwriting compares to painting, and whether calling an album When I Paint My Masterpiece is comedic or sincere.

Feature image: Tess Roby