Alex Warren on John Mayer's Influence and Going from Homeless to WILDCHILD
The singer-songwriter opens up about his unlikely rise and the mentors who helped shape his sound.
Alex Warren described his late father's favorite musician as "the coolest guy I've ever seen and met," opening up about working with John Mayer during a visit to TODAY. The multi-platinum singer used the appearance to trace the throughline of his career so far, from a difficult upbringing to collaborating with one of his father's musical heroes, while also previewing material from his second studio album.
In the first clip, Warren focuses specifically on the Mayer connection, crediting the guitarist's influence and recalling what it meant to work alongside someone his father idolized. The conversation stays personal rather than technical, with Warren framing the collaboration as an emotional milestone tied to his father's memory rather than simply a career highlight.
The second appearance shifts to Warren's sophomore album, WILDCHILD, and the journey behind it. He tells the 3rd Hour of TODAY hosts, "I was homeless with my wife when we were 18 years old, and I know what it's like on both sides," drawing a direct line between that period of instability and his more recent run of selling out Madison Square Garden. The segment also finds room for lighter territory, including Warren's go-to snack combination: a slice of pizza stacked on an open-faced cream cheese bagel.
Taken together, the two clips round out a fuller picture of where Warren is right now, an artist processing loss and hardship even as his commercial success accelerates. WILDCHILD itself arrived via Atlantic Records with guest contributions from Nile Rodgers and John Mayer, and BroadwayWorld previously covered the album's release, noting that Warren's father gave him the nickname "wildchild" as a child for his habit of climbing and jumping off things.
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