Philology: “A set of scientific disciplines that aims to reconstruct literary documents and their correct interpretation and understanding”. There Treccani he says this and immediately we think that, nowadays, doing philology is a practice that is a bit too outdated to do today. The obvious answer is that philology is still being practiced. It’s just that you have to adjust to it. We use social media to do this. And maybe even the song. Because knowing, hearing is one thing. One of them is understanding. AND Alex Warren now he is known and heard. But understanding it is another thing.
Let’s be clear: no one here wants to claim that honor. Maybe Warren himself doesn’t fully understand himself. Because his life is very complicated. Very ugly too. But at least happy now. And it’s not that clear. Certain, The mirror of happiness is certainly nothing more than 5 million followers on Instagram (more than double compared to the beginning of the year), or almost 20 million on Tik Tok. But there’s clearly a flash in the pan: who is Warren? And most importantly, why is it so famous? Philology is in some ways reconstruction, and here we try to reconstruct its history. Putting the puzzle pieces together made this The 25-year-old American is among the most famous people in 2025with over 12 million monthly listeners on Spotify and over 3 million subscribers to his YouTube channel. Warren is many things, and he’s tried it all: he’s been an influencer, he’s been a vlogger, he’s been a singer. And for 2 years he was also homeless. There is no irony in this case.
Reconstruction
What a beautiful word, reconstruction. Which can be used in many ways. For us, this is a way back. For Alex, everything is progress. And it happens in fundamental and terrible stages. Like father’s death in 2009 due to kidney cancer. Alex is 9 years old, two brothers and one sister. His mother could not bear the burden: alcoholism added to her depression. The hell that keeps teenage Warren in constant contact with social workers and a seemingly increasingly dangerous mother’s custody. In 2015, Alex tried to get out of this maelstrom and did what almost all kids his age do: open an Instagram channel and start posting. He likes photos that are a little complicated: his first photo was black and white, with a skateboard. Seems like a safe place. Or more precisely, an ordinary post from a boy who is going through his teenage years with ups and downs. But it will get worse. At the age of 17, his mother threw him out of the house. Brutally. Without too much explanation. Untreated depression and alcoholism took over. And he let himself be overwhelmed. So Alex was forced to ask his friends for help, but they found it difficult to accommodate him at home. For two years, Warren living homeless: he sleeps in his friends’ cars and instead creates, during the day, some amateur videos on Carslbad (California) because in the end he was good at making videos, became a bit of an artist. So he started publishing the videos. And they love it. Alex unknowingly became a vlogger, and realized that it entertained him: he films himself while he travels, while he plays, he talks about what he does and on YouTube he is appreciated for this. “But do you have a plan B?“, they asked him. “No, I will succeed with this”, he answered. And he has confirmed this dialogue that we reconstructed several times in various interviews.
His channel grew, the year went on and he also opened a Tik Tok channel. Where popularity is increasing again. “Parents don’t always understand us, they think we’re wasting our time behind the camera with problem children,” friends said in several interviews. So much more. Several years later, to one of Alex’s best friends will give you the car: a gesture that has as deep a meaning as it appears. “You were always there for me, I’m glad now I can be there too.” But now the increase is ongoing, and has not stopped.
Even Covid didn’t stop it. In fact, it makes it even worse. In 2020 Warren continued what he’s been doing since the beginning: playing in front of the camera. And he started releasing singles that little by little became a huge success. Giant. His songs started to become soundtracks for other mini videos on Tik Tokwent viral and most importantly allowed Alex, who had bought a house in the meantime, to earn more than a little income. The click is here. What was once a game, or a form of escape from a reality that was too hard to be true, has now become a job. He founded the Hype House in Los Angeles with another creator, with whom he began making music videos. In 2024′Bringing You Home‘, the first truly successful single that shuffled the cards, but the most important ‘Normal‘, which is now everywhere: it soundtracks a football match between the first and second halves; he was involved in several commercials; of course this is one of the most used songs on Tik Tok. Where almost everything begins. Success became so important that it prompted Warren to embark on a World Tour which gave him immense satisfaction: he is also in Italy, to play his first album’You’ll be fine, kid‘ which in Italian means ‘Everything will be fine, son’. A title that doesn’t need much interpretation. Because philology in the end is not just reconstructing. But he interprets and explains. And if the post, the trail Warren left on the internet, is indicative enough, the songs complete the picture better. The music is deeply melancholic, the words seek the ordinary serenity that Warren has been chasing all his life and thanks to the internet he has managed to conquer.
The internet is his center and not only (or not so much) his success: thanks to YouTube he meets other vloggers, Kouvrwho traveled from Hawaii to California to meet him in person and after a few years became his wife. Meanwhile, He also managed to rebuild his relationship with his mother, who died in 2021a few months after Alex Warren’s name became a real thing. “I myself find it hard to believe the success I have had: every time I go on stage, I always take a short journey through my life and I am happy.” He said in several interviews. And that’s how it is. Looks smiling, clothes are deliberately unfashionable even on stage (“I want everything to be normal”) and a life that is more private than you might imagine. He uses social media a lot, but now almost never talks about his personal life. And perhaps this is where we can understand it better than anything else: these tools restore everything he lost when he was a child. But now he wants to protect everything. And we just rebuilt it.
NOT a normal note
In Warren’s life, if that were not enough, there are two small curiosities that are worth telling separately.
The first: for 7 years, he had a small bullet lodged in his right lung. It all happened when, at the age of 18, his friend’s father accidentally shot him with a small-caliber gun he thought was unloaded. “Everything they say about guns is true: you should always check whether the gun is loaded or not when you play. And it would be better not to play with it,” he said. Taking the bullet out would be riskier than keeping it there. “It doesn’t make sense, but it’s just a drop in the bucket compared to my life.”
The second: his first video on Tik Tok was a song. And so far, nothing special compared to what we’ve been told. This is a solo piano cover of ‘Jealous‘ by Labrinthwhich as a type of music is very similar to Warren’s genre. In the published copy of the video, there is a typo: Labrith, no n. But he’s still an inexperienced creator and we can live with that. The problem is another: the cover is so well done that Tik Tok considers it a copyright violation. The video is silent.
