Sarah Lexa released her debut album, From, A Less Cool Version of You last August. 

BU Soundcheck

Sarah Lexa

Singer-songwriter on her debut album, From, A Less Cool Version of You

In our new series BU Soundcheck, BU Today features various BU student bands and singer-songwriters. We talk to them about the stories behind their sound and where they find inspiration for their work.

Sarah Lexa wrote her first song when she was 10 years old. 

“I’ve just grown up with music. I grew up creating music, too,” Lexa (COM’27) says. “I couldn’t separate music from my life.”

Her first track was a rap song she recorded with her father, Mike Tocci. An experienced sound engineer who’s worked with artists like Ne-Yo, Rihanna, and Blondie, Tocci spent much of his career working at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, the legendary recording studio founded by Jimi Hendrix in 1968. 

The song was about a girl named Goldie E. Rocks, from outer space. 

“I don’t know how to describe it,” Lexa says with a laugh. 

In August 2024, after years of songwriting, Lexa released her first album, From, A Less Cool Version of You. The album, which can be found on Spotify and Apple Music, has 11 songs (all written by Lexa). She began working on the project four years ago when she was a high school sophomore. 

Inspired by singer-songwriter Clairo, the album has a dreamy, indie-pop feel, but with a polished edge. What truly stands out, though, are Lexa’s lyrics—they’re intimate, introspective, even a bit confessional, as if taken from the pages of a diary.

Asked about the inspiration behind her album: “It’s just about my life,” she says.

As for the record’s title, Lexa says she found inspiration in a letter she wrote to herself her freshman year of high school.

“I was basically asking myself a bunch of questions, of what life would be like. And at the end, I signed it, ‘From, A Less Cool Version of You,’” she recalls. “I sort of had the idea that it would be a cool title because it represents all those years that I wrote—the growth.”

Currently a sophomore studying advertising, Lexa says much of that growth happened at BU. The city of Boston has inspired several of her songs, such as the album’s closing track, “Boston Winds.”

“I started writing it when I was on a walk, thinking about how windy it was. I was in the Fenway area, and the wind was so bad that it knocked my glasses off of my head and into the traffic. So I lost those glasses forever,” she says with a laugh. “There’s a line in this song, ‘Don’t take my motivation. I still need to see.’ And that’s really just about my glasses being taken.”

Asked if she has a favorite song on the album, Lexa points to “A Theory,” a mellow track that puts her thoughtful lyrics on full display. 

“My method is to write down any thought I have and go back and see if it’s worthy,” she says. “When I write songs, I feel like I’m always going back and changing everything.”

When Lexa released the album last August, friends and family came to celebrate with her at a release party in her hometown, Greenwich, Conn. 

“I guess you could say I’m a proud dad,” Tocci says of his daughter’s success. “I’m very happy to have worked on her music and have had these studio memories together.”

And while he’d never imagined working with his daughter, he says, her talent was evident early on. “[She] surprised me with how natural she was behind the mic,” he says of her early singing efforts. “Then when she started writing songs, I was really impressed.” 

Until now, Lexa has mainly performed at local open mic events. But she recently connected with some other BU musicians she met through BU’s Music Business club, and they’ve formed a performance band. The group hopes to perform Lexa’s music at local venues in and around Boston.

“The few times I’ve done it, I’ve realized I love singing in front of people,” she says. “It feels so special to play the songs I wrote in front of others.”

Lexa plans to continue writing and recording. She’s just begun work on an EP, another joint project with her father. “After showing my dad the first song I wrote after the album, and hearing it recorded,” she says, “I knew that writing more wouldn’t be a problem.”

Are you a BU singer-songwriter or part of a BU band who would like to be considered for an upcoming BU Soundcheck story? Email Eden Mor at edmor@bu.edu.