Alexandra Burke

“Today, my little one woke up at three in the morning. My baby is potty training at the moment, and was like, ‘oh… I’ve wet the bed’. So, I was up at three, sorting that out. Then, I tried to get that baby back down to sleep, but that didn’t quite work out – and then the other baby woke up.

“So, I thought, ‘do you know what? Let’s start the day!’. At 4.30 in the morning!”

These words might seem like they’re lifted from any of the many forums for parents of young children, or a slightly frazzled WhatsApp group, but they’re actually from British pop superstar and celebrated musical theatre performer Alexandra Burke, describing life on the road for her latest touring production.

Alexandra and her partner, footballer Darren Randolph, welcomed their first child in June 2022, and their second in September 2023. Both of the couple’s children are currently on tour with Alexandra (in fact, she’s tending to them throughout our conversation as we speak over Zoom), with her four dogs only adding to the dynamic.

“Life on the road is so very different to how it used to be,” she tells HuffPost UK. “But it’s great. I’ve been at a trampoline park this morning. I’ve done some interviews, some admin, been to the gym – and now I’m about to do a show. That’s how different life is.”

If that sounds hectic, that’s because it is, but it’s the kind of chaos that Alexandra says she thrives under.

“The key thing is to probably rest when I can. But because I’m a thousand-miles-an-hour type of personality, I can’t seem to do that,” she admits. “So, when I get a moment, I take it and either I spend time with the children or I’m in the gym.

“I can’t really complain. I feel very blessed to have the kids on the road with me. But it is so very different. [On previous tours], I would be getting eight to 10 hours sleep a night. At the moment, as you can hear, I’m now pouring dog food out, because we have four dogs with us, on the road, as well as two kids. I know I sound nuts. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

She recalls that just a day earlier, her manager rang to ask, “how are you touring with your children and waking up and living on like four hours sleep, if that?”.

Her response? “Darling, I love life.”

Alexandra Burke

For most of us, the first time we were introduced to Alexandra was when she competed on the fifth season of The X Factor back in 2008. It was the first series with Cheryl Cole (as she was then still known) on the judging panel, and the show was just about to hit its imperial phase.

Under Cheryl’s mentorship, Alexandra was a strong contender throughout the competition, but as the live shows progressed, she became a firm favourite to win. This was solidified in the final, when she famously duetted with Beyoncé, and went on to score a deal with Simon Cowell’s now-defunct record label Syco.

The X Factor was always a controversial presence in the British media landscape, but in recent years, the show has faced even more scrutiny, and a number of perdoerms once associated with the Syco machine have spoken disparagingly about their experiences (among them are former Little Mix singer Jade has used her difficult experiences in the music industry as the inspiration for several of her solo offerings, accompanied by several not-so-subtle digs at her former label boss, and X Factor finalist Rebecca Ferguson, who also signed to Syco after her time on the show, and has become a vocal campaigner for more safeguarding for those in the music industry in recent years).

For her part, Alexandra says she........

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