Race Across The World Winner Alfie Watts to release first song to support charity Winston's Wish
Tap above to hear Alfie explain why the song means so much to him
Alfie Watts shows no sign of slowing down after winning hit TV show Race Across The World as he releases his first single to raise money for a charity close to his heart.
The 21-year-old from St Albans recorded ‘Hopeless Wings’ inspired by a letter his mum wrote before she passed away.
Alfie lost his mother to cancer when he was just five years old and she passed on some advice to help guide him through life.
“The letter was just giving some life advice and things like that and that's what the chorus of the song is fundamentally about,” Alfie explained.
“The first lyrics of the chorus are ‘you gave me hopeless wings and left a letter where you tried to say goodbye’.
“And that was what the whole song was kind of born out of.
“Me and one of my best mates jam on guitar and sing.
“Three or four months later we realised we had a song and then we handed it over to some experts in the music world.
“And we've managed to professionally produce a song!” he added.
‘Hopeless Wings’ is being released on major music platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music on October 31.
Money raised will go to charity Winston’s Wish which helps grieving children and young people cope with the loss of someone close to them.
Alfie described growing up as “really, really tough” after his mum died of breast cancer which spread to other parts of the body.
He was brought up by his grandmother who was widowed and Alfie said he felt “very, very different” growing up through his school years.
He described releasing the single as a “full circle moment”, adding: “My mum used to be in a band before she got unwell.
“She really pushed me down the acting and music route when I was even really young.
“So it was something that she'd have always wanted to happen anyway.”
Alfie said he had singing lessons when he was aged 13, and said the lyrics for the song just came to him.
“Lyrically it's quite powerful, I really backed my singing ability here,” he said.
Alfie is hoping to raise as much money as possible to help guide more young people through grief with the charity Winston’s Wish.
The singer and explorer spoke about the challenges he faced growing up during his appearance on the BBC TV show Race Across The World where pairs of travellers raced an epic 15,000km from Japan to Indonesia.
In one emotional episode he paused to light a lantern in Vietnam to remember his mother.
“When my mum passed away we always used to set off Chinese lanterns in the UK and we always used to write a message on them,” Alfie said.
“It always used to be a very symbolic thing for me and my family.
“So when I heard about lighting them on the river it felt like such a good opportunity to share my story.
“I knew that it was going to be shared with a lot of people and it was going to be in an environment that I was very comfortable with and had a lot of symbolism attached,” Alfie added.
Whether or not a second single will follow ‘Hopeless Wings’ is still to be decided but Alfie hasn’t ruled it out.
A range of merchandise and a social media campaign will help promote the song.
Alfie added: “I’d like to raise a good sum of money but it’s also about the bigger picture.
“We have flirted with the idea of doing something else after the single - we'll see how it goes.
“If people like it, then why not?”
Alfie Watts/‘Hopeless Wings’ is available to stream on music platforms from October 31 2024.
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