When 20-year-old junior Alec Torres got to Pepperdine, he had it all figured out. Coming in as a first-year student, Torres decided to double major in political science and economics, with aspirations to be a congressman.
It wasn’t until the end of his sophomore year that Torres realized he wanted to do something completely different with his life.
“I knew I felt empty, and I knew I was lost,” Torres said. “I realized that I needed to find myself, but to do that I had to diverge from my path and do what I felt would make an impact. Music.”
Today, Torres’ double major is on hold as he has taken the semester off in order to fully pursue his career in the music industry. When he’s not working late nights at Starbucks, Torres spends his days writing music, practicing with his vocal coach and networking in the music industry.
“I can be manic,” Torres said, “I have issues and writing lyrics helps me evaluate myself as a person. The process helps me articulate feelings that I otherwise couldn’t, I can be real when I sing, I can be myself, the good and the bad. ”
Torres grew up in San Diego, California, raised by his mother and father along with his two little brothers, currently ages 18 and 11. Born while his mother was still a senior in high school, Torres’ childhood was a turbulent one.
“Now I am all for punishing your children when they do something wrong,” Torres said, “that’s how it started, and it really did teach me things. However, as I got older, the punishments started to feel more unjust and I learned less and less.”
Growing up, Torres recalled getting hit by sandals, belts, coathangers, and basically whatever was within reach of his father the second he stepped out of line. Beyond an abusive father, Torres faced loads of conflict with his brothers as well, as they were constantly fighting.
After years of abuse, Torres started to believe that his father was right. His father had damaged his own son’s self worth to the point where Torres felt he had nowhere to go. He attempted suicide, twice.
Today, Torres said he realizes his home isn’t in San Diego.
“After visiting ‘home’ last weekend, I realized that it wasn’t my real home,” he said. “My real home is here, in Calabasas, with my roommates Jack, Vinny and Toby.”
Torres doesn’t have his own car. That means that more often than not, he relies on the support of his roommates to get him to his job at the Starbucks at the end of Zuma Beach, usually at least a 30-minute commute.
“There are people who work at Starbucks for years without ever getting a promotion,” said Caleb Choe, 20-year-old senior sports administration major. “Alec worked there for no more than four months and got promoted to shift manager. He’s got the charisma of Bill Clinton and, when he needs it, the work ethic of Michael Jordan.”
While Torres draws on the support of his roommates, there are a great deal of others who draw on the support of Torres, particularly in the form of tutoring.
Torres can be quite the wiz in school and will not hesitate to lend a helping hand to anyone in need, no matter the subject.
“Alec is the man,” said Peter Spafford, a 21-year-old junior political science major. “He helped me study for my international relations exam until 4 a.m., the night before and he would barely even let me buy him lunch after.”
While he isn’t attending Pepperdine for classes, he still spends time on campus writing lyrics,Torres said, going to places like the Sandbar balcony, library, or Alumni Field to aid the writing process.
Another important dynamic of the writing process is the source of inspiration from which a writer draws. In Torres’ case, he draws on feelings of pain, sadness and triumph stemming from past experiences and relationships.
“Alec is no stranger to adversity,” said Warren Nagle, 20-year-old junior business administration major. “He’s been overcoming it all his life. Not because he’s lucky, but because he works his -ss off. If there’s anyone I know that could pull this off, it’s him.”
While Torres hasn’t made it into the studio yet, he has been in contact with various recording studios around Los Angeles including Nightbird Recording Studios and Eastwest Studios. Both studios, according to their websites, have hosted a plethora of stars and icons over the years including Aerosmith, Billy Idol, Elton John, Kanye West, Rihanna, Justin Timberlake and Justin Bieber.
Torres’ goal is to have released a full-length, extended play album by this coming April.
Jacob Fields wrote this profile under Dr. Christina Littlefield’s supervision in Jour 241 in Spring 2018.
