Alexandra Burke: ‘The universe is on my side’ – but where does God fit in?

I recently heard Alexandra speaking to Davina McCall on her Begin Again podcast. Alexandra, 37, is a Christian and has spoken publicly about her faith for many years, but in the interview she also mentioned having help from ‘the universe’.

Alexandra’s story is one of remarkable musical success, resilience and reinvention. Music was in her blood from an early age. Her mother, Melissa Bell, was a professional singer and a member of Soul II Soul, and Alexandra grew up watching her perform and tour while raising her family. At just 12, Alex appeared on the BBC talent show Star for a Night, where she made it to the final.

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Her first attempt at The X Factor came in 2005, when she reached the final stages of the competition but was ultimately sent home. Rather than giving up, Alex spent the next three years having professional singing lessons and developing her voice. She returned to The X Factor in 2008 – and this time, she won.

In 2014, she made her West End debut as Rachel Marron in The Bodyguard. She also appeared on Strictly Come Dancing in 2017, reaching the final, before returning to music with The Truth Is. Now, Alex is playing Chaka Khan in I’m Every Woman – The Chaka Khan Musical at London’s Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre.

In the interview with Davina, Alexandra spoke repeatedly about being thankful for her husband, Darren Randolph, a professional footballer, and their two young sons. “This is what I prayed for!” she said with gratitude.

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Her understanding of thankfulness has been profoundly influenced by her mother. “I look back at my life and look at my mum and how much she sacrificed,” she told Davina. “Not once did I see my mum turn to us and act ungrateful for her blessings even though she struggled as a single mother with four kids.”

“She still put food on the table, put clothes on our back, still went out touring with Soul II Soul, still tried her best,” Alexandra continued. “If she can do that, with her health problems, and still show up, I can’t not show up.”

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Melissa’s influence went beyond perseverance. Alexandra previously told The Guardian: “My feistiness, a lot of my confidence, my desire to never give up and my faith all come from her.” 

Alexandra told Davina: “I’m a firm believer in God, I’m a very spiritual person

Alexandra told Davina: “I’m a firm believer in God, I’m a very spiritual person and I know that the moment you are ungrateful for your blessings it can be taken away like that.” Yet elsewhere in the interview, she also spoke about ‘the universe’ being on her side. While this may simply be a way of speaking the language of the predominantly non-christian audience, talking about hope, fate or believing that things will work out, the two ideas have very different roots.

Christianity teaches us to put our trust in a personal God who created the universe and knows and cares for us. The universe itself is not a conscious spiritual being that can hear our prayers or direct our lives.

This creates a tension between Alexandra’s clearly expressed Christian faith and the more contemporary language of spirituality. It also raises a question for Christians: when we say that ‘the universe’ is working for us, do we simply mean that God is at work – or are we unintentionally placing our faith in something else?  And while Alexandra may sometimes speak of the universe being on her side, her words about prayer, gratitude and being a ‘firm believer in God’ suggest that, for her, faith remains at the heart of the story.