I started busking in Manchester aged 12 - now I've performed for Man City stars and my song is in FC25

Another song you might have come across whilst making changes to your player or team is one called ‘Nightmares’. The singer behind this is Alex Spencer, a 17-year-old who started busking on Manchester’s Market Street several years ago and is currently riding the crest of a wave. 

“When we finished the song, we kind of realised that it was a bit of a ‘FIFA banger’, so we pitched it to the game creators,” said Alex, from Droylsden. “My record label did that and FIFA really liked it, they liked the punchiness of it and there’s a bit of Spanish to it which I think they particularly liked. They then said they’d get back in touch about it. 

“One day I was on the bus to college and I got a call from my label. They said ‘mate we’ve done it, your song is going to be on FIFA’. I was over the moon, I didn’t really know how to react. It had been a lifelong dream to get my song on FIFA after playing the game when I was younger. 

“I remember hearing the likes of Declan McKenna, Catfish & The Bottlemen, Sam Fender on there. Getting my song on there now is insane and it's already had such a great impact.”

Alex, like many teenagers, is a big football fan and Manchester City is his club. His time busking even got him noticed by his beloved club. 

“People from City saw me and they asked me to play in front of UEFA delegates on a Champions League night,” he said. “From there it got to the point where in 2022 I got a call from the club and they said ‘if we win the title tomorrow, we want you to play at the celebration bus tour for the players. It was the last game of the season to Aston Villa and we were losing 2-0 and we were like ‘it’s not happening tomorrow’ but then we brought it back to win 3-2 and the title. 

“The next day after school, it was a Monday afternoon, I went straight into town and to the football museum. I played two songs for the City squad and they were loving it, throwing champagne everywhere. Jack Grealish follows me on Instagram now, it was one of the best days of my life.   

“It’s nice to see these people who I’ve looked up to supporting me. It was such a surreal moment. In school the next day , this was after Grealish put me on his Instagram story, all the teachers were queuing up to say how I’d smashed it.”

The big breakthrough for Alex came as a result of busking on the streets of Manchester, something he has been doing for several years.  

“It all started on a family holiday in Thailand,” he said. “I had been playing guitar and singing a bit. There were loads of open mic events where we were staying and I built up the courage to go up on stage and play a couple of tunes with everyone. It went down really well, I was young and everyone was bigging me up which was really cool. 

“I met some really cool people out there, like session musicians for Pink Floyd and a jazz guitarist who had travelled around the world busking. He said to me ‘when you get back to Manchester try some busking because you’d smash it’ and that’s what I did. I was 12 at the time and I went back to Manchester after this holiday, got all my equipment and went out to Market Street to busk. 

“Over the years, two years of playing on the street, I posted all the videos on social media and it took off from there. That’s how I got all of these opportunities. I got signed by my record label and I started gigging. Everything has been a positive domino effect since.”

Alex splits his time between studying Music Production and Technology at Manchester College and working on his music.

“I don’t have a job, well this is my job and it's fun and I can make money off of it,” he says. “I’m super happy, it's my passion and I want to keep doing it. I want to tour all over the world releasing music and playing to fans.

“This (song) is already opening doors for me, and it's going to keep on opening them by me playing bigger festivals next year which is a big thing in music. It’s already having an impact and I feel fortunate to be in this position. I’ve just finished my first UK tour and I want to tour again soon, playing bigger gigs and supporting artists. My dream is to sell out big shows, charting with my debut album when that comes out, and build up that fanbase. Glastonbury, that’s the dream.”