It’s not everyday that a singer releases an album with a title that came straight out of a Shonda Rhimes show. But that’s exactly where Alex Isley got the title for her latest album, “Marigold,” which was released earlier this year.

“There was an episode of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ where someone was explaining the symbolism of marigolds and how they can represent celebration and they can celebrate joy,” says Isley, on the phone from San Francisco. “They can also celebrate grieving. But I liked that contrast and definition of marigolds. I thought that was fitting for the album.” (She most likely saw the 2018 episode “Flowers Grow Out of My Grave,” where Ellen Pompeo’s Dr. Meredith Grey gets a brief lesson in marigolds from a visiting abuela.)

Joy, celebration, grieving — you get a compendium of emotions from the thirtysomething soul singer on “Marigold.” It’s the second project the Los Angeles-based Jersey girl has done with producer/multi-instrumentalist Jack Dine, following their “Wilton” EP in 2019. Although she already had two full-lengths and several EPs under her belt, Isley found that getting together with Dine opened the floor for new, wondrous possibilities.

“I met Jack in May of 2019 and naturally hit it off,” she remembers. “Working-wise, it’s just really easy to work together. Eventually, we had made a few songs together and, then, we had an idea to put out an EP. It was the beginning of everything.”

They began working on “Marigold” a few months after June 2020, when you-know-what was in full swing. But even though that forced everyone to stay both inside and away from each other, Isley and Dine continued to work in the same space. Dine worked on the beats, while Isley wrote the lyrics (“I let the music say what it wants to say. I focus more on the feeling.”), eventually coming up with the dreamy R&B that fills up this album. “That was really kinda the beginning of creating ‘Marigold.’ We didn’t force anything. We just let things flow naturally. So, from start to finish, it took a couple years to finish the album. But it was very much worth it. So, we just did it as naturally as we could.”

Dine won’t join Isley on her current nationwide tour. (“He’s behind the boards — that’s where his magic is,” she says.) As someone who’s been performing professionally for a little over a decade, collaborating with such artists as Lucky Daye, Tank and the Bangas and Houston’s own Robert Glasper, she knows how to command an audience. After all, she grew up watching her father, guitarist Ernie Isley, do it when he would perform those insane guitar licks as a member of the Isley Brothers. She learned a lot from watching her dad and his uncles — to paraphrase an Isleys album title — go for their guns onstage. “I think that anything I kind of remembered was just from watching them, observing them over the years,” she says. “So, I think that was the greatest teacher for me.”

Isley takes great pride in being a member of R&B royalty, carrying on the great tradition of making baby-making music for her generation. “I’m always proud of my last name and I’m proud of my family,” she says. “They’re extremely supportive of what I do. That means the world to me, so I’m always proud and always happy to share where I come from.”

Craig Lindsey is a Houston-based writer.