Emerging Afro-Irish r `n' b singer Xona has released his new single, When You’re Not Around. We asked him the BIG questions . . .
Having moved from Lagos to Mullingar, at the age of 10, Xona has worked to pursue his dream of writing and recording and speaking about his latest track he says, "Sonically it takes a brave turn from my otherwise very bright pop sound, it's influenced a lot by The Weeknd, and that super crisp clean RnB groove."
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"This was the first song that wasn't about fairy tales or heartbreak when dealing with someone else," he adds.
"I wrote the song for me and it definitely helped me understand the kind of `lover' for the lack of a better word, I am and how to sustain that."
After studying for two degrees in jazz and popular music while drifting around the Irish underground music scene for a couple years, Xona began working with different producers and songwriters in London, Berlin, and Dublin.
Tell us three things about yourself?
I don't notice it anymore, but I’m 6ft 7", and I only remember when people point it out to me.
This one STILL creeps up on me, so before I moved to Ireland I was enrolled in military school, the navy to be exact. I did it for a year and I was 9 at the time!
My mum forced me to join the church choir and I hated it, until I realised how much of a main character it made me. Thanks, mum x
Photo credit: Ed Aked
How would you describe your music?
It's a weird one, I literally just write 80s pop songs and accommodate them for the modern day, Don Henley, Richard Marx, The Police. And if you look at music presently, I’m not the only one, Dua's latest record Future Nostalgia, The Weeknd, Lorde, they're all drinking outta the 80s well. Personally I have a loud obsession with summer and all it brings, love on the verge of happening, love lost etc. Happily, ever after or happy it happened. If my music was a setting, it would be 6pm on a summer evening, a walk home through the city streets or a park, and the sky is that weird pink/fuchsia colour that only happens once in a while.
Who are your musical inspirations?
When I was 15, I spent an entire summer on YouTube, watching covers and that's how I learnt to sing. To date I've every single Christina (Aguilera) performance every recorded, and though I sound nothing like her, she always influences how I approach my voice. I found Lorde's second album, Melodrama very late, but holy god that whole body of work inspired my sound for sure. Lastly, I’m a huge fan of ambient music, always have been so bands like Hammock and Explosions in The Sky have sound tracked my life. Haha!
What are you most looking forward to post-lockdown?
Lockdown gave me the focus and time to write this entire EP. What I'm looking forward to the most is showing everyone what I've spent this time doing. Oh, also travelling, I guess. I hate flying but love being somewhere new.
What’s your favourite song right now?
Save Your Tears (Remix) by The Weeknd and Ariana. It was already a great song, but Ari's whistling really raised the song’s stock price
Favourite lyric of all time?
This is a really hard one, I never listen to what people are saying I just like how they sound. The only lyric that comes to mind right now is Mariah Carey’s It's Like That. "Them chickens is ash and I'm lotion" I haven't the faintest notion what it could mean but I also at the same time feel it on spiritual level.
If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
I practically already do. It's called Tethered of Yearning by Hammock. Do yourself a favour, give it an ear you won't regret
Where can people find your music/more information?
Instagram, YouTube, SoundCloud, Twitter.
