Emerging artist Xona is a musical triple threat who combines a special talent for songwriting and production with a truly beautiful voice to deliver sensual, soulful pop music.
He releases his debut EP ‘In My Head’ Friday 12th November via Welcome to the New World, the Berlin based label who also represent Tolü Makay, Strange Boy, Enda Gallery, and Willzee.
Having moved from Lagos to Ireland at the age of 10, he spent his teenage years mixing it up between the church choir and watching live performances of the pop stars like Prince and Christina Aguilera on YouTube. Pursuing his dream of writing songs and being a singer Xona studied for degrees in jazz and popular music all the while making ripples in the Irish underground music scene.
Xona began working with different producers and songwriters in London, Berlin, and Dublin. His influences emanate from the vast worlds of jazz, electronic, house, rock and even classical music.
Speaking of the seven track EP, Xona says: “;In my Head; it is sentimental, very melodramatic, and just fun. I can’t put into words how proud I am of the tiny little world we created.
It’s an emotional rant which is probably why the intro is my fave, right off the bat I’m alerting you to the fact that it’s just yet another singer stepping up to the mic to bemoan the thrills and swells of the heart (yet again!).
This Ep was a teacher, it taught me lessons about myself with every track I completed. I learnt how to really write on this project, through sitting in a particular feeling or experience and really understanding the story. and sometimes even though the stories didn’t arrive seamlessly, there was this newfound calm in the process, driving without a roadmap, to a destination you’re so sure you’ll eventually reach. I learned what sound served as the best vehicle to carry what I felt I had to say, and most importantly I found out how to mean what I said.
With every listen I’m taken back to what was then the overwhelming feeling that inspired each track, Longing (‘This Could be Us’) bubblegum infatuation (‘Crazy’), separation anxiety (‘When You’re Not Around’), yielding (‘Anything)’, love (‘Slow Dancing’).
Given the last year we’ve all had, I’m glad I came out of it with a chance to chronicle what went on in my life during that time. I learned a new found appreciation for the present. I’m glad I have this body of work serving as a reminder of what all these feelings were like, the good and the other. Too often we lunge forward without appreciating the gifts of the present. It’s a timestamp that will live on, even if only for me, to look back and smile at decades from now.”
‘In My Head’ by Xona is out now on all digital platforms via Welcome To The New World.
Twitter: @xonatheartist
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xo._.na/?hl=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Xonatheartist
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/de/artist/xona/1533671366?l=en
