WHAT HE WANTS

XNDR x UNLABELED an Exclusive Dive into His New Single WHAT HE WANTS

MAY 9, 2024

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE : https://youtu.be/FP_DVh8i4-M

J: So I don't know if you want to introduce yourself again. The people know you, they love you, maybe just for the new people here. 

XNDR: Yes My name is XNDR. I am a recording artist from Chicago. I was raised in the suburbs and kind of have been a city boy because I went to high school out in the city. I went to an arts high school and it was kind of like an eight hour day. At school, we would have academics in the morning, arts in the afternoon. And like, we would start around like 8 a.m. and we wouldn't be out until 5 so it was hard, but being out in the city after, you become accumulated and I feel like that kind of really made me a city boy and I loved having that balance of being able to go back to the calmness of the suburbs and going to the city and being able to explore who I am as an artist. I just put my new single out called What He Wants. I recently dropped a video for my single Rush and we're in the process of putting out the rest of this project. 

J: Yess, and everything is so awesome. I guess to begin, I know we put out What He Wants almost a week ago (from this interview) Can you tell us a little bit about the meaning of the song? Or if there was a very serious meaning behind it?

XNDR: Yeah, it's so funny because I was talking about this with a co-worker of mine the other day. And she was asking me about the meaning, and I was telling her how I work as a songwriter and what I've learned from my favorite songwriters like SZA and like Victoria Monet and, honestly I have to say I think that what I'm about to explain tactic wise and strategy I feel like I see a lot of women in the industry kind of do. I think the men take a little bit of a different approach, but when it comes to women, especially in R&B, they tell these stories that come from a personal experience, but they over exaggerate it when it comes to their writing. It's not as explicit and they create a really beautiful story. And I think that's sort of the direction that I took. Not to say that men or anybody else don't do that because it definitely is there. But I have definitely seen these artists that I look up to like a SISM, like a Victoria Mone, where the way that they tell a story is by really creating a fantasy. If that makes sense. So this song was based off of an experience that I actually had with a guy. This happened this past fall, about a year ago. And the song is called What He Wants, the artwork is a boxing glove, and the chorus, I think, is very kind of direct. It goes, “if he wants the drama, I'll hit up Miss Karma and call up his mama and cause him some harma” Harma's not a word, right? I just kind of made that up to rhyme. In the world of XNDR it's a word, but anyway the song’s meaning came from having this situation with this guy and we were talking and then he called me mean and I was kind of taken back by that. Nothing really happened with that and so then I kind of wanted to play with this idea of the good boy is never good enough. I think in my experience with dating and dating nowadays it's so interesting, I don't want to go in a tangent about it I want to keep it direct, but with this song specifically it was more so to kind of be like: alright if being what I thought was nice and kind of just open and free and flexible and whatever that looks like, then let me switch it up. Let me play the bad guy. Let me cause drama. Maybe then he'll like me if I'm not nice enough. So let me kind of flip it like: Would you want me if I was meaner if I caused drama if that makes sense. 

J: That makes sense because it kind of portrays the experience that you're talking about but also kind of the idea of a toxic relationship or a toxic partner and the idea of: tell me what you want from me.

XNDR: Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

J: So my other question was going to be about if that was a specific experience, but as you already discussed about that… I was just going to touch on the idea that you didn't want to get into a tangent of, how the song directly relates to relationships and dating. As you said in introducing the idea of this song and of these female artists that are conveying such powerful emotions through their lyricism and just the whole emotion and tone of the song, do you think you took a lot of inspiration from those artists specifically in your lyrics and writing process? I know it was about two years ago that you wrote the song or two years ago that you were working on this project. DO you think the lyricism comes directly from artists that you were listening to and who were those people? 

XNDR: Absolutely. This song specifically drew heavy inspiration sonically, and that did play a part into the lyricism, by Tate McRae. I am very very intrigued and obsessed with her rise, like right now she's been around for a minute you know starting on YouTube and sort of growing but I think that I've just been so intrigued by her and who she is as an artist. I was at the time her record Exes had dropped and I was just like, OH MY GOSH, like, she is a really great pop girl at the moment who has so much potential. And I drew inspiration from that lyrically. I think there was, not necessarily in the message, it's not the same message, but the sassiness of her song which goes “oh I'm sorry, sorry that you love me, change my mind up like it's origami” I kind of wanted to go into that direction too. This track was so fun to write because it came very easily. We had a bunch of different verses originally in the original demos but it was so fun to play back because I don't have a song like this. I've always wanted to. I've always, from being a little boy, I was like singer Ethan, who then became Xander, playing that pop star. Rush was a slow jam, so I was so excited to put this one out because it was like, okay, this is the time where we can kind of get into something that’s in a different direction. What else can I like show people that I can do… so I wrote a song about how they were wrong. Like this song, What He Wants, really encapsulates that. 

J: For your journey, that's like the milestone that you just hit. 

XNDR: Yes. I also want to say, there's two reference artists when it comes to me and making pop music now. It's Tate, and then there's this artist named Bronze Avery. I don't believe he's even signed. I think he's actually independent. But, Bronze to me is like the male version of Tate. And so, needless to say, I drew inspiration from these two artists. I just didn't want to forget to mention him because I'm always referencing him when Hayley (my manager) and I have meetings and we're just like, who are we drawing inspiration from and how are we making things our own kind of thing.

J: Yeah,, I agree and I think it's important as an artist, like you said, of making things your own. I know a lot of artists don't like to say, “oh, well you sound like this person, you sound like this artist”, but I do think it's important to kind of acknowledge where your head's at, like what space are you in with what you're listening to, what you're absorbing, what media you're taking in. All of that plays a role in what you're writing. And obviously we can see that in What He Wants.

XNDR: Yay, I'm so happy. That really warms my heart because that was the direction that we wanted to head in. I think the slow jams are great, you know, and if that's what I chose to do, like, awesome. With anybody else too. But I don't know, I also know that there's so much in me and also like not to jump ahead but with the next singles too like I'm so excited because they're different from each other and I think that's what I want to showcase at this point in my career is variety because I'm still building my audience and the taste buds are, you know, they're still forming when it comes to what exactly is the XNDR sound that people will  take in the most. We're in that spot where we can kind of play around with that. It's just fun.

J: I know we have talked about that in our previous interview that you did with us about this kind of transformative state. You're figuring out where you're going, who you want to be, all through the music that you're putting out. And I know that we had talked about how you’ve been working on this project for so many years and so many months, and questioning is this even good anymore? Is this even what I want to go towards anymore? I think that's really important as an artist to still use what you've made and say, okay, I still really like this so how can I interpret it to who I am now? 

XNDR: Yes absolutely. I’ve changed a lot in the last year. 

J: So going off of that, what can we expect from XNDR in the coming months of this journey that we're on? 

XNDR: Yeah well “What He Wants" being the pop single, I think “Rush” was that big bang that I really wanted to start off with. We could have started off with “What He Wants” but at that point in time when I was really figuring out how we were gonna execute everything yeah it was like “Rush” was that strong one that we wanted to really set the tone. So “What He Wants” I think will be a little more short-lived in terms of how we promote it but in the next coming months… I mean we're getting closer to the release of our EP Metamorphosis, which I know we talked about and especially referenced in reference to ] being in that transformative state. That's exactly what it is through this project. More singles of course, music videos, and just all the fun stuff. Like I said, it's building up that audience and figuring out what everybody's taste buds are. And the only way to do that right is to continue putting stuff out. I'm so excited for this moment specifically because I think we built up so much consistency between the release of “Rush” and we did so much to just make a moment out of everything which is what I love to do. Like if we're gonna go out and put flyers up I don't want it to be like just that it's… like we’re in the city of Chicago are we’re putting up these flyers how are we making it a moment, how are we making it something that my peer isn't doing. The process for it all is a lot of work but it's so so much fun, like even breaking it down to the covers the artworks. I don't know if I've shined as much light on them as much as I would like to, but I don't think that people necessarily realize, at least for me, how much of a big deal that they are. Like, from the beginning stages of everything, like we're sitting down and we're constantly making mood boards and having just references and sending them over to the people that we're collaborating with to sort of bring these ideas to life. For me, that's the reason why I continue doing this is because it’s one of the most amazing things to me to see what once lived in your head literally be brought to life. It's not like any other independent project.

J: It's putting your mind to something for such long periods of time and seeing it actually come to fruition. It becomes like your kid. 

XNDR: Yes! And it's manifestation and it's just so, so beautiful. I think like for me, I was raised in a Christian household and at this point in my life, it's very cliche, everybody says they're spiritual, but definitely for me, in that part of my life, like that's the way I sort of function. It's like “okay, if you believe it, you can do it”. For what he wants like it was all right at one point. I wanted to make pop music and then to now see that like I'm doing that it's just like…yeah, it all starts with you. 

J: Definitely, like your branding of this new era with the chrome sort of grungy looking graphics are awesome. 

XNDR: Thank you. Oh shout out to 8 Days of Design. His name is Carlos Sanchez, a friend of mine. So talented. I'm like telling you it’s literally everything that I've asked for.  Drawing it back to “What He Wants”, the day that we got the “What He Wants” cover I was having such a bad day. I don't remember what was going on, but it's so interesting how we can have really bad days and in like two weeks we don't even remember why we had a bad day. I remember being in such a bad mood and I got an email from him and then I got a text from him. He's like, “hey, like I just emailed you some options like let me know what you think”. And that changed everything. And that's how much these things mean to me, is that it can really change whatever is happening. I also hope that with whoever I collaborate with, and also the people who engage with my work, that it can change their days too, in whatever that looks like. Also, one thing you asked earlier about what to expect as well…I'm collaborating with some really dope artists recently too. This one guy, his producer name is No Way Nick, and then another rapper, his name is Cloud9. We've been working on some stuff together too. So, I'm not exactly sure if that'll show up on Metamorphosis, cause Metamorphosis is pretty much done. But, I kind of just wanted to throw that in there because I wanted people to know what's going on. Social media can only show so much and also, I don't really show too much of my personal life on social media. Like, nobody knows where I work or what I'm doing at like 7 a.m. in the morning it's really just like a fuck ton of reels. I also just want to say too, I'm so happy to be interviewing with UNLABELED again. I just think it's so dope for both of us to be on the come up and kind of just doing our thing together. 

J: We’re here to uplift so many local artists that are killing it and deserve the recognition for all the hard work. I know as an artist myself it's hard to keep going when you're like “Oh my god I'm doing all this work for nothing, nobody's seeing it, nobody's blowing me up on instagram or on tiktok whatever social media you're on”... So, it's a really good feeling to collaborate with people that are just as passionate and just as excited to work together to be putting out work and to hear somebody like yourself talk so passionately and so fiercely about the work that you're creating, it’s enlivening. 

XNDR: Thank you. 

J: It makes me want to work harder at what I do. 

XNDR: I'm just like, you're wasting your time, but no…and this is just my approach because I have so many bad days but at this point in my life, it's about me validating myself. It starts within and it's a really hard thing to do. I don't do it every day or feel that every day. There were so many times with creating the “Rush” video when I was like, “I don't know if we're actually able to do this” and I was like “If we don't do this, it's gonna like really fuck up a lot of things”...Like, everything I built, and my fear it's just you, it's just anxiety, and I was just so worried that if I wasn't able to execute what I wanted to, I would be letting people down. Sometimes you gotta let go, and just trust yourself, because everybody is more than capable. I don't know haha…but goes back to the what we were talking about a few minutes ago and seeing what you create come to life and using that as your driving force to continue can be something really amazing. So I'm so excited for everybody and I'm so happy and grateful for everybody who's believed in me enough to get to this point where we're still putting stuff out. Shout out to Haley too, because I think about how she helps me as a partner so much, and I'm just like, WHOA. I know I'm in this right spot of my life because I have my peers, my people who have dreams and goals as well, and by me doing what I do, I'm helping them and I'm helping them achieve what they want. Whether it’s, just friends or family, like it makes such a difference in the work that you produce. As I get older and as I continue working in the industry, I'm still so far from where I want to be, but every day is just a reminder of like “yeah this is how it works".You can create the world that you want, and that’s all I have. 

J: Is there anything else you want to say to people listening and the people reading the article that will come out?

XNDR: Yeah! I love you. Kisses, everybody. It's going to be a really, really fun summer. I'm so freaking excited. Like everything that has happened with this project has been so intentional. It's titled Metamorphosis for a reason. The project is quite literally growing. Starting off with a slow jam, going into this mid-tempo, and then now we're going into an up-tempo that's going to be so fun for the summer. I don't know, I'm just so freaking excited. I have no words. Talking about it, I'm like, AH! But yeah, it's going to be really fun and I'm just really excited for people to kind of vibe out and have a good time. Stream “What He Wants”, and believe in yourself! Go kick ass, you can do it. Thank you for having me, I so deeply appreciate it.