20-year-old Yung Xavi is emerging out of California and gearing up to release the deluxe version of his EP To Jonathan at the top of the year.
Xavi began making music “at a young age.” He learned how to play the piano when he was five-years-old then he “started learning how to write lyrics” according to an exclusive phone conversation.
Check out the full conversation below with the young artists to get to know him better:
So you drop an EP last year called To Jonathan and that was dedicated to your father who passed away due to his struggles with drugs. How did your music evolve since dropping that EP?
I’d say, uh, it’s evolved in a new, numerous amount of ways. You know, I feel like through every track that I’ve done, um, my experience and through just my team, putting me in with, uh, you know, some very experienced people. Um, every time I felt like the emotions and the, just the intentions and the level that I wanted to be at was all there. Like I had, I had all the tools, the tools and everything necessary to accomplish that with everybody that I had in the room, they were all there, you know, supporting me and helping me and guiding me through everything that I needed. And, um, I feel like now, especially going through all those things where I really wanted to, you know, find myself this whole album, that whole album was basically, or me, for me, it was a journey to like, you know, really, truly discover my sound and to find myself and to find self peace. I feel like I truly found that I found my confidence. I found, I found what I wanted to sound like. Um, and it was all thanks to, you know, every, by my team and to everybody that was supporting me. And, uh, you can really hear that in the music now. Um, I, I, you can clearly tell, you know, what I sound like and where I want to go and, you know, my songs, I feel like now I feel like I was, especially in my past album. I was trying to be as versatile as I could, but now I’m focusing on trying to produce one sound, so, yeah. Okay, cool. You’ll see a lot more. Um, I wanna S uh, it’s going to be frequently the same sound, I guess, more so when I’m trying to say.
So I read somewhere that a huge part of you coping with your mental health issues has been impacted by your music. So how has your music impacted your mental health in a positive way?
I feel like, you know, for the longest time I’ve been in therapy ever since I was five years old, um, I’ve been to, you know, a couple of rehabs. I feel like I’ve had, I explained to myself to plenty of therapists and counselors and people in general throughout the years. And I never felt like I truly got my side across, you know, with everything that I had, you know, inside me, I felt, I never felt like my emotions and everything that I wanted to portray really truly came across in the way that I wanted it to, you know, kind of like the same old, boring story every time. And, um, I never felt like I really connected with anybody or I really helped, or it didn’t really do anything for me until I started making music with it when somebody, you know, just listen to it and either got what I was saying, or they got something else out of it and got something out of it for themselves, you know, and for me, that was the most fulfilling, you know, feeling out of something negative. And that kept me down for so many years to see it change to that and to change to, I mean, I didn’t even care. It was one or two people that told me that inspired them to, you know, start changing their lives and to, you know, start making a difference. For example, one of my home that my, one of my homeys who was, uh, homeless for almost three or four years, and, you know, he started seeing me do this from the get go. And, um, I told him, I took him under my wing. I was like, yo, you can do this with me brother. And, you know, let’s get, let’s get you out of here. And, um, you know, you had this doubt and it took him, you know, a year riding with me and then a year, you know, doing a little self discovery for him to come back to me. And he told me, you know, Xavier, I wish I listened to you from the start. And you know, he’s now doing his own thing. He has a, full-time paying job. He’s, he’s doing his own rap thing as well. And, um, you know, for me, it’s just that, you know, just kind of keep on going no matter what anybody thinks or says. And hopefully I inspire some people doing that and to, you know, just continue following their own dreams no matter what kind of people give them.
Who do you think your dream collab would be with?
If maybe I worked with somebody like Post Malone, even he’s like a cool artist for me. And one of my top artists for people that are out and kind of, you know, up and coming right now. But I feel like just how he went in his career. And like, I just feel like his mindset in certain things and how he likes to do his songs and how I do my songs are kind of similar. I feel like I would just get a lot from him and his team and how he does things. But besides that, my dream dream one would be working with the lead singer of systems are down, of course, but I feel like more out of race than anything else.
When are we getting another EP?
Because the first two Jonathan albums [were] actually a part one and I want to release like a full deluxe, like to the Jonathan albums. I want it to be at least 20 songs on that deluxe album that we’ll be releasing on my birthday in January.
Where do you see yourself in three to five years?
My goals aren’t too, too big. Um, I feel like, you know, I feel like everything’s kind of changing right now though, especially, you know, with, um, you know, with everything changing with my team and stuff, you know, losing Ruben and everything, you know, I’ve always kind of like doc kind of small. Um, I always just wanted to kind of make it enough to, you know, be able to support myself for the rest of my life and to just support what I’m doing. Um, but now, you know, I want to be a lot bigger than that, you know, and, um, you know, I really want to make a difference. So I didn’t see myself being a big enough influence to where, you know, I can start spreading positivity to, you know, kids of my age. I hopefully know I want to be sending up, you know, certain, uh, programs in schools, uh, dedicated to, you know, making, you know, music and becoming artists and producers and stuff. So I’m hoping in the next four or five years, I’ll have enough influence enough money to be able to start programs in schools to start doing that.
