Born in Albany, NY, Xavier White grew up listening to his grandfather playing the drums and his mother singing and rapping to hip hop and R&B artists Jay Z, R. Kelly and Usher. At the age of 23, Xavier released his first EP, ‘Our Last Memories.’ Now 24, he is currently hitting main stream media in multiple publications calling him the next R&B superstar. He took a few minutes out of his hectic schedule to tell us how he plans to kick it up to the next level.
SA: I have to tell you right off the bat that I just watched the video of your song, New York Times. Wow, that was good.
XW: Thank you. It was a lot of fun to make.
SA: I understand you’ve released your second EP.
XW: Yes, ‘Cancer Vs. Gemini’ was released last June and it reached a few hundred thousand streams in its first month.
SA: That’s fantastic.
SA: Before we get too far into what’s happening now, let’s talk a little about the past. When did you start singing?
XW: I knew I wanted to sing at age 6. Being surrounded by music and musicians every minute of the day, I was constantly trying to mimic what they were doing. I became possessed by the music.
SA: Who inspired you in your early years?
XW: I would say Prince inspired me a lot, not just because of his music but because he was different–his demeanor, his personality, and the way he looked different from other artists. I would say Michael Jackson inspired me to want to write and perform songs about love. I would also say that Usher inspired me because of the raw beauty of his vocals.
SA: How did you break into the business?
XW: I moved to LA for a while and then back to upstate New York for a while. Then I decided to chase my dreams in New York City. I got signed to a publishing company and started making music with a bunch of great producers.
SA: Where do things stand at the present time?
XW: We’ve been putting out a lot of great material and right now I’m just waiting for a larger label because we recently reached a million streams on Spotify, which is the level at which labels get interested. So where I’m at right now is that I feel my material is great and the audience is there. We just need a push that only a label can provide through financial support to enable me to build my brand, and established my name on all platforms and in more cities.
SA: Your songs are very emotional. Do you write them yourself?
XW: I write about 95% of the songs. The rest is just people tweaking the lyrics. I like to write about love and breakups. And while some of my songs are pretty straightforward and easy to like, I can also write songs that are fairly in-depth, complex.
SA: That seems like a departure from most of the stuff that’s out there, which is kind of in-your-face, if you know what I mean.
XW: Some of my songs the listener might not even get when they first hear it. I just want them to get my meaning at a certain time in their life where they are very intuitive and in tune with the world. At that time, I would hope that they listen back to that song and say, “Oh, I get what he was saying now.” That happened with Prince and Michael. What I mean is a lot of people started to like their music after they died because something like that moves people to really look hard at the artist and see what they are writing about, the message.
SA: It really sounds like you are trying to impact people’s lives, not just entertain them.
XW: I try to satisfy both realms because I obviously want to make my fans happy at the same time I want to teach them something through the message I’m sending
SA: What’s your first love–writing or performing?
XW: I love performing. Writing is just another part of my ego. It’s like my alternative ego. I kind of have this guy inside of me, call him X, who loves to write and this guy Xavier who loves to perform. X is this guy who is very ‘in the moment’ and wants to grab and pick apart his brain. He is this very cool, sort of a multidimensional character in my consciousness that I like to talk to and he helps me write a lot of my music. When I go onstage. I’m kind of the opposite. It’s this guy who will do anything to get his message across.
SA: How did your journey take you to Music Beats Cancer competition?
XW: What led me to enter the competition is that I have had family members pass away from cancer, just like most people have and it really affected me, both mentally and physically. So I’m happy I raised the amount of money I did because it is a great cause and at the same it is leading me to bigger and better opportunities. Even though I did not win and get the meeting at Republic records, I helped raise money for cancer research. If I can help find a cure with the little amount of money that I raised, it’s going to make me so proud and happy to know I did it.
SA: How can people see you perform?
XW: I play all over the city, and all over the world. Aside from the five boroughs, I’ve done shows in the Dominican Republic, Canada, Mexico and all over the United States. I’m also touring colleges on the East Coast. I’ve been very busy with tour dates, but if anybody wants to book me, they can reach out to me at xavierwhiteinfo@millergreenberg.com. My website is www.Xavierwhitemusic.com. Follow me on Instagram at Iamxavierwhite.
SA: Where do you see your career in five years?
XW: In five years. I would like to be finishing my third album for a major label, then moving out of the country for a couple of years to go to places that are economically deprived like Africa or Ecuador to perform. I hope to make amends with people whom I had problems with in the past. I would just try to make the world a better place by bringing music of love and party music to the world.
SA: Something tells me the world is going to know your name by that time.
XW: Thanks, man.
To learn more about Xavier, visit his Music Beats Cancer profile here:
https://musicbeatscancer.org/artist/xavier-white/You can purchase his music on iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/cancer-vs-gemini-ep/id1109506902You can stream him on Spotify at:
https://play.spotify.com/artist/4UvrEx9zsN8faur6UPSRWX
