Bryce Xavier is just 24 and has already discovered to not accept much less. Possibly it’s as a result of he’s been thrust into the general public eye since he was 14, or as a result of he’s felt double the quantity of affection and disappointment along with his fame piled on prime of it. With all eyes on him, he’s differentiating the eye he will get versus the eye he deserves.
The singer has been via quite a bit this yr. “My grandma handed away two months in the past and I used to be feeling actually lonely with what number of ‘associates’ I had, however only some to actually lean on,” Xavier tells me. “I wasn’t joyful for thus lengthy as a result of I felt like I wasn’t being poured into the best way I used to be pouring into others, and I needed a full cease to it.”
“Keen to Die,” Xavier’s newest single, is dreamy and danceable, akin to hits from Troye Sivan or Lauv. You’d assume it was a head-in-the-clouds love track if it weren’t for the lyrics: “Would you be keen to die / For me to really feel extra at dwelling?” The track is each a plea and an affirmation. He yearns as he sings, however is assured sufficient to know that nothing can cease him from getting what he needs.
Vulnerability is Xavier’s throughline. He’s been on-line from a younger age, creating movies when TikTok was nonetheless Musical.ly, and going viral on Instagram for his cowl songs. He saved up with the content material since then, releasing his first single “Fall in Love Once more” in 2019. Since then, he’s launched a slew of singles alongside his debut EP Superbly Tragic in 2021 and LP It’s Been a Good Recreation in 2024.
On TikTok, he’s been making an attempt to be extra open along with his followers on how his songs come collectively. When he dropped the observe “Want2Want” again in July, he described sure relationships in his life that couldn’t deal with confrontation and realness. It’s straightforward to have pretend associates, particularly being on the Web for thus lengthy—Xavier received’t have any of that. He needs to be liked, and liked in the best way he is aware of he deserves.
“I’m undoubtedly a lover boy. I at all times have been. The issue is that typically I’ve liked greater than the opposite individual and sacrificed much more. It left me feeling a bit unworthy, you already know?” he says.
Along with his unfiltered movies and equally trustworthy songs, I requested Xavier if he’s used to being susceptible to thousands and thousands of individuals, or if it nonetheless comes as a battle.
“[I’m] undoubtedly used to it, and likewise [it’s] undoubtedly hesitant to share. I don’t assume the worry of sharing will ever go away,” he says. “The web is such a scary place, however I’ve determined to concentrate on the enjoyment between the cracks. The people who assist me are loud and even when the haters are loud too, I’ve at all times been good at compartmentalization.”
One of many issues that makes his music so relatable is that it’s not all love songs—he sings about friendships cracking, falling aside, and constructing new ones that fill your cup. Listeners can undoubtedly tie it to a lover (“lots of people [dissect] the lyrics to know who and what I’m writing about,” Xavier tells me), however he exhibits that friendships will be simply as emotional and heartbreaking.
“I removed loads of associates and habits in my life that I felt weren’t good for me… I’m attracting myself in direction of the identical love, vitality and feeling that I’ve,” Xavier says.
Recently, Xavier simply needs to bounce via the ache. It’s his approach of getting his emotions off his chest whereas manifesting the best way that he needs to really feel. He departs from gentle ballads like “I Love You Boy” and final yr’s Motown-esque “You Make Me Silly” to tracks that border on disco and funk, together with his single “Fever” launched earlier this spring. He references Michael Jackson and Prince whereas channeling his love for the fashionable pop of The 1975, Robyn, and Janeremover.
Xavier is a chameleon—it feels as if he can change his sound at any time whereas nonetheless staying true to his genuine self. All of his tracks launched this yr are part of a bigger, full-length album—After I ask Xavier if he can tease something, he replies, “You’re simply gonna have to attend and see.”
Listeners can see Bryce Xavier reside when he opens for Fake Actual this fall. He’s teasing his efficiency because the “One Man Present,” what Xavier says “is a touch to one thing coming,” and will likely be like nothing he’s achieved earlier than.
