He’s one of modern pop-punk’s breakout stars – but as he reveals in this musical deep-dive, jxdn’s got varied taste…
From Juice WRLD to Justin Bieber, breakout star jxdn (real name Jaden Hossler) reflects on the music that has soundtracked his 21 years on Earth so far…
“It’s a hymnal I learned in church when I was a kid. I have a feeling that was the first song I ever remember hearing. To this day I really enjoy hymnals because of their structure and melodies. In fact, I take a lot of melodic inspiration in my writing from hymnals.”
“I can picture it right now. I’m driving in my 2003 Jeep Liberty the summer of my freshman year of high school. Wasted was just released. This was the beginning of Juice’s career and the first time I was obsessed with an artist since I was a kid with Justin Bieber. This was the summer smash when I was a sophomore. Brings back a lot of memories in my car.”
“My first concert ever was a Juice WRLD concert in 2019. Hearing his song Empty live in concert was a pivotal point in my life and one of the reasons I decided to make music, so I’d have to go with that. In the middle of 10,000 screaming kids, I heard a symbiotic line being sang: ‘I’m empty, I feel so goddamn empty.’ In this moment I knew we were all connected by something. It wasn’t just pain, it was music. All of our souls crave it.”
“In addition to my last answer, Justin Bieber’s Never Say Never. When I was nine years old I saw his documentary/movie Never Say Never and I felt an instant connection. It really was the start of my entire singing career. However, the initial reason to create music was found at my first Juice WRLD concert; my first concert ever.”
“What an absolutely wild thing to happen! Literally would have never imagined it. So incredibly grateful. You know, when you’re making music you never really know how it will live after it is birthed into the world. This was the first time I got to watch the success of one of my songs. Radio is everyone’s goal so it was nice to taste that early on.”
“I consider it my favourite song of all time. I love ballads and the juxtaposition of the beauty in his voice to the gut-wrenching lyrics gets me every time. Funny enough a girl singing the song blew up on TikTok, so everyone really knows it now – they just don’t know the original. If you haven’t heard it you should listen. It’s a musical journey for your ears.”
“What a great song to belt. Oh, that and Titanium by David Guetta feat. SIA. Pitch Perfect always comes to mind when I hear that song. It’s one of those songs when you’re in the shower and the vibrato of the acoustics in the room are just right, so you sing with 100 times more confidence. A great song to sing with emotion.”
“A lot of my new music is my favourite and probably what I’m most proud of presently. However, Pray is my most rewarding song and is the highlight of my shows for me. So proud and grateful for that one. I actually didn’t write the first half of the song. It was my first session with Travis [Barker] and we ended up taking the first half from Brian Lee. Months passed and I wrote the response to the first half with hope. To this day people talk about how the switch to hope lyrically and emotionally completes the song.”
“My cover of drivers license wasn’t hard to write, obviously, but it was challenging to sing. One of my favourite moments was showcasing my voice on that song. It challenged me. I also have a pretty serious nodule in my vocal cords. I made this cover at the early stages so my voice had a lot more range. So glad I got it done. Need people to know what I got in my arsenal (laughs).”
“This is a crazy question. I would love to have a song people felt incapsulated me as a human and as a soul. If I’m being honest, that question gives me anxiety because I feel like I would pick the wrong song. However, if I did have to pick right now, I would choose Everything Will Be Alright, because if we are at a funeral I need the people to understand that I’m alright. A great song to listen to while you’re alive as well. Hopefully people won’t have to play anything, anytime soon.”
jxdn’s latest single Sober is out now.
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