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The New Locals: JXN

The Melbourne artist talks about his new single with ASAP Twelvyy and how LA changed his songwriting process.

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Melbourne singer-songwriter Jackson Brazier has been making waves with his new project JXN. His blend of pop, R&B, and hip-hop showcases the versatility of his voice, and his first single ‘Solitude’ has clocked up over a million streams on Spotify. His second single ‘Red Lights’ sees him crooning with A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie—it’s clear that he’s going places. In celebration of his new single ‘Going Down’ with ASAP Twelvyy, I sat down with JXN to talk about how he got his start, lessons he learned from ASAP Twelvvy, and how LA changed the way he writes songs.

What’s up JXN! How did you get your start?
I was doing the whole winery performances, like singing at mates’ thirtieths. I only got in the studio probably two years ago, started writing my own stuff, started realising this is the kinda sound I wanted to make. And before I took the music seriously, I was making videos on Vine and such, trying to get comedy going. 

Which artists made you want to delve into music seriously?
I love artists like Blackbear and Post Malone. I also spent a lot of time in the last two years in LA and just being in the club scene. They only play hip-hop over there. Definitely all that stuff shaped it, but back in the day my influencers were like John Mayer and all that, so it’s a lot different now.

You seem to be moving in more of a hip-hop and R&B direction as opposed to the straight pop on ‘Solitude’. Would this move have happened without spending time in LA?
Probably not. You’re just around so much rap music over there. And it never used to be like that here. If it wasn’t for the club scene there and stuff I would have never heard 50 Cent. 

Mixing different influences and genres seems important to you. Why is this?
It’s very important to just have your own sound and be a point of difference. So I definitely pull from a lot of different places to make my music sound like it’s my own. You hear that in ‘Solitude’. It has hip-hop drums and it has got Swedish folk top line. Pretty fun stuff. 

‘Solitude’ touches on some pretty personal topics. Is it hard writing stuff like that?
It felt easy because I was getting stuff off my chest. I feel like everyone goes through those types of times I talk about in that song. Where you know it’s not going to work but you can’t do anything, and you still want it to work. So I felt like that was really something easy to write about.

You put out the single ‘Red Lights’ with A Boogie a while back. How did that connection happen?
He was here for Laneway and his team popped into the Warner office in Sydney, where they played him my music. My team then sent him the song to hop on and he loved the sounds. I was in Queensland with no idea this was happening. I knew we were on the same label, but I didn’t see this coming. I was supposed to be in the studio with him for it but it didn’t line up with his shows here. But man, it was a crazy process. 

You also just released ‘Going Off’ with ASAP Twelvyy. What did you learn from him during that collaboration?
He just taught me a lot about writing songs and such, and how to manoeuvre in this industry. We had a pretty long chat in the Uber to the studio where we laid that track. It was a good process, we just vibed out. 

I understand that aside from music, you also have a YouTube channel. How do you balance it?
It has been really hard. I’ve really trying to make a brand for myself on YouTube, vlogging and stuff. It’s a great way to make some extra money on the side and connect with the fans. But music has taken up so much lately. So I’ve been thinking about combining the two, filming myself in the studio and hanging out with other artists and stuff. That way both worlds are in the same timeframe.

Lastly, you seem to turn negative experiences into positive sounds on your songs. How do you suggest others make something good out of bad experiences?
Sometimes it’s hard to get out of those bad times but you gotta find the right people to be around and I think that’s the best piece of advice, have friends and mates. People can help.

Check out JXN’s new song with A$AP Twelvyy above and for more follow him here.

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