Josh X has established himself as a great talent, whether singing, songwriting or producing music for himself and others. On the day of the release of his newest single “Forever Love,” the multifaceted artist took some time to discuss his creative and entrepreneurial journey including the loss of a loved one.
I read you began playing classical music at the age of six and composed your first song at 13. What do you remember being the first thing to inspire your love for music?
First, as a very young boy I was getting girl crazy, and my mom was telling me Beethoven was going to get me all the chicks. I was like “really Ma?” So, when I hit my first crush with this classical piece, closed my eyes and all of that, had the bop going, shorty jumped off the piano and ran from me. So, I went home, I said “Ma, what happened? You told me these girls love classical”. She was like “man you better go to school and learn. I’m not sending you to school to get girls anyway.”
Being a young kid exploring, I fell in love with certain artists that sang R&B, and I was like “Whoa, let me try this.” And because I was already a pianist, it was pretty much easy for me to learn certain songs. One of the artists that I gravitated to was Brian McKnight. I loved his songwriting, so I learned the song and I sang it to that same girl. Let me tell you, we were rocking and popping. From that day on I said, “This works.” That became my little puppy love and from there I was like, music can not only get me the girls and get me lit in school, but I actually fell in love with it. Every time I would sing, I would get the chills or this feeling like I knew this is something I should be doing more often.
You also had the chance to meet legendary R&B singer/songwriter Brian McKnight.
Yes, Brian McKnight blessed me early in my career. He was one of the first legends really to co-sign and endorse me. That was a mind-blowing experience for me, singing his songs to my first crush and then him telling me, “Man you really got what it takes to become “That” guy”. That was a very humbling experience for me and shoutout to Brian McKnight—one of my childhood heroes, definitely.
You’ve worked with numerous artists writing and producing after this, Cardi B, Nipsy Hussle, Swizz Beatz, Rick Ross, and most recently Fivio Foreign. Can you speak on your growth from working with these artists?
Each and every artist that I’ve been blessed to work with, I say that I’ve learned something from everyone. My first feature in the game was Jadakiss and that boy rhymes, right? He’s in the top five, dead or alive. So, when I got in the studio with Kiss, of course I was nervous, but he taught me to express myself and just be me. From there, working with artist like Busta Rhymes and Nipsy… God bless Nip, and Mack Miller, and many more artists that I looked up to… I feel like I learned something from everybody. Fivio Foreign, what a movie that boy is. We had a blast shooting our song and video, “Goin Dummi.” With all these featured artists, I’ve stayed true to bringing my sound to what their song was or if they were on my song, I’d make them bring their sound to my music. I feel like the growth was just incredible. People will hear it as you go from my first feature with Jadakiss to where I am now. You can see “Okay, Josh X stayed Josh X, but he can definitely do different genres of music.”
After all this time working and producing for others, how does it feel to get back into your own music?
That’s a feeling I’m very happy to feel. I love producing. Producing is a great thing. It’s still my music, when I produce music for an artist. I know some artists struggle with that, “Oh I want to be an artist not a producer” and vice versa. But for me, I never felt like being a producer wasn’t showing my artistry because the production side of it is completing art. I feel like the realest thing I would say is, I really love being an artist and that right there is definitely what it is.
Now speaking of your music, what inspired “Forever Love”?
“Forever Love” was inspired by a few things. Being in love, of course, you know when you experience that you know what that “Forever Love” is. Second, it was inspired by just wanting to bring that love back into the world. I feel like today’s world is so cold and a lot of people are going through a lot of bad things. For me, I wanted to put something out that was different. I wanted to show a better perspective of what life should be like today. I feel like more people need to get married. Love is missing in the air and when I wrote the song, that was what I wanted to accomplish. That’s how the song was born.
I know it only dropped less than 24 hours ago, but how do you feel about the response you’ve received?
I feel great about the response. I dropped it at midnight. People have been coming in left and right telling me how much they love the record already. I’m just completely blessed to see people reposting it and downloading it. I feel like we’re going to be all right. I feel good. I’m on the phone with you. We kickin’ it. Shoutout to you and taking the time out today, giving me an opportunity and a platform to share my art. I truly feel like this song, especially when the video drops next Tuesday, I got something with this. It’s a dope re-introduction for me as an artist and it’s really making sure people know that I’m here to stay.
We appreciate your time more than anything. When will we be able to see you perform?
That’s a good question, I got a show on December 7th at SOB’s. Nema’s Boom Boom Room is going to be real lit. I’ll be touching the stage and performing Forever Love and some other songs… Then I have a couple of tour situations that we’re exploring for the top of the year.
Okay, so can we expect an album any time soon?
Absolutely! The title of the album that I’m working on is called The X Project. Something I’ve been bubbling and cooking up and keeping the songs in a safe vault like a lot of artists that are true to their craft. They like to take their time, don’t want to just keep releasing song after song after song. But I definitely have a title, “The X Project” and I’m looking to drop it top of the year. I’m in the process of finishing and finalizing some songs so when I get a date you know you gone get that buzz.
Now what can we look forward to in this next stage of your career?
In this phase I truly explored a lot of different things and I’ll tell you why. My father, my stepfather, recently passed away and that was something that took me to a different place. For five years, we were fighting cancer. In those five years, I had a lot of down time to think about what life means to me and what it would mean to me in the future. I discovered a lot about myself. Because of that, I became very involved in a lot of different organizations. I wanted to give back to the kids. I wanted to create different programs like music educational programs. I had a kind of crazy vibe where I just wanted to build a lot of different businesses, so I opened up a bunch of studios and barbershops… But as an artist, I would also say I stepped into my entrepreneurship side of my life. That was because knowing my father was going to pass eventually due to cancer, I had to take control and build a big situation for my whole entire family. That put me in a different place and I’m very thankful for that experience. Now I know that I’m not just an artist, I have become many things.
I’m sorry to hear about your loss. I do respect that you were able to turn your pain into power.
That’s one of the most beautiful ways to put it and I appreciate that. I was definitely able to take that pain and turn it into power. For now, that is the agenda and we’re pushing forward. In that whole experience with the pain, I’ve learned and discovered so many different things. Now I just want to pour that love back into people. You’ll be hearing about it. I got a bunch of things I do now. I also have a cooking show… I will be teaching guys how to cook, because you know what they say about guys that can’t really cook in the kitchen like that. So, you know me, I just had to represent for my brothers and let them know like “we got this.” I’m teaching how to prepare healthy meals because I also lost 100 pounds during my journey in self-discovery. I started loving myself more and truly understanding what life means for me. With all of that being said, we came up with this fire cooking show. If you need some recipes, you can come on the site real quick, catch a vibe, and learn a couple meals from your boy.
I think that’s really dope! Is there anything else that you would like the readers to know?
I just want to thank all the readers in advance. Check out my new single, “Forever Love.” It’s my baby. I truly feel like you need to watch the video when it drops on Tuesday. Also, follow me on Instagram @joshx. Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and check out my website Joshx.com. Check for updates for when I’m on the road and many more things that I’ll be doing.
Lis
