Emerging from Vancouver Island, Canada, Xana is an emerging pop powerhouse. Her command of pop music keeps her songwriting enthralling, as her blissful vocals glide across the most intimate storytelling and worldbuilding. It’s her intoxicating vibrance that sets Xana apart, as she encompasses themes of LGBTQ romance, female empowerment, sex positivity, self-reflection, and discovery across her flourishing repertoire.
What first got you into music?
My parents! Especially my Dad. He played lots of the 80s and 90’s rock and would make me mixtapes to listen to when he had to go away for work. When I turned 5 my parents said I could pick any instrument I wanted to learn how to play but I had to pick something, so I chose the violin. Over the years I picked up guitar and piano and started singing lessons when I was 10. It was always important to them that we nurtured our creative sides which I’m so grateful for. But I remember watching Avril Lavigne perform, she was the first concert I ever went to, and I was thinking “That’s what I want to be when I grow up.”
What do you enjoy most about being an artist?
Connecting with people! It brings me the greatest joy when my music can help people connect with their emotions and with each other. Whether that’s feeling their heartbreak or embodying confidence and self love, being able to feel those emotions and everything in between and knowing that you aren’t alone in them is such an important experience and I feel honored to play some kind of role in that for people. It also makes me feel less alone.
What are your top two favorite albums of all time? Why those albums?
The Fool by Ryn Weaver is a classic for me. I came across it in 2015 shortly after it came out and I literally never stopped listening to it. I think I listened to it every day for a year straight at least, and it’s still a top go to for me. For me, it just feels like the type of album I’ve been waiting to hear for such a long time, and I haven’t found anything else like it since. The lyrics, the production, the vocals.. All of it strikes a chord with me.
If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power by Halsey would be my other top favorite. That whole album and project is such a unique and passionate piece of art, it made me really proud to be a fan of theirs. The music, the visuals, the storytelling… I have so much admiration for concept albums and album films, there are few artists who strive to achieve what Halsey has accomplished.
What is your creative process like?
It’s a little different from song to song, but usually, I will start with a lyric and a melody and start to build the rest of the song around that. Sometimes it all pours out in one go, other times it might take a few days to feel like it really got where it needed to go. Then I take it to my producers and we start working on the production and recording and bring the whole thing to life. I always feel like my songs already exist, and my job is just to figure out how to pull them into this world from wherever they were floating around before.
How do you deal with writer’s block?
I’ve learned to just give in to writer’s block! I know it’s only temporary and the harder I try to force it, the worse it gets. So I surround myself with things that inspire me, books, movies, new music, friends, etc and I do write down the little things that come my way, even if I don’t like them or if it’s just a couple of lines. Then before I know it, something shifts and I’m back in the game!
Patience is key. Just keep the pen and paper handy cause you never know when it’ll hit you.
What was the last TV series you watched on TV?
My roommates and I are currently watching The Last Of Us together and it’s my favorite show right now. I haven’t been this excited about a show in a long time! I’ve never been much of a video gamer so I never played the game but I see scene comparisons on Twitter all the time and I think it’s so special how close they keep it to the game. But everything about it is amazing and we are all crushing so hard on Pedro Pascal.
If you could learn any language fluently, what would it be?
I want to learn Italian so badly!! I used to be fluent in French (not anymore lol) so I think it would come pretty easily to learn, I just have to do it. Catch me running away to Italy.
If you were talking to a younger version of you, what advice would you give yourself?
Listen to your gut, she’s always right! Don’t make so many excuses for people’s shitty behavior! And write everything down, even the things you don’t want to remember! You will one day.
What would be the ideal food to have cooked for you on a date night?
Oh, I’m a total sucker for a medium rare steak. The best steak I ever had was in Mexico and I cried because it was so delicious. Either that or super rich and creamy pasta. Food is definitely a solid way to my heart.
Do you sing in the shower? What songs?
Absolutely. My recent shower songs have been Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve by Taylor Swift and I Don’t Know You Like I Used To by Mercury. That song goes so hard that I’m completely obsessed with it.
Following the success of her debut album, Xana is back with her new single “Bad Bandit”. Since connecting with producers Liam Moes and Shane Stephenson at the beginning of 2020, her musical endeavours have taken off. Finding inspiration in various different styles of music, Xana’s experimentalism thrives, as she dips her toes into whatever she’s connecting with at that moment. Finding familial comfort in her love for country music, “Bad Bandit” encapsulates Xana’s love for all things western, as she conjured up a host of intriguing characters and chronicles alike. She explains, “One of the first things I wrote was the first verse “Like Clyde and Bonnie, I want you on my body, bandits who aren’t sorry, a money hungry party” and that’s what sent us down this old western character pop-rock rabbit-hole. It was a song we got to have a lot of fun making.”
Paying close attention to the enthralling soundscapes and ambience of older western movies, Xana turns cinematics into soundscapes in her truly unparalleled way. “Bad Bandit” soars with roaring rhythms, a pounding bassline and Xana’s truly echoic vocal energy, enveloping into a rebellious anthem that amounts to the perfect level of sass and success.
Hoping to make people feel more connected to their emotions, Xana encourages her fanbase to embrace their truly authentic selves. She confides, “It’s so beautiful to see them fiercely be themselves and form friendships and relationships with each other. Music that brings people together is the most successful, and I’m so grateful to share this space with them.”
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