<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Gary Gerard Hamilton<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Giveon is a hopeless romantic. That could be why his disappointment toward failed relationships has been on full display in his music and is palpable throughout his debut album, \u201cGive or Take.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI just feel like the way society is going now, so many people, they just want to give up on it,\u201d says Giveon of \u201cAt Least We Tried\u201d from the new project. \u201cI understand that, but we can\u2019t have a loveless world. What does that even look like?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a musical climate where mainstream male R&B and rap often overlap both sonically and in subject matter with tales of partying and living in the moment, Giveon has skillfully penetrated radio rotations and playlists with stories about the mercurial nature of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe moment I go through something, I\u2019ll write a song about it and that will just make me feel a lot better,\u201d said the singer. \u201cWhen I\u2019m happy, I\u2019m not too much running to the studio. I\u2019m enjoying whatever it is that\u2019s making me happy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Debuting last month at No. 11 on the Billboard 200, the 15-track project is the first full-length album from the 27-year-old baritone whose hit ballad \u201cHeartbreak Anniversary\u201d competed for best R&B song at the Grammys this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A collection of saved voice notes and voicemails from his mother \u2014 unbeknownst to her \u2014 serve as a through line for the album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI chose no features because it\u2019s such a personal album and just personal stories that I just can\u2019t imagine anyone else on it besides my mom and myself,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Led by the singles \u201c Lie Again \u201d and \u201c For Tonight \u201d in which he continues his ballad expertise, the album, which reached No. 3 on the Top R&B albums chart, features producer credits from Boi1da, Sven Thomas and Giveon himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On \u201cAnother Heartbreak,\u201d the artist belts, \u201cBut my heart can\u2019t take another blow\/And that\u2019s just why I\u2019m scared to let you close\/\u2019Cause every time I\u2019m in love, end up with nothing\/Nothing but these songs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c(People say), \u2018Here Giveon goes making these songs\u2019 \u2014 I don\u2019t want to make this. I don\u2019t want to go through this,\u201d he said with a laugh. \u201cI was like let me just write a song about the paranoia of the PTSD I\u2019ve had from a previous heartbreak that I feel like this cycle is going to repeat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But navigating fame hasn\u2019t been all smooth; he went through a public breakup with songstress Justine Skye, but he insists this album isn\u2019t reactionary \u2014 instead, it\u2019s a culmination of romantic experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI just pull from everything. It would never just be one specific situation,\u201d he explained. \u201cI decided a long time ago that I\u2019m going to keep everything as completely private as possible\u2026 I choose to express it in song form.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Believing a music career was unattainable after his voice pitched down during puberty, Giveon regained confidence when a Grammys music education program introduced him to other famous baritones like the legendary Frank Sinatra. In 2020, the former Bubba Gump Shrimp server burst onto the R&B scene in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic with a feature on Drake\u2019s \u201cChicago Freestyle.\u201d That assist gave Giveon\u2019s \u201cWhen It\u2019s All Said And Done\u201d EP a huge boost, followed by his second project, \u201cTAKE TIME.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recently, Giveon found himself on the pop charts when Justin Bieber tapped him and Daniel Caesar for the massive hit \u201cPeaches\u201d which earned four Grammy nominations, including record and song of the year. As he preps for his North American tour in August, which includes a stop at New York\u2019s Radio City Music Hall, Giveon says he\u2019s not caught up in the present, but is positioning himself for a long future creating timeless music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always had the mindset of I want to be able to just drop (music) in any decade and you can\u2019t tell when it was made,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m thinking 10, 20 years from now and I just feel like I\u2019ll be a highly sampled artist, and that\u2019s one thing that\u2019s going to be cool.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Originally published at AP<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Gary Gerard Hamilton Giveon is a hopeless romantic. That could be why his disappointment toward failed relationships has been on full display in his music and is palpable throughout his debut album, \u201cGive or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[2492,2493,371],"class_list":["post-7317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment-art-culture","tag-giveon","tag-heartbreak","tag-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n