Audacy Check In: GIVĒON

Audacy Hip Hop / R&B

GIVĒON joins DJ Buck in the Audacy Sound Space at the Hard Rock Hotel in New York to talk about his upcoming album and the "emotions" of his music.

Transcript

00:00so then i did a freestyle and my my team heard it they sent it to drake and they was like okay

00:09stop singing that and and delete it and we'll just because he wants it and i'm just like

00:16what so keep in mind i'm opening with no music no one has no clue what was happening

00:21and in the back of my mind i know i have a song with drake

00:23welcome again to another orders he check in my name is dj buck this time

00:32i have a um i want to call him a good friend of mine i'm a day one fan um givey on with us right

00:37now how you doing man i'm doing so good even better now you did a show in new haven you didn't

00:43see me singing your songs no but i heard you you heard me yeah i heard you welcome man how you

00:47feeling how are things going it's good i always like coming back here and just getting to talk about

00:52the process add some context to to the music and everything um just got some good news seven

00:59grammy nods are you are you nervous um no i mean

01:06nah yeah i think a little bit yeah i'm always but i'm always nervous until i until i'm in whatever

01:14the situation is and then i relax it's like it's more not nervousness i'm just always i'm just excited

01:20i'm just really excited to be doing what i do did you ever imagine you'd be in this position as a

01:25kid growing up in california that you would be sitting here and in front of all the people

01:29performing singing these songs was that something that you always wanted to do i would visualize it

01:34but i it was hard to make it make sense because i had no idea the steps that it would take

01:40but yeah i would imagine it all the time but did i believe it i don't know did you have people

01:47around you that made it oh no not at all that's what made it more like oh this is just like this is

01:53just a dream because you couldn't believe it you can believe someone like you can make it

01:57with no resources with no because it's also this is also a space where

02:03if you're a doctor you're the best doctor in the world you're going to end up being a great doctor

02:08somewhere if you're an amazing basketball player you're going to end up in like the professional

02:13at least a professional organization but music i feel like you can be so talented and still there's

02:21a chance that you just won't get into a certain position because of circumstance yeah ep take time

02:27you recorded that during the pandemic you you released it during the pandemic yeah released it yeah

02:31why did you do it why then well i was our i was first the the pandemic came after i want to ask the

02:38pandemic why did you come when i was dropping my ep so i was just like oh i don't know and it was no

02:46i had no references or examples because it was the first time that ever happened in like the world so

02:51i was just like um and it wasn't going away anytime soon so i'm like i'm gonna just drop it now did you

02:57think during that time because of the pandemic it was a good time for people to consume your music

03:01because at that time everyone was online listening to music yeah and people were more so at home and

03:08my only concern was i love listening to music in the car so i was like are people gonna get to

03:14like play this on their way on their commute to work and stuff like that but i was like you know

03:18what i'm gonna just do it and put it out there yeah how did the chicago freestyle come around how

03:23did that happen take me to the day that when you got that phone call so i went on tour with snow

03:29allegra one of my favorites yeah i love snow in 2019 but i had no music i had one song that i

03:38released like years and years before like independently and i was just like okay so i

03:44don't know what what songs am i gonna sing because she invited me and it was just like 10 minutes i was

03:49like okay how i'm gonna fill how am i gonna fill up my set right so then i was like you know what i'm

03:54gonna release a song the day of tour called like i want you and then i'm gonna do a perform an

04:01unrelease i'm gonna do a cover and then i still have more time left so i was like oh i'm just each

04:06city i'm a freestyle and chicago was the first city so then i did a freestyle and my my team heard it

04:16they sent it to drake and they was like okay stop singing that and delete it and we'll just

04:23because he wants it and i'm just like what so keep in mind i'm opening with no music no one has no

04:30clue what was happening and in the back of my mind i know i have a song with drake that's crazy

04:36and they're just like no one knows anything yet and i knew this song it was as soon as i heard it

04:42i was like oh wow this is gonna be a life-changing thing that's amazing now the song that you did

04:45perform on that tour made it to the album one of my favorite songs on the album yeah yeah that she

04:51was rocking to that's the one i heard that's the one man it took me back i was broke up with somebody

04:54because of that song i picked up my phone i said let me i gotta call this because you took me there

04:59that's the goal that's the gift of your music is emotions man do you when you're recording these

05:04songs do you have to be in a certain mode to get this message of course yeah can you just jump

05:09in the studio and just sing like i love you or is it a process no it's a it's a it's a process i've

05:17tried to make the certain songs when it the the mood and emotion didn't match but it all you can

05:25just tell because it just comes off as just disingenuous so yeah i kind of have to big record

05:32peaches with justin bieber how did that feel that was a huge record i think i was just in the

05:38moment i i didn't realize how big it was gonna be i just enjoyed the song and i was just like

05:44i was like let's do it because he called me and asked and i was just like yeah of course and then i

05:49that was probably one of the fastest things i ever wrote because i was just so excited so but you

05:55never know how big these things are gonna be and then once this once it's out there you're like

05:59oh wow yeah like it was it was crazy your style of music coming up in la there's all types of music

06:07around you west coast you got all kind of music around you how did you manage to stay focused on

06:13your sound without the interference of what you're hearing on the outside yeah i think i think i just

06:18grew up culturally around so many different cultures that i would i would never be too influenced by

06:25outside cultures like my street it was it was black people it was mexicans it was um filipinos

06:33cambodians samoans so i was used to coexisting to other sounds but still staying authentic to whatever

06:41my family was doing and just i'm just i've just always been big on just authenticity i think you

06:47grew up around music um your mom and your brothers right yeah i'm gonna name some songs and you take me

06:52back to a time that you remember um some artists mary j blize um mary j blize

06:58my mom would probably be was living on the east side of long beach she would probably be

07:06cleaning up fussing about something about us dirtying up or something or if we didn't leave the

07:12the meat to thaw out when she went to work yeah that's mary j blize time i'm actually when i hear

07:17mary j blize i like i get scared you get why do you get scared because that's my mom that's when she

07:22played when she when she shut up when she had enough she would play mary j yeah she said that mary

07:26coming on yeah mary started preaching you in trouble then yeah teddy pendergrass it's smooth

07:32i remember us my my aunties and uncles it was like more of like the cookout is what i'm visualizing i

07:38could smell the charcoal burning i could i could just see the sun out it's warm everything is just

07:45copacetic now today 20s is on the radio right now were your 20s that bad did you wish did she wish

07:52your time in your 20s what happened man come on nah it wasn't horrible i think i just it was one of

07:57those things where i had to get off my chest where it's like it was like yeah i i'm just like i could

08:02have put this time and energy into something else is instead of like i guess if if i look at it a

08:09certain way i didn't completely waste my time because i learned certain things but it's like no i'm more so

08:15feel like i wasted what i could have put my focus into like i probably could have been a better

08:22artist or something uh people you grew up with back home when they see you now are they surprised

08:28at the person you became because you was never that person back then no everyone they're always

08:34like i knew it they knew it yeah you seem kind of quiet though yeah but it depends on the environment or

08:40like who i'm around once i get like comfortable i'm kind of like all right and it's like i i get i

08:49could get a little more quiet and timid not even timid just removed from just the public space because

08:56i i love the idea of keeping just like a healthy balance like i like to say i live in the the sweet

09:02spot of just like celebrity like i could i could do anything that i want to do without feeling like i have to

09:10move a certain way i could like someone yeah of course people are gonna come up to me and show

09:16me appreciation but it's not i don't have to worry about being mobbed or stalked or people trying to

09:20get into all my information blah blah i don't have to deal with all that what is this music you make

09:26um how do you think it makes your mom feel like what do you what do you want your mom to get out of

09:31what you're doing i want her to stop saying she can't believe it every day she says that yeah i'm like

09:36all right it's been five years yeah i'm getting offended now like you you okay you you didn't

09:44have no clue that it was possible all right year one year two it was like yeah this is yeah it's

09:49like dream come true year three she's like man you really did it i'm like yeah yeah year four or five

09:56she's like you i'm like all right yeah it's me yeah me so and that's why she not on my next album

10:03because i'm i'm fed up now your voice is hasn't always been like this growing up in high school

10:09most people have growth squirts yeah you had a voice your voice changed and how did you adapt to

10:14that and oh yeah it was terrifying um i think it so it really just pits down so i lost like my vocal

10:22control and breath control because it was just coming out a completely different way so i was like oh i

10:28i don't i don't know how to sing no more so but that's when i started to sharpen my my writing you

10:33ready but then i discovered like a frank sinatra very white um those voices those voices and i was

10:42like oh i could just use this i don't have to sing how i was singing before take me to the day you had

10:48that blank piece of paper on the desk and you started to write heartbreak anniversary what was that like

10:55i just wanted to capture a feeling that feeling of like

11:03something that stings every time it comes back around because it it is just a flood of memories

11:10and emotions that come back so i wanted to is there a way is there a song that i can or is there something

11:18i can say to someone who feels the exact same way who who doesn't necessarily know how to articulate it

11:26like i can because i i feel that i felt that it's hard to create something that's gonna last forever

11:32you create a song that's gonna last forever yeah i think that song is gonna last forever there's a

11:36there's a a clip of me performing in london it goes like re-viral every year

11:42the wi-fi the wi-fi yeah yeah uh wireless wireless yeah um yeah with a glass of wine it

11:47goes re-viral every year is that where the glass of wine started at because that glass of wine is

11:52famous right now i know i mean yeah i'm gonna say i'm gonna take credit i wasn't the first one to

11:56have a have a drink on stage but they were definitely the rat pack was definitely doing it

12:01dean martin frank sinatra um sammy davis jr but they were drinking whiskey um bourbon cognac

12:08you know that brown liquor you got that yeah i i started that when i feel i'm not gonna lie

12:14when i first saw you perform i said this guy's from britain he's british he's british the way he's

12:20moving he's british he got a spot of chin he's british you get that a lot yeah i'm i'm still fighting

12:25that allegation i'm fighting that fighting that case right now now the new albums are you excited

12:31about this new project coming out oh yes i'm super excited and like relieved because it's hard working

12:36on something for three years because year three don't feel the same as year one year one is a

12:42little more relaxed year three is like okay is it you on the clock kind of yeah but it's like it's up to

12:49you to to be like yeah but i'm gonna be an artist that takes his time but i i'm not but i also really

12:56care about my fans and the people who take the time to listen and people who spend their money to go see

13:04me for for 80 minutes to however long so i just want to give him something too the single rather

13:12big love that song right there thank you the horns the production it reminds me of like an al green

13:19if it gives me that that soulful sound yeah um who helped you produce that record they got seven

13:24who helped you produce that yes well first off thank you for that like that i guess

13:30reference or hummus because al green the way he's able to even capture

13:38soul and emotion that i talk about he's really he he's like one of my goats and sense of being emotive

13:44with singing and even performing wise too but yeah seven thomas is the master he's a maestro behind it

13:52like everything yeah and i was like there was like there were songs where i was okay with it being at like

13:57like 70 percent done and i was like this is nice but he was like no there's still a you still got 30

14:04percent left yeah and i was just like now i talked about al green and the horns i think al green's band

14:10was very important to his success and when i saw you i saw you i came backstage and i asked you about

14:15your band and you told me you said amazing things about that being how important for the band how important

14:20is it for the band to be in one with you yeah i think it's it's almost especially for the live

14:27element it's it's almost more important than my vocal because it's like my you've seen you've seen

14:35the show people are like they screaming it so the the vocal could be like sometimes you're not even

14:41gonna be able to hear me because the person next to you is yelling but you don't hear and you're gonna

14:45feel the music so it has to be it has to be tight and it has to it has to hit and we like have like

14:52i tell them every time like we y'all protecting me up here so we like we spend real time off court

15:01together as well because that translates on stage i can't wait for um you to go back on tour are you

15:09ready for another tour world tour oh yeah i'm very ready i'm coming right back here too and you're gonna be

15:13in there singing i'll be there singing i'll play the bass for you if you need a bass player i'll play

15:17the bass you play bass get that guy out of here get that guy out of this girl i got something for

15:22you well thanks for checking in with us give you on it's been amazing new album is out yes um beloved

15:28so please pick that up single rather be a great job and i'm it's a pleasure for me to sit down with

15:32you because you're amongst there are a new leader of r&b singers today you october london snow

15:39allegra sir you're in good company yeah and you guys need to take this culture and keep it to the

15:46next level keep it going yeah because we need to evolve what you guys are doing is giving us and

15:52giving the younger generation something that they never knew they missed they never didn't know they

15:55needed our green-esque horns they didn't know they needed that but now they do thank you very much

16:01thank you odyssey check-in give you on i appreciate you thank you

16:13you

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