Los Angeles based singer-songwriter Leo Xia is a musician who should be on everyone’s radar. On September 28th, Leo released his sophomore album 384 in honor of the passing of his maternal grandmother who taught him Chinese. In total, the album has ten tracks which delve into topics of identity, loss and moving forward.
Since graduating The University of Southern California, Xia has been pursuing music. From co-hosting the podcast “Now, Pour the Tea,” and acting as a quarter of Beijing Boiz to performing around Los Angeles, Xia has stayed busy as evidenced by his accolades. His titles include Top Six Finalist at Kollaboration LA 2016, First Place at ISA iVoice 2013 and First Place at HKSA U852 External Singing Contest 2015. Self-described on his Instagram as “a masher of lyrics and melody,” Xia is certainly someone to pay attention to.
384 starts with introspection: Xia croons the question “where do I belong?” over a soothing instrumental. Bedtime, Keep and Sliced Fruit serve as vignettes, offering the listener insight between Xia and his grandmother. Tether is the most solemn on the album; Xia reflects on all the small interactions he misses about his grandmother and even sings a verse in Chinese to pay homage to her and their heritage. The final song on the album, Wonder, acts a kind and uplifting vehicle to assure anybody going through the pain that they are not suffering alone.
In an interview with The Daily Trojan, Xia states that since the passing of his grandmother, he appreciates his “family members so much more now,” understands that his “parents are not as invincible” and that “they were children once too.” This realization has caused Xia treasure “the people around you [more], not necessarily just family but like friends too.” Another quote that we love from his The Daily Trojan article is: “I think the core message of my music is Asian American self-determination. I want to tell other Asian Americans that you can actually do whatever you want to if you set yourself to it, despite what your parents say and despite what society tries to impose on you.”
Xia is currently working on a music video for his song Tether. Until then, please go support Xia by listening to Tether and all of 384 today! You can stream 384 on Spotify.
Check out Leo Xia on his site and socials below:
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