When Giveon first decided to pursue a career in music, he had the kind of voice that could stop anyone in their tracks but no sense of what to do with it. He holed up in his friend’s mom’s garage, “pumping out a bunch of bad songs” in order to figure out who he wanted to be as an artist and how he could use that silken baritone to make magic. “That's when I learned that you can turn pain into beauty,” he tells Apple Music. “I want the songs to sound like a natural dialogue—just a conversation with music behind it.” In his Up Next film, the Long Beach, California, native traces his path to stardom, which began where so many stories begin: with his mom. She was his earliest fan and honed his natural vocal gifts by having him sing “Happy Birthday” at family gatherings. After a few years of working in a shrimp suit at Bubba Gump restaurant, he eventually wrote the gorgeous ballad “VANISH,” and it became the confirmation he'd been looking for and set him on a path to becoming one of R&B's most striking voices. “Now I know someone likes my music and my voice, they actually like it,” he says. “It's an acquired taste. That's when I realized I'll have real, genuine fans.” Also, in an interview with Apple Music's Nadeska, he discusses his inspirations, how far he's come, and where he still wants to go. Watch the film and interview, and listen to Giveon's newest EP, When It's All Said and Done, along with selections from the rest of the artists in the Up Next series.
