Giveon's 'Beloved' highlights the universal commonality of love and romance struggles
Giveon has been on a quest for musical and personal growth since releasing his studio debut three years ago. But the more things have changed, they've also stayed the same.
'The girls didn't stop,' he said with a sly smile. 'I don't even know if I grew in that area.'
That's not necessarily bad news for the 'Heartbreak Anniversary' singer, because when it comes to emoting about the complexities of love and romance, the business of Giveon is always booming.
'I don't wanna get to a point where I start talking about the same thing, but there's so much still left to say," he said.
The seven-time Grammy nominee says plenty on his anticipated sophomore album, 'Beloved,' out Friday. He won't argue that it's another heartbreak manifesto, but he insists this project is more nuanced and introspective.
'I like to write songs about what people are thinking, but they don't want to say out loud,' said the Drake and Justin Bieber collaborator. 'Some of these experiences aren't that unique. I'll Google something random, like, 'Yo, my elbow itches on Thursday — what is that?' Somebody'll be like, 'My elbow's itching on Thursday, too!' So, I'm like we all going through the same thing.'
Following 2020's 'Give or Take,' the 13-track featureless album was crafted during a three-year period, with Giveon writing on every song. With the bulk of production handled by Sevn Thomas, Peter Lee Johnson and Matthew Burnett, the rich sounds of live musicians were recorded and songs began as jam sessions. It was a change for the 'Like I Want You' artist who generally starts his creative process by first writing over instrumental loops.
Giveon's identifiable baritone voice, wrapped around relationship musings, has consistently cut through the vibe-centered and party-focused R&B that's dominated the past decade. Some fans and critics complain that vulnerability is absent among today's artists, as phrases like 'if it don't feel like 90s R&B, I don't want it' have become popular hashtags. Giveon evokes that golden era nostalgia, but you won't find him begging and pleading to lost loves in the music video rain like many popular artists of that time.
'If she's upset, I get on my knees and lock my fingers and be like, 'Come on, please?' She's gonna look at me crazy,' joked the 30-year-old. 'I don't even like being outside in the rain no way – I don't want to get sick.'
Ahead of 'BELOVED,' Giveon released 'Twenties," peaking at No. 6 on Billboard's hot R&B songs, and 'Rather Be.' Standout tracks include the soulful ballad 'Numb,' and 'I Can Tell' in which he desires to rescue a love interest from an unhappy relationship. 'Bleeding' — where one could argue there's some pleading — is also a highlight, as he sings, 'I'm stepping over pieces, broken heart's on the floor / Cut my skin trying to make you whole again / So, I'm bleeding for your love.'
'That's almost more than pleading. I'm damaged trying to help you get put back together ... it's almost deeper and more vulnerable in ways because we could be taking the risk of being hurt as well,' he said of the song while defending his musical generation. 'It's easier to do that for something you've lost, but what if you feel like you really haven't lost anyone yet? Worth getting pneumonia over?'
Currently, there are plans for a tour, and he revealed he's open to creating a joint EP with Teddy Swims, a desire made known by the pop-soul singer in a previous interview with The Associated Press. Earlier this year, they joined forces on 'Are You Even Real' which reached No. 1 on multiple Billboard charts, including adult R&B airplay.
Giveon, who's also interested in creating short films, is adamant about one central creative principle: timelessness. He's always considering how his art will be reevaluated in the future.
'I don't speak in a trendy way — I just speak my authentic language. If you go look at a text read from 10 years ago, 15 years ago, I'm probably speaking the exact same way. So, I think authenticity is what makes sure it's not dated,' he said. 'I don't even like to cuss in my music ... that takes away from it, too. There's no cuss words on here, actually. My granny will love it.'
© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Today
5 days ago
- Japan Today
Eddie Palmieri, pioneering Latin jazz musician and Grammy winner, dies at 88
By SIGAL RATNER-ARIAS Eddie Palmieri, the avant-garde musician who was one of the most innovative artists of rumba and Latin jazz, has died. He was 88. Fania Records announced Palmieri's death Wednesday evening. Palmieri's daughter Gabriela told The New York Times that her father died earlier that day at his home in New Jersey after 'an extended illness.' The pianist, composer and bandleader was the first Latino to win a Grammy Award and would win seven more over a career that spanned nearly 40 albums. Palmieri was born in New York's Spanish Harlem on December 15, 1936, at a time when music was seen as a way out of the ghetto. He began studying the piano at an early age, like his famous brother Charlie Palmieri, but at age 13, he began playing timbales in his uncle's orchestra, overcome with a desire for the drums. He eventually abandoned the instrument and went back to the playing piano. 'I'm a frustrated percussionist, so I take it out on the piano,' the musician once said in his website biography. His first Grammy win came in 1975 for the album 'The Sun of Latin Music,' and he kept releasing music into his 80s, performing through the coronavirus pandemic via livestreams. In a 2011 interview with The Associated Press, when asked if he had anything important left to do, he responded with his usual humility and good humor: 'Learning to play the piano well. ... Being a piano player is one thing. Being a pianist is another.' Palmieri dabbled in tropical music as a pianist during the 1950s with the Eddie Forrester Orchestra. He later joined Johnny Seguí's band and Tito Rodríguez's before forming his own band in 1961, La Perfecta, alongside trombonist Barry Rogers and singer Ismael Quintana. La Perfecta was the first to feature a trombone section instead of trumpets, something rarely seen in Latin music. With its unique sound, the band quickly joined the ranks of Machito, Tito Rodríguez, and other Latin orchestras of the time. Palmieri produced several albums on the Alegre and Tico Records labels, including the 1971 classic 'Vámonos pa'l monte,' with his brother Charlie as guest organist. Charlie Palmieri died in 1988. Eddie's unconventional approach would surprise critics and fans again that year with the release of 'Harlem River Drive,' in which he fused Black and Latin styles to produce a sound that encompassed elements of salsa, funk, soul, and jazz. Later, in 1974, he recorded 'The Sun of Latin Music' with a young Lalo Rodríguez. The album became the first Latin production to win a Grammy. In 1975, he recorded the album 'Eddie Palmieri & Friends in Concert, Live at the University of Puerto Rico,' considered by many fans to be a salsa gem. In the 1980s, he won two more Grammy Awards, for the albums 'Palo pa' rumba' (1984) and 'Solito' (1985). In 1987, he recorded salsa singer Tony Vega on the album 'La verdad,' and in 1992, he introduced the vocalist La India to the salsa world with the production 'Llegó La India vía Eddie Palmieri.' In 1998, he released 'El rumbero del piano,' in which he once again explored the aggressive salsa that had always characterized him. Palmieri released the album 'Masterpiece' in 2000, which teamed him with Tito Puente, who died that year. It was a hit with critics and won two Grammy Awards. The album was also chosen as the most outstanding production of the year by the National Foundation for Popular Culture of Puerto Rico. During his long career, he participated in concerts and recordings with the Fania All-Stars and Tico All-Stars, standing out as a composer, arranger, producer, and orchestra director. In 1988, the Smithsonian Institute recorded two of Palmieri's concerts for the catalog of the National Museum of American History in Washington. Yale University in 2002 awarded him the Chubb Fellowship Award, an award usually reserved for international heads of state, in recognition of his work in building communities through music. In 2005, he made his debut on National Public Radio as the host of the program 'Caliente,' which was carried by more than 160 radio stations nationwide. He worked with renowned musicians such as timbalero Nicky Marrero, bassist Israel 'Cachao' López, trumpeter Alfredo 'Chocolate' Armenteros, trombonist Lewis Khan, and Puerto Rican bassist Bobby Valentín. In 2010, Palmieri said he felt a bit lonely musically due to the deaths of many of the rumberos with whom he enjoyed playing. As a musical ambassador, he brought salsa and Latin jazz to places as far afield as North Africa, Australia, Asia and Europe, among others. Former Associated Press Writer Sigal Ratner-Arias is the primary author of this obituary. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Metropolis Japan
05-08-2025
- Metropolis Japan
Live Jazz In Tokyo: Jahari Stampley Trio at Blue Note Tokyo
Jahari Stampley, a notable pianist and YAMAHA official artist from Chicago, appears with his second album, What A Time. He has performed with artists such as Stanley Clarke and Derrick Hodge and won the 2023 Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz International Piano Competition. His debut album, Still Listening, debuted at #1 on iTunes, and last year, he was nominated for a Grammy for his work on Keyon Harrold's Foreverland. Following his impressive performance accompanying Makaya McCraven at Blue Note Tokyo, Jahari returns with his own band. Alongside his mother, Grammy-nominated bassist and saxophonist D-Erania Stampley, he showcases unreleased songs from his upcoming album, including To Be Alive. Members Jahari Stampley D-Erania Stampley Xu Zhitong Showtimes
Japan Today
04-08-2025
- Japan Today
Sean ‘Diddy' Combs is denied release on bond to await sentencing
FILE - In this courtroom sketch, flanked by defense attorneys Teny Geragos, left, and Brian Steel, right, Sean "Diddy" Combs, center, reacts after he was denied bail on prostitution-related offenses, July 2, 2025, in Manhattan federal court in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP, File) By JENNIFER PELTZ Sean 'Diddy' Combs can't go home from jail to await sentencing on his prostitution-related conviction, a judge said Monday, denying the rap and style mogul's latest bid for bail. Combs has been behind bars since his September arrest. He faced federal charges of coercing girlfriends into having drug-fueled sex marathons with male sex workers while he watched and filmed them. He was acquitted last month of the top charges — racketeering and sex trafficking — while being convicted of two counts of a prostitution-related offense. In denying Combs' $50 million bond proposal, Judge Arun Subramanian said the hip hop impresario hadn't proven that he did not pose a flight risk or danger, nor shown an 'exceptional circumstance' that would justify his release after a conviction that otherwise requires detention. Combs' arguments 'might have traction in a case that didn't involve evidence of violence, coercion or subjugation in connection with the acts of prostitution at issue, but the record here contains evidence of all three,' the judge wrote. Prosecutors declined to comment on the ruling. Messages seeking comment were sent to Combs' lawyers. The conviction carries the potential for up to 10 years in prison. But there are complicated federal guidelines for calculating sentences in any given case, and prosecutors and Combs' lawyers disagree substantially on how the guidelines come out for his case. The guidelines aren't mandatory, and Subramanian will have wide latitude in deciding Combs' punishment. The Bad Boy Records founder, now 55, was for decades a protean figure in pop culture. A Grammy-winning hip hop artist and entrepreneur with a flair for finding and launching big talents, he presided over a business empire that ranged from fashion to reality TV. Prosecutors claimed he used his fame, wealth and violence to force and manipulate two now-ex-girlfriends into days-long, drugged-up sexual performances he called 'freak-offs' or 'hotel nights.' During the trial, four women testified that Combs had beaten or sexually assaulted them. Jurors also watched video of Combs hurling one of his former girlfriends, R&B singer Cassie, to the floor, repeatedly kicking her and then and dragging her down a hotel hallway. His lawyers argued that the government tried to criminalize consensual, if unconventional, sexual tastes that played out in complicated relationships. The defense acknowledged that Combs had violent outbursts but said nothing he did came amounted to the crimes with which he was charged. Since the verdict, his lawyers have repeatedly renewed their efforts to get him out on bail until his sentencing, set for October. They have argued that the acquittals undercut the rationale for holding him, and they have pointed to other people who were released before sentencing on similar convictions. Defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo suggested in a court filing that Combs was the United States' 'only person in jail for hiring adult male escorts for him and his girlfriend.' Agnifilo also raised concerns about squalor and danger at the Metropolitan Detention Center, the notorious federal lockup where Combs is being held. The judge wrote Monday that those conditions were a 'serious' consideration, but he said Combs hadn't shown that unique circumstances –- such as advanced age or medical issues –- would warrant his release. The defense's most recent proposal included the $50 million bond, plus travel restrictions, and expressed openness to adding on house arrest at his Miami home, electronic monitoring, private security guards and other requirements. Prosecutors opposed releasing Combs. They wrote that his 'extensive history of violence — and his continued attempt to minimize his recent violent conduct — demonstrates his dangerousness." Associated Press writer Jake Offenhartz contributed from Los Angeles. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
