Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Xavier Washington from American Idol Season 19

* In a recent podcast, Xavier says his parents weren’t musicians, but he grew up in a musical family nonetheless with a grandmother and several cousins who sang. He was raised on gospel music and performed in church settings regularly growing up.

* He played various instruments in his high school band and even served as drum major for a year, according to an artist profile in the Yale Daily News.

* Once at Yale, he joined that a cappella group Shades of Yale, an ensemble described as dedicated to celebrating music of the African Diaspora.

* He also performed with the Yale Glee Club and took classical vocal lessons for the first time at the university.

* The artist profile was printed in January, after Xavier performed a fall-semester-closing concert in one of the university’s common rooms. He closed it with a cover of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On.”

* Xavier told the Daily News that the feedback from the crowd, and the way they joined him on the performance of that song was a key moment for him as an artist. “That was really the first moment when I thought: ‘Okay, I have to do this.’”

* In January 2020, he appeared on The Terrell Show after being named runner-up of the Race to the Blue singing competition. He performs a number of covers on an episode of the show that’s been watched nearly 500,000 times on YouTube.

* One of the songs he sang on the show was “Yesterday” by Mary Mary. That’s also one of the first songs he performed when singing in church. In fact, Xavier posted a recording of that performance to Instagram to “point out how it all comes full circle.”

* He’s released one single, “Never Again” in 2019 after a producer approached him with the song’s concept.

* He says he’s working toward releasing more original music, but adds that “I’m just now realizing how hard it is to put something new into the atmosphere. And I’m 23. I’m still trying to find out who I am as an artist.”

* Xavier says he probably wouldn’t have auditioned for American Idol if the pandemic hadn’t short-circuited other musical ventures, but calls auditioning for the show a wonderful experience.

Xavier on social media:
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