Givēon will release his second full-length studio album on Friday, but he's already thinking about the long game. In an interview with Apple Music's Zane Lowe, Givēon said he's inspired by Usher's longevity in the music industry.
"I want to stay around because I value longevity as well. ... Even Usher's story is just so inspiring. Because it's like this is a rhythm and blues act who does the Super Bowl, has a crazy residency and it has a crazy tour later," Givēon says. "As a Black American rhythm and blues artist, I'm looking at that salivating like, 'All I have to do is be quality?'"
"He is really inspiring," Givēon continues of Usher. "I'm just like, 'OK, let me stay in here and make progress.'"
Givēon's sophomore album, Beloved, is autobiographical and includes stories based on his past relationships. He also compares it to a photograph to Rolling Stone.
"I think this album [is] like a photograph. Once you look at a photo, you start noticing stuff you didn’t see before," he says. "So after I finished this album, I was listening to it and looking at it was just like, 'Oh, that’s just not a person I think I would want my daughter to date.' At that point, I got to just actually do the work."
Givēon tells the mag the album will introduce fans to his own sound and says it's "going to be magical" when he hits the road.
"It’s going to be my best tour. I want to do strings, I want to do horns, I want to do background vocals, so I feel like [I’ll have] a full eight to 10 piece [backing band], depending on how big the stages are," he says. "The album is really a movie, it’s a world, and I want the night to feel like that."
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
