At the end of February, Giveon received his first major industry cosign. Making an appearance on Drake’s one-off freebie “Chicago Freestyle” was equi-part surprising and magical as the young vocalist delivered a chilling hook that brings the song together. The video alone generated 24 million views in one month—talk about a cosign.
Three weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting the 25-year-old artist when he came into my office space to play the then unreleased TAKE TIME for a group of us. “I had known I could sing, I just didn’t like my voice,” he told us. “I listened to Frank Ocean and Miguel, I thought that that’s how people were supposed to sound, and if you didn’t sound like them, you probably sounded weird.” Giveon carried this misconception until he had an epiphany listening to a Frank Sinatre record. “It was the very first time I heard a baritone singer,” he told us. “That was when I realized there might be an audience for my voice.” This influence is what makes Giveon so unique. The way that he effortlessly combines classic melodies, his breath-taking baritone voice, timeless song writing, and modern R&B production allows Giveon to create an entire world in his music that somehow feels familiar while simultaneously sounding like no one you’ve ever heard before.
Prior to the meeting I had heard his angelic single “HEARTBREAK ANNIVERSARY” so while I was already ecstatic to meet the young creative, I was in no way prepared for what I was about to hear.
On March 27th Giveon released his debut project, TAKE TIME. The eight song EP runs for 25-minutes and contains no features.
The project starts with a recorded voicemail from the artist’s mother, “Giveon, I don’t know if it was fireworks or gunshots but the birds is in the air.” Referring to helicopters as birds, the single sentence perfectly captures the constant essence of danger that exists in his hometown and is a perfect intro for the first track “THE BEACH.” On the track, Giveon sings about how it feels to bring a girl he likes back to Long Beach for the first time (“See, your mom told you about this side/It can get ugly/I'm just a boy from the east side/Do you love me?”). While he is clearly hesitant to expose this girl to the dangers of LBC, she tells him she’s not scared and is ready for whatever may unfold. Sonically, the track is wavy, anchored by a groovy baseline and a beautiful rhythm guitar.
The second track “WORLD WE CREATED” is graceful cut that accurately depicts the bliss that comes at the beginning of a relationship when everything seems to be perfect (“I just wanna stay in the world we created/I just wanna sink in the plans that we makin'/When I leave I'm not lookin' for a replacement for what I got”). The horns section in the back of the mix really compliments Giveon’s voice and the chorus on this thing feels so damn good.