X Lovers, the rising pop duo consisting of Jacob Ames and London Jackson, stopped into Z100 to speak with Shelley Rome. This duo met in 5th grade and grew up in Northern California together. After becoming friends, they started to create music at a young age.

Shelley asked them about how they found their sound, and they said “it’s under the umbrella of pop music, but it’s always changing. There could be one day where I’m obsessed with Rosalia and Kanye, and another one where I’m listening to The Beatles.” They also mentioned that Green Day and Kanye West as musicians who they grew up listening to, and those artists are major inspirations for them.

Speaking on the creation process, they said, “We never wanted to make music that felt complicated or hard to understand, so hearing you say it’s a vibe, that’s a compliment.”

As for the writing process, X Lovers admits that it isn’t always the easiest process for them. London feels he needs to be completely honest in his writing, and does not want to write about something that isn’t genuine to him: “I can’t sit down in a room and just write a song, that’s not who I am. It’s more like I’ll be going through something, I’ll be really feeling something, and I’ll write a song and bring it to Jake and he’ll produce it.” In terms of things about that are difficult to write about, he feels “it’s not something you want to write about, it’s something you HAVE to write about.”

Jacob produces the duo’s music, and they feel that they were able to build their own sound by not relying on other people for help. “We want to make music that we want to hear, and no other producer was quite able to do that.” So when it comes down to the recording process, they say they “put their blinders up” and only listen to each other and create what they want to create.

X Lovers recently released their EP “Virgin” and are going on the road with Chelsea Cutler during February and March, and plan to release music after. Check out their full interview with Shelley Rome above!

About Shelley Rome

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