It's early morning in Los Angeles, but for Xenia Manasseh, it's another late-night blending into the early morning. Xenia is tired, and rightfully so; she wrapped up a studio session just hours ago at 4:30 a.m., and now she's here to chat at 8 a.m. She's barely slept three hours. As she says, she's used to it, the constant grind to bring her soulful, introspective songs to life. Her resilience in the face of such demanding work is inspiring.
Xenia exudes poise and introspective wisdom beyond her years. In our conversation, she opened up about her journey of self-acceptance and the importance of patience and believing in yourself. Her words are not just advice but a source of enlightenment. "You deserve to give yourself the time to unlearn everything that you don't like and to appreciate everything that you do," she reflects. "It's literally about giving yourself permission to express, discover, and learn about yourself."
It's this honest and relatable humanity that suffuses Xenia's writing like a heartfelt conversation. On tracks like the hypnotic Phases, she grapples with the complexities of unconditional love. The upcoming single Bad Side, out soon, promises to showcase yet another dimension of her talents.
In an industry where authenticity can often feel like a rare gem, Xenia's immense talent meets kind spirit. Listening to her, I couldn’t help but feel uplifted and excited to see where her gifts take her. She is truly awe-inspiring.
You’ve talked about how your grandfather taught you how to play the piano when you were young. So, is that when your love of music first started?
To be honest, I can't quite remember when exactly it started, but my earliest memory of just me interacting with music is like I see an image of myself playing the piano when I was in kindergarten. My memories of my grandpa teaching me are from when I was older than that. We'd just sit down together at the piano, and he would just teach me what he knew, but it was the same with a lot of other people in my family; everybody's musical.
I read that you and your grandfather communicate by sending each other songs, and you included a song he sang on Love/Hate Pt 1. Will he be featured on Pt. 2. as well?
Ah, you know, good idea! He should be, he should be. Actually, I need to figure something out. That would be cool!
In the past, you've talked about your journey of self-acceptance and kindness. What kind of advice would you give someone who's on the same type of journey?
I think the number one thing is patience. I think throughout the journey of self-acceptance, of which there's no time limit on that. So, I think patience is the number one thing. I feel like we use the word a lot without truly understanding the meaning of it; you literally have to give yourself all the time that you need. You deserve to give yourself the time to unlearn everything that you don't like and to appreciate everything that you do. I'm just trying to figure it out, and then everybody's journey is also personal. So, it's not going to look the same for everybody. I think the number one thing is patience.
You’ve said musically, you kind of do your own thing and follow your own path. How has that helped you in your career?
I think it's helped me build a level of trust in myself in my ideas, and in my creativity. I have no doubt about what I bring to the table, but it's because I lean so far into my instincts time and again. I do think about it sometimes. I'm like, is it because other people have let me know that what I'm doing is good? But I actually do think that it's because I have given myself the space to see what's actually in my brain and express everything that I feel or figure out how to express everything that I feel. Again, patience comes in there as well and in time.
What advice did you give an artist who's having trouble being able to trust themselves and take risks?
You just have to do it, you know, because nobody knows what you can do more than you do. It's literally about giving yourself permission to express, discover and learn about yourself. Then you're able to put that out. The more you lean in, the more you have to pick from. The more you find, the more you have to pick from when it comes to things that you want to express, and then you find multiple ways to express those things; it's literally all tied together; I feel like it's all tied to how much you get to know yourself.
On the track Phases, one of the lyrics says, “do you really stick around just because of pride, or do you really think you couldn't love me, right?” Is there a story behind that lyric? Can you elaborate on it a little bit?
Oh. So, the session for Phases, I was supposed to be a joint session, but the other person couldn't make it. His name is Rome. I asked him if he could send me just some prompts so that I could just write something. I was like, okay, you're not here. Just send me some ideas and let me see if I can write anything off of that. And he specifically wrote down some version of that sentence. I'm trying to remember. It was something like, “I don't want to let you go because I don't like to lose.” It was something like, “I know I'm not good for you, but I don't want to let you go because I don't like to lose.” It made me think of the word pride. I wrote it down in response to that cause he was like, I just wrote some stuff down; just maybe do your own interpretation of it.
Really, why would you stick around, right? Yeah. And then, just as I was exploring that thought and where I'm currently at when it comes to love and specifically unconditional love, I was like, what does that look like in this sentence? You know, and it was like, what exactly is the truth? Is it that you stick around because of that, or do you genuinely think that you can't love me the way that I need to be loved? And being whichever answer it is, I'll be okay with that. It's not, I wouldn't say it was exactly personal to me, but I was like, huh, this is interesting that I see things this way now. Because I think a few years ago, it would have been different. It wouldn't have been I'm okay with whatever the answer is. Like I can make peace with whatever the actual truth of the matter is. A few years ago, it was like, I want it to be this one thing.
When you are writing, do you have rituals to get you in that zone, to where you're in a flow state? How do you prepare and get ready to write?
Honestly, there's not been much of a need for preparation for the last few years. Once I realised that all I had to do was just talk about things that I can feel and things that I've experienced. I've never run out of stories to tell. It usually just comes out. Yeah, it literally just pours out of me. I don't even know how else to explain it. It just happens. But I have a lot to say. Sometimes I don't discover what's on my mind until I'm in the studio, and I'm like, damn, this is how you feel.
I watched the visualiser for Phases, and it has a 90s feel. Are you a big fan of 90s hip-hop and R&B?
Yeah, you know I’m a nineties, baby. I’ve always been inspired by that era. That's my favourite era; It's just so good. The music was just so good. The videos were just so good.
Are there any moments in your career so far where you just can't believe this is happening? You say to yourself oh my God, I can't believe this is happening to me right now.
That's me every single time anything happens. I'm always like, just believe it. Just believe it because you dedicated yourself to this so you deserve it, but then it never stops being shocking. Because sometimes I sit here and I'm singing. I can't believe that it's singing, you know, that's taken me all over the world and taken me to places people in my family haven't been, it's a trip. I'm just doing something that I'm good at and also knowing that it's a gift. You know, it's something that was given to me. It never stops being a trip. It's all I want to do is just use it.
What advice would you give young girls who look at you and say, I want to do what she's doing?
To believe that they can, no matter what, because it's possible. You have to believe that it's all possible for you. That is it; that's the seed that needs to be planted in your mind, in your heart, in your spirit. Of course, you can have people encourage you and point you in the direction of what you're supposed to do. Sometimes, it does take somebody on the outside who is like, Yo, I see that this is really something that you should do, but at the core of it is your belief in yourself and your abilities and in the power of using your gifts. So, go for it all the way.
