Photos by Keeley Parenteau 

TheHxliday isn’t afraid to express himself. The Baltimore native has been tapping into his feelings and creating music since he was 13-years-old. His love for music sparked early on when he was introduced and taught how to use GarageBand by his mother, who was part of an alternative-rock band.

Six years later, through pop-infused hip-hop, TheHxliday developed his own sound and captivated a loyal fanbase. Last year he signed a deal with Motown Records and released the Broken Hearts EP and the Batbxy tape. Most recently, TheHxliday unleashed a new EP calling it The Most Beautiful Disaster, a concept project that includes two sides to it. Each side carries a distinct vibe, catering to the moods of the listener. “When you listen to it, you choose your spice. If you feeling bad, you listen to the disaster side if you feeling a lil reckless, you know. If you just tryna chill and vibe, you can listen to the beautiful side,” said TheHxliday.

Two weeks before the release of The Most Beautiful Disaster, TheHxliday linked up with Polo G and premiered the visuals to the lead single “Wit Dat,” which amassed over a million views in just a few days. That same weekend TheHxliday and Taylor Bennett released a summer anthem “Come Alive.” TheHxliday has only begun to scratch the surface, and 2021 has been a testament to that. Through various music videos and a masterpiece of a project, he's proven himself to the industry. There is no telling where this young genre bending artist is going, but his journey sure seems promising.

"Just to let you know I've been fucking with Elevator for a while now," said TheHxliday right before I started our conversation.

You're out in Florida at the time of this interview. What are you up to?

Right now, I'm working. I just locked in with Hitmaka and other raw-ass producers. I'm vibing out here too. It's good. It's a nice vibe. I like Miami a lot. It's lit.

You started this year off with a bang when you released Batbxy. Tell me about that project.

Batbxy was something I was working on throughout 2020. I announced it in the summer. I had told my fans I wanna make a tape called Batbxy. I tweeted, and I was like, 'Damn Batbxy sound like a good EP name guys,' and they were like, 'yeah bro make it happen.' I had it aimed for Halloween, and there's where the name came from since I like to give themes to my tapes when they come out to fit my name TheHxliday.

So since it was going to come out around Halloween, it was going to sound darker and eerie. I named it Batbxy, but once it came to almost dropping it on Halloween, there was a few changes I had to make to make it perfect, and the whole team had to listen to it make sure it was perfect. We just thought it be nice to actually release it on the one-year anniversary of the tape previous to that.

Now for those who don't know, how did TheHxliday come up with his name, and why does TheHxliday only drop on Holidays?

I only drop on holidays because ever since I was a kid, I just liked holidays. Whenever Christmas came, I was the only one out of my three brothers that was setting up and decorating the tree first. Like I already had the stuff out, and it was barely Halloween.

My name TheHxliday came before I even started making music, probably around 12 or 11-years-old. It was just spelled TheHoliday with an O at first, but I put the X in it when XXXTentacion passed. I put it in there as a form of respect.

You recently had a partnership with Verizon where you used their 5G VR tech to create your own world. Tell me about that world and the virtual performance you did. (Performance can be viewed here)

They asked me what I wanted to do, and I wanted to do a call back for my fans. What I did was I took my first EP, Broken Halls, and the concept behind it and placed moons all around the set, and I also included bats resembling Batbxy. I had butterflies and everything. It's just like a call back to all my music for the people that been fans for a while that notice the details. I think they're going to like it a lot. You can actually really interact in the world. If you put on an Oculus Rift, you can actually interact.

From what I heard, your mother played a significant role in your love for music. Tell me about that & also tell me about the artists you grew up listening to with your mother alongside the artists that ultimately influenced your music.

A lot of alternative rock, pop music, and hip-hop she really introduced me to everybody that I could think of. Once the SoundCloud wave started coming in is when I started listening to music on my own. That's how I found X, Trippies, and all of em. She put me on to like My Chemical Romance, one of my favorite bands, and Linkin Park, one of my favorite ones too. Green Day, Bruno Mars, there's many artists across the whole spectrum she put me onto. Literally, the first song I ever covered was to a John Legend song, "Glory."

Now let's move on and talk about your new EP, The Most Beautiful Disaster.

This is honestly one of my favorite projects I've put out so far. It's different too because it's my first double-sided EP. I made a side called beautiful and a side called disaster, so it splits over the balance of the good energy and the bad energy. When you listen to it, you choose your spice. If you feeling bad, you listen to the disaster side if you feeling a lil reckless, you know. If you just tryna chill and vibe, you can listen to the beautiful side, know what I'm sayin.

What's your favorite song on this project?

My favorite song is "Missed Calls." The session in which I made that song was crazy. I was in LA and linked up with Eric Hudson to create this song. We did like 6 songs that night, and that one of the songs from that bunch. All the songs from that night were crazy! I actually eventually wanna drop a whole tape with Eric Hudson. He's GOATED in the industry; he's crazy, creative as hell too.

Who is TheHxliday currently listening to?

Well, on my playlist right now, I got a lot of SoFaygo, a lot of SSGKobe, a lot of Trippie, Uzi. Right now, that's my mix and myself. You know I be vibing to my songs. Moneybagg Yo, too, ey he snapped on this new album.

The track "Salsa" has a Latin twist to it. Are you open to creating a song with a Spanish-speaking Latin artist?

I'm way more open to that. I'm actually open to making my own Spanish song. I wanna switch it up on them.

Who are you looking to make a song with that you haven't worked with yet?

I would say me and Yung Thug would make something crazy. Me and Uzi would also make some crazy, and me and Faygo would be crazy too.

Last year you signed with Motown Records. What made you decide they were the best fit for you?

I believe it was definitely the openness of creativity that I have with the team and everything. I'm able to really do anything, I have a lot of creative control, so I really appreciate that from the label. A lot of people talk about how that's hard to find and for me to have this as my first deal. I've been turning down deals for a while, but I wasn't in no rush. I was just making sure I was making the right moves and make my own art, know what I'm sayin. They was the best decision for that route.

Your performing live this summer at Rolling Loud & at The Summer Smash. Are you excited to get back on the stage? & are you planning on headlining your own tour in a near future?

You already know I'm hyped. I'm gonna hop on that and perform "Opps" first and "Wit Dat," then rave in the crowd. I'm really gonna turn up, though. All these shows I'm excited I've been waiting for this comeback.

I definitely wanna headline my own show. I'd call it Welcome to Luvverville. That be hard.

Can the fans expect a song to drop this coming 4th of July?

Yes, they can expect something… expect something…

Where do you see yourself within the next decade?

Ima be on Drake level by then. Ima be going crazy dropping just platinums. And you're going to see me in movies I wanna get some acting on for sure. I love horror movies. I feel like I'd be a good actor.

Is there anything you'd like to let your fans know?

Don't give up on anything that you're working for right now because it's going to come, on bro.