When it came to making his latest album, When the Music Stops, jxdn knew wanted to return to the art of storytelling. No chasing hits or trying to go viral on TikTok — it was all about the songs once again.

"It's more valuable for me to love music than it is for my music to work online," jxdn, whose birth name is Jaden Hossler, tells GRAMMY.com of the demand for viral smashes. "For me, personally, it took the love out of the music." 

To help craft his latest project, jxdn tapped Travis Barker, who signed the singer to DTA Records after he went viral on TikTok in 2019 and collaborated with him on his 2021 full-length debut, Tell Me About Tomorrow. That LP spawned hits like "Angels & Demons," "Comatose" — which garnered more than 20 million streams and landed him a record deal —  and "So What," which entered the Top 10 of Billboard's rock and alternative charts. Jxdn has since become one of pop-punk's leading Gen Z voices, thanks to the authenticity he brought to his influencer platform and for his candor about his struggles with mental health. 

Just as his star was rising, jxdn lost his best friend, Cooper Noriega, to an overdose in 2022. The loss made jxdn reevaluate his own relationship with hard drugs; he's now abstained from them for over a year. "When my best friend died, I died, too," the 23-year-old artist tells GRAMMY.com. 

That loss ultimately prompted jxdn to rethink his approach to creating music.  His 2022 singles "Beautiful Boy" and "Even in the Dark" were dedicated to his late friend; the pop-leaning track "Sober" which was intended to kick off "new era" for him. In 2023, jxdn announced that he would temporarily return to using his given name and would pivot to a more pop-centric sound. The following release, "Chrome Hearted," melded pop-dance beats with somberly delivered vocals — a testament to the artistic intersection jxdn found himself at. 

But even with the success that he's experienced so far, jxdn still feels like a misunderstood newcomer. His second album, due June 28, reacquaints fans with the person beneath the shiny veneer of fame. When the Music Stops is also another opportunity for jdxn to reinvent himself. 

While his full pivot to pop may not have stuck, there’s an undercurrent of glossy production throughout many of When the Music Stops' songs, such as "What the Hell." But the album oscillates between pop-punk anthems ("You Needed Someone I Just Happened To Be There"), vulnerable acoustic tracks ("What Happens When the Music Stops") and nu metal-tinged numbers ("STRAY").    

Jxdn’s latest LP also became a way for him to process his past reliance on substances and his grief. The airy but infectious "Drugs" digs into his depression and drug spiral: "Oh, the drugs don’t work anymore / Yeah, I’ve tried them all before." And on the raw "Sad October," jxdn talks himself out of his grief: "It only gets worse before it gets better / We only get hurt when we think it’s forever."  

"When the Music Stops was very literal," he asserts. "I didn't listen to music last year, really, or the year before. Ultimately, jxdn says, he "went numb." "I think this album is the coping process." 

Ahead of the album's release, jxdn sat down with GRAMMY.com about how coping with grief and the woes of fame helped him find self-assurance — both musically and personally.

How has your relationship with Travis Barker grown from your work together on 'Tell Me About Tomorrow' to 'When The Music Stops?'

We've been through a lot over the past four years, and I think it's a bond much stronger than just putting out music. Every song I've ever put out has been with him, which is such a crazy thing to think about.

This project was really not for anybody else except for me and him. After I had my whole situation with "Chrome Hearted" and changing my name, I needed that so bad. I needed to see past the veil in my personal life, and I looked at Trav and was like, "I don't want to make a single hit." And he was like, "Perfect. I don't want to, either."

I just want to make good music. Nobody makes good music anymore. They just make f—ing hits for online [virality]. So I think that common passion for the art of it all really put us in a good place.

Tell me the story behind the title of the album.  

It had to do with the story of when I put out my last album to now. I got a lot of success really early on, a lot of opportunities I necessarily wouldn't have [had] if it weren't for people like Travis and MGK. I took advantage of them, and it was great, but as streams started dwindling, you feel your label and other people being like, "Let's do more. Let's do more." And it just took me to a place of insecurity and lack of identity.

Then, this all came together right when my best friend passed away two years ago, and I came up with the idea of "when the music stops." It wasn't even for a project or for anything — I just wrote it in my notes. I came back to it whenever we were making the album, and the last song I made on the album was "When the Music Stops." It's a very literal representation of [how] the music in my life stopped. It was the worst I've ever felt as a human being, and I never wanted to feel that way again. So this project was the healing of it all. 

How have you coped with fame and found a way to balance the attention?

The reason I believe in myself so much — and I know I'm going to be who I'm supposed to be — is because my story is so unique. And [how grounded I am] really doesn't make sense for a lot of the positions that I've been in — even down to my reach, [which] is much bigger than my music. The situations and relationships I've been in...[they] just turned me off to the whole thing. 

Coping with fame, I don't know if anybody has ever really figured it out. I made a lot of hard decisions getting out of relationships and putting myself around people that not only have the same passion for music as me, but the same passion for me and my love for music.

These days, I go to three shows a week. Spending more time in the world and not thinking about songs. I got off TikTok. I'm not doing that anymore — because if that's going to make me a star, then I don't want to be a star. I want the music to speak louder. And for the first time in my life, I really believe that I'm letting that happen.

What was your grieving process like?

Funny enough, I didn't really grieve. I didn't handle it well. Luckily, there's some people that came into my life [and] kept me somewhat sane. But I really just went numb. 

That's why I put "When the Music Stops" as a single out first, because it's not a single, and I wanted people to understand my purpose with this album from the get-go. And it's also the last song on the album. 

You've struggled with drugs in the past. How has your relationship with substances shifted at this point? 

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of drugs. I live in Cali, so weed isn't a drug and alcohol isn't a drug, but they are. But hard drugs, especially big pharma, and opiates, and barbiturates, and everything like that, I haven't done that in over a year, so that's been really amazing. 

More so these days I'm really obsessed with being present, because I wasn't present for a long time. And even so, I drink, and I'll smoke here and there, but at the end of the day, I'm just in tune with myself, so on the days that I need to be more present, there's no need to be on anything.

I find that I'm a lot better with words these days, because I'm choosing to articulate how I'm feeling rather than just saying a bunch of words. It makes it a lot easier when you just don't do drugs in general. If I'm being honest, music's my drug, and the fans and being at these shows are also my drug — and I mean that very literally. It gets me high, and that's what fills my cup up.

In terms of this record, which artists influenced you?

Deftones, The Strokes, EKKSTACY. A lot of indie rock. But this album is just the entire spectrum of rock music. I learned my lesson not to put myself in a box. So I took inspiration just based off feeling. 

We made a brother-sister record, basically — meaning each song has a song that has the exact same feeling. We did that pretty intentionally. 

I also took reference from my own music. There's two records — three, actually — that sound like [they] came off the first album, because I wanted to show the evolution of growth. There's a lot of acoustic records, which is cool for me. I think my fans will enjoy that.

The difference is, I wasn't thinking about if it was going to work online or if it was going to work on radio. I was thinking about the live show. And it's such a live album. It's really cool. There's only two songs on the record that I didn't want on there.

Which songs are those?

"Wreck Me" and "What the Hell," and they're both songs that my fans f—ing love. But I care more about my fans than I do about my own ego. The compromise is I get to talk about how I didn't want to put it on the record.

Who do you dream of collaborating with in the future?

Julian Casablancas. The past six months, I've just fallen deeply in love with The Strokes. Everything late '90s and early 2000s in the alternative scene was really cool. I also love dark wave, like Bauhaus, the Cure, Joy Division. But I've found particular liking and likeness to The Strokes. Julian reminds me of myself so much because he's so unapologetically himself, so weird.  

Also, I want to collab with Daft Punk.

What do you want fans to get out of this record?

Really, I think the overall theme is hope, because hope kind of keeps you going. And I want to know what people have to say — [the album] is more of a question than it is an answer. 

I don't need the reaction of people right now. I know what [this project] is doing for me and my career and me as a human being. I hope my fans can just understand that there's more to come — and whatever they feel in it is exactly what it's supposed to be.

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