I have been following X.Ari for over three years- back when she was Ari without the “X”, and I have watched her change and grow with every new song. A certified genius with an angelic – and sometimes demonic – voice, her music is unique, addictive, thought-provoking. Each new step she takes, each new lyric she writes, each new video she makes reveals her depth and her brilliance.
She has done it again with her latest release, Magnetic – a song about love. She moved into romantic R&B territory in Magnetic, which is about the feeling you get when you fall in love – the polar attraction that happily consumes your life. The music is sophisticated, as all of X.Ari’s music is, but it also has a familiar feel to it – we know this song in our bones, although we have never heard it before. Magnetic has its own magnetic attraction, a polar pull on your ears, your muscles, and – if you know X.Ari’s struggles with her own internal polar opposites — on the part of you that can join in sync with another human being and her feelings.
A singer-songwriter-artist and mental health advocate from Toronto currently living in Los Angeles, X.Ari’s driving force is to turn pain into power by using art. Her musical art deftly dances in and out of genre lines, moving from entrancing alternative pop to gritty hip-hop with an electronic elegance that is especially apparent in her live performances. Her costume, stage presentation, album art, and graphics carry her uniqueness and power forward with her sound. Her lyrics are visceral, written in pain and power to bring messages of hope as well as examine tragedy. The final product vibrates between the two, sometimes painful, sometimes intensely reflective, always gripping. Magnetic does all of this, only with joy and sparks.
X.Ari has been on a talent tear recently. Her songs Uni-Fi, Break-point, LA LA LA have all been works of musical and cathartic genius. With Magnetic, she has continued the streak, but in a different musical style that is consistent with her legacy, but fresh and invigorating. And hopefully reflective of her state of being.
She is putting the finishing touches on a companion video to Magnetic and, knowing how her brilliance extends to design and image as well as sound, I can hardly wait. But I get to listen to Magnetic while I am waiting so the time will go quickly.
Magnetic was released 9.17.19 Stream it on Spotify.
Patrick O’Heffernan
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