With “Want2Want,” the Los Angeles pop artist turns self-empowerment, ’80s fantasy and unapologetic attraction into the first glimpse of his forthcoming debut album.

There’s a difference between wanting to be wanted and knowing that you already are.

For Bryce Xavier, that distinction sits at the heart of “Want2Want,” his supercharged new pop-R&B single and the opening statement of a much bigger chapter: his forthcoming debut album.

Produced by Y2K, “Want2Want” is immediate and physical, pairing shimmering synths and live instrumentation with a groove that pulls from the larger-than-life pop traditions of Michael Jackson and Prince without attempting to recreate them. Bryce describes the experience of writing it as entering a “hazy ’80s dream,” but beneath the nostalgia is a considerably more contemporary proposition.

The song is about desire, certainly.

But it is also about directing some of that desire back toward yourself.

“I want the song to establish that I’m fully focusing on myself in life,” Bryce tells Mundane.

That realization came partly from discovering how dangerous it can be to outsource your sense of worth to somebody else.

“I was searching so much of my own value through my last partner,” he explains. “And when he ultimately fell short, I decided to never look anywhere but inwards.”

His conclusion is wonderfully straightforward:

“No one is gonna love me like I love me.”

That mentality makes “Want2Want” feel less like another flirtatious pop record than the introduction of a character Bryce has been slowly working toward throughout his career.

Dropped Into an ’80s Dream

The reference points surrounding “Want2Want” are enormous.

Prince. Michael Jackson. ’80s pop. Live musicianship. Synths. The kind of maximalist records that seemed capable of creating their own universe within seconds.

But Bryce and his collaborators had another particularly interesting target in mind.

“We wanted it to feel like we dropped you right in the middle of an ABBA song.”

Not necessarily by recreating ABBA sonically, but through immediacy.

Bryce wanted the song to begin already inside its own world rather than slowly revealing itself.

“The chorus and verse kind of have the same feeling, and the second you play the song it takes you into this new world.”

That world will extend beyond one single.

Working with Y2K also helped Bryce discover production ideas that are becoming part of the vocabulary of his forthcoming album, particularly what he describes as “Frou Frou-esque backgrounds.”

“I feel like [that] has become sort of a Bryce Xavier signature through this song and the album to come.”

 

Influence Without Imitation

Drawing inspiration from artists as culturally enormous as Prince or Michael Jackson comes with an obvious danger.

Push too far and influence becomes imitation.

Bryce is conscious of that line, but he also trusts his collaborators to tell him when he’s approaching it.

“I lean on the boys I make my music with for that.”

They function almost as a creative counterweight.

“I feel like they really help pull me back from fully diving into a tribute song or album and helping it feel fresh.”

The goal isn’t to cosplay another era.

It’s to recover something Bryce admires about it: scale, performance, musicianship, fantasy and the feeling that a pop song can immediately transport you somewhere else.

The Bryce Xavier Sound Is Bryce Xavier

Bryce has had considerable time to figure out what that means.

He began releasing music in 2020, gradually building a catalog while simultaneously cultivating an online audience of millions.

Six years later, “Want2Want” marks the beginning of his first full-length album.

So what finally changed?

He stopped trying to identify the box.

“I learned that I really didn’t need to put myself into a box and I needed to instead focus on what the ‘Bryce Xavier’ sound was.”

That realization created considerably more room to move.

“This helped me explore and have fun with genre but recognize that the signature sound is my voice.”

It’s a useful distinction.

If your identity is rooted in genre, moving between sounds can feel like abandoning yourself.

If your identity is rooted in your voice, genre becomes another instrument.

Becoming the Person Inside the Record

Perhaps the most revealing thing Bryce says about the upcoming album is that it isn’t necessarily documenting exactly who he is today.

It’s documenting the person he sees inside himself.

“This album is a sneak peek of who I see myself as on the inside.”

That person is bolder.

More adventurous.

More uninhibited.

“This very extraordinary, thrill-seeking guy that I hope one day I can be.”

It gives the confidence of “Want2Want” another dimension.

Swagger doesn’t necessarily have to arrive after insecurity has disappeared.

Sometimes you create the version of yourself you want to inhabit and then begin moving toward them.

Pop music has always been particularly good at that.

From Four Million Screens to One Room

Bryce already understands what it means to command attention online.

His audience stretches into the millions, and several of his releases have generated significant viral moments.

But that doesn’t mean he enters a studio asking what might become a fifteen-second clip.

“I make music that makes me feel something.”

The audience comes afterward.

“I hope that the people online end up feeling something too because of it.”

This fall, that relationship moves somewhere considerably more physical when Bryce takes the new material across North America.

For music this groove-driven, the stage isn’t simply where the record gets reproduced.

It’s where the world becomes tangible.

“I want them to become an invitation to the world that I’ve created this year through music.”

Then he reduces the entire ambition to four words:

“I want them to be alive.”

“Want2Want” is only the doorway.

Bryce Xavier is inviting us inside.

In Conversation With Bryce Xavier

“Want2Want” feels like a real arrival moment—confident, flirtatious, physical, and much bigger in scale. What did you want this song to establish about the era you’re entering with your debut album?

I want the song to establish that I’m fully focusing on myself in life, and that should be fun, hot and 24, you know?

You’ve described writing “Want2Want” as being inside a hazy ’80s dream. Sonically, what were the specific textures, rhythms, or production choices that helped you capture that atmosphere without simply making a retro record?

We wanted it to feel like we dropped you right in the middle of an ABBA song. Where the chorus and verse kind of have the same feeling and the second you play the song it takes you into this new world.

Working with Y2K brought live instrumentation together with synths and contemporary pop production. What did that collaboration unlock in your sound that you hadn’t explored on previous releases?

So much. I feel like really tapping into the Frou Frou-esque backgrounds has become sort of a Bryce Xavier signature through this song and the album to come.

There are obvious touchstones here in the theatricality and groove of artists like Michael Jackson and Prince, but the record still feels distinctly contemporary. When you draw from artists with such enormous musical legacies, how do you absorb the influence without letting nostalgia dictate the music?

I lean on the boys I make my music with for that. I feel like they really help pull me back from fully diving into a tribute song/album and helping it feel fresh.

“Want2Want” is ultimately about attraction, but you’ve framed it just as strongly around self-empowerment and knowing you’re hot. Was there a moment in your own life when desire stopped being about seeking somebody else’s validation and became more about recognizing your own magnetism?

Definitely. I was searching so much of my own value through my last partner and when he ultimately fell short I decided to never look anywhere but inwards. No one is gonna love me like I love me.

You’ve been releasing music since 2020, but this is the first taste of your debut full-length. What have you learned about your voice, songwriting, and production over those six years that finally made you feel ready to build an album rather than another collection of singles?

I learned that I really didn’t need to put myself into a box and I needed to instead focus on what the “Bryce Xavier” sound was. This helped me explore and have fun with genre but recognize that the signature sound is my voice.

Your earlier music has often allowed vulnerability to sit very close to the surface, while “Want2Want” leads with swagger and pleasure. Does the album explore that tension between vulnerability and confidence, or are we meeting a fundamentally different version of Bryce this time around?

This album is a sneak peek of who I see myself as on the inside. This very extraordinary, thrill-seeking guy that I hope one day I can be.

You built an audience of millions through social media before reaching this particular chapter of your recording career. When you’re making music now, how conscious are you of what might immediately connect online versus what simply feels exciting in the studio?

I make music that makes me feel something, and I hope that the people online end up feeling something too because of it.

You’re taking this new material on a North American tour this fall. Because “Want2Want” is such a physical, groove-driven record, how much are you thinking about movement and live performance while recording, and what do you want these songs to become once they leave the studio and hit a stage?

I want them to become an invitation to the world that I’ve created this year through music. I want them to be alive.