Can’t you feel the love he has for you?
Born in Durham, North Carolina, but based in the bustling “Big Apple,” JAMR XZVR (pronounced JUH-mar / EX-zay-VEER) is a vocalist, songwriter, and creative director challenging the boundaries of contemporary music. His sound, a fusion of cinematic production and emotionally raw storytelling, brings listeners into an immersive space where vulnerability meets provocation.
Each track is an experience—layered with sexual tension, self-reflection, and an intoxicating mix of pain and defiance, all delivered with captivating vocal performances that traverse wide emotional spectrums.
JAMR XZVR sees himself as an outcast, a disruptor of traditional expectations in hip-hop and R&B. He uses his artistry to tell stories that are unapologetically authentic, erotic, and tinged with casual, almost offhand, introspection. His lyrical style, laced with sharp wit and moments of brutal self-awareness, blurs the lines between poetry and conversation, creating a signature tone that feels both intimate and defiant. He wears his heart on his sleeve, something that’s made his releases resonate with listeners everywhere.
In many ways, “Gunmetal (APT 44F SVI LXB NXP IRL)” is a vibrant testament to everything JAMR XZVR’s become as an artist. Over an instrumental performance that pulses with intoxicating tension, XZVR delivers a smooth, sensual vocal performance that demands your attention. His sultry vocals drip with intimacy, laced with a magnetic pull that feels both dangerous and irresistible.
Every lyric, every whisper of “You know I really love you, boy,” seems to hint at secrets meant only for you. It’s the kind of track that takes its time, teasing and building, never letting go—lingering in your mind long after the last echo fades.
JAMR XZVR’s latest release, “Gunmetal (APT 44F SVI LXB NXP IRL),” proves that the New York-based artist has what it takes to be a star in this industry.
Wow, what an experience “Gunmetal” was! What inspired this release, and what inspired your lyrical style and storytelling point of view?
A crazy experience was had leading up to the situation in my ‘Gunmetal’ track; oddly enough what inspired the release of the track was my “obsession” for true crime and blatantly raw stories. I don’t remember which show I had been watching around the time I started crafting this track, but I do remember (whatever I had been watching) made me think: “How wild would it be if I wrote about some sh** hardly anyone knows about me?” I wanted to expose myself a little and create a shock factor; a lot of things I write about in my music are generally kept close to me, or only a handful of people in my inner circle know about it (I am extremely private). So, when I finally turn said stories into music, I am revisiting touchy topics and that allows me to give listeners my purest form of emotion in my recordings.
In part, I had a specific sound aesthetic that I wanted engrained in the production — immediately when the track started, I wanted it to feel suspenseful, and throughout the track, my goal was to make listeners feel immersed in the audio as if they were in a movie hence the (delays, tremolo, vocal stacking/layering, wavy reverb, the manual glitches I am doing with my vocals in verse 1 and the plug-ins toward the end of the track). The song takes you where I am and makes you feel the adrenaline that I feel. Gunmetal was meant to feel suspenseful and sexy in both its production and tonality — the song is a showcase of ‘Look what sex made me do.’
All that said, my lyrical style and storytelling point-of-view came from years of pretending to be an artist that I wasn’t and writing material that had no personal meaning to me. My older music was a facade, a naive version of me thinking a homosexual male artist couldn’t be taken seriously. I was quite literally making music I thought label/music executives and straight individuals would want to hear, and the music at the time in my life felt as awkward as it sounded.
When I picked up music again, I did away with my old stage name and promised myself to write music that told stories of my experiences and existence (everything from real love, situational relationships, hookups, one-night stands, and stories of me being manic, delusional and plainly human). My songs (not all, but most) are usually centered around my experiences with bisexual and/or DL (down-low) men; it’s something that’s not talked about a lot in mainstream culture, and people like to act like it doesn’t exist. Some women like to say, “My man would never!” And some men like to say, “I don’t hang around MF’ers like that!” — and I am in my songs like he would, and you do, but you just don’t know about it, and I have the receipts, lol. I am past that phase in my life of dealing with those types of men (I think?, lol), but I have so many of those stories; it used to be exciting, and now it makes for good drama in music.
My storytelling structure is what happened when I realized I wanted consumers and label executives to know that homosexual artists are functioning people our human encounters have relevancy, emotions and they can resonate with the general public, and our music / artistic expressions can be marketed (just like that of a heterosexual artist) without gimmick and a typecast.
You mentioned that “Gunmetal” was actually part of a series of EP installments that you’ve been releasing for your fans. What was your creative approach and inspiration for these instalments and do any of them relate to each other?
Yes! The track ‘Gunmetal APT 44F SVI LXB NXP IRL’ is the series’ introductory track. It was included as Track 1 on the 1st installment titled ‘AFFIDAVIT.’ The releases of the installments in order are: ‘AFFIDAVIT’, ‘M3104-A’, ‘CARBON COPIES’ and ‘CODIS (selected shorts)’.
Think of the releases this way, it’s an audio anthology series. So think, Affidavit is the umbrella title, the name of the “show”, each EP title is name of that season’s release and each track is an episode in that season. By the time, you reach the 4th installment ‘CODIS’ you see how all the interactions play into each other (through direct references, word play, song title ties, etc) — the 4th EP is the finale but takes you right back to the 1st installment; the ‘Gunmetal’ incident.
It makes sense to start on the 1st installment to follow the storyline of the “show” (but by the way it was written and laid out), it doesn’t matter per se because there will be a reason you will need to reference to the project before it to get full context on what is happening.
My creative approach (going back to my love of true crime and having had my own true crime situation) was to first outline stories that tailed off of my ‘Gunmetal’ experience to create a universe, an “audio show,” and a focal point for why things are being addressed track to track. Additionally, the goal with my sound engineer (Ryan Hinkle) was to make each track feel euphoric but also make them feel like they have synch opportunities to be placed as a part of a film, TV show, etc., which is why a lot of the songs were arranged with immersive production to make the song itself feel like a movie but in audio form.
Secondly, some songs are pairs and are counter-responses to each other. For example, the 1st installment, ‘Affidavit’ Track 3: ‘The Trade’s Alter Call (Pray The Gay Away)’ & Track 4: ‘Patent Leather’ is a two-sided perspective about the same guy. Track 3 tells you about the drama of dealing with said guy, and Track 4 tells you how I met him. Same with ‘Gunmetal’, except you don’t get the counter-response to Gunmetal until the 3rd installment ‘CARBON COPIES’ on Track 2 titled: Carbon Copy. Gunmetal tells you of the drama and the track Carbon Copy tells you how I met him and so on. I could go on and on about these 4 EP installments because there is a lot of rhyme and reason and attention to detail that was put into creating every single thing around it.
As someone who takes such pride in your artistry (music and otherwise), what were some of your formative influences on your musical approach and direction?
From a tonality perspective, artists that made me comfortable in doing my own thing sound-wise and finding my angle definitely were vets like Mystikal, DMX, Busta Rhymes, Slim (of 112), Rihanna, Beyonce, Kanye West, TLC, Mya, Avril Lavigne, etc; but I have also been inspired by newer era artists like Tinashe, Bree Runway, BANKS, Lykke Li, Tanerelle, Kiana Lede, Jessie J, Tory Lanez, Willow, Sevyn Streeter, The Weeknd, Bring Me The Horizon, etc. The common denominator I realized is why I gravitated to all these artists is that they have an undeniable distinctiveness about their voices, songwriting style, and/or creative approaches.
As far as leaning into my stage presence (given my background in the fashion industry), I am inspired by fashion statements over costumes in most cases.
What would you want it to be if your fans could take one thing away from your music?
The one thing that I want people to take away from my music is camaraderie — know that no matter who you are and where you are in your life professionally, romantically, and anything in between — know that you matter, your feelings matter, your artistic expressions matter and to be the representation you want to see in whatever industry you are pursuing. You have to have a healthy balance of giving a f*** and not giving a f*** about how you are perceived because otherwise you will stuck on what everyone will have to say.
I know what it feels like to be hit with constant rejection and to be overlooked. The right people will follow when you just do you. I am just now seeing it happen little by little in real time for me as an artist, and it took me so long to get over pretending in both my personal and professional life.
What’s next for JAMR XZVR, and is there anything you’d like to say to your fans?
The goal is more presence, more performative content, targeting professional opportunities in the business that set me up for longevity and new experiences because I don’t have anything to talk about if I am not experiencing anything new in the first place, haha.
I have some really good things bubbling on the backend that I can’t speak on right now. Will it happen? I don’t know, but I hope so! I have learned not to get my hopes up too high while remaining optimistic and ambitious, so we’ll see what comes to fruition.