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Today, Vancouver-based rising pop artist Xana announces her bold, empowering sophomore album The Sex Was Good Until It Wasn't due out May 10 and available for pre-order now. Alongside the announcement, Xana shares the first taste of the project with risqué track + video "Better Kind Of Best Friend" out everywhere now. The forthcoming gripping collection sees Xana confront dark truths and deep pain as she learns to process and heal past wounds through shimmering melodies, captivating vocals and candid, clever lyricism.
The Sex Was Good Until It Wasn't goes where the artist has never gone before, touching on incredibly personal–and at times traumatic–subject matter. Over fifteen vivid tracks, she puts herself in the driver's seat, taking charge of her own story while offering listeners a place of refuge and freedom. Unbound to a single genre or a particular moment, the album unapologetically builds a heartfelt world that is as explosive and bright as it is profound and dark, providing the necessary space for all–Xana included–to heal. Xana sees this body of work as a refined, fully formed evolution from her past work, in part due to her brutally honest songwriting and the free-flowing trust built with producers Liam Moes and Shane Stephenson. Thrilled to welcome listeners into this new cosmic world, Xana explains, "It's an album that I've been wanting to write for a long time and I went into it knowing exactly what its purpose would be."
The first taste of the forthcoming album out today, "Better Kind Of Best Friend" is an ode to confidence and queer empowerment that leaves little to the imagination. With a steady build, the sultry pop-rock track is a raw celebration of sexual pleasure and bodily autonomy. The song's inclusion on the album adds a new dimension, bringing levity, pleasure and depth to a project that delves into heavy topics, leading Xana to ask, "What’s an album about the horrors of sex without a song about the wonders of sex?" With queerness, and queer sex in particular, rarely spoken about positively publicly if at all, Xana hopes to shed light on the beauty and joy of queer sex. Xana adds, "As a queer person, my relationship with sex all my life has been a challenging road to navigate, and I think it’s really important to remind people that sex isn’t the end all be all and sex is allowed to be–and supposed to be–fun and lighthearted and pleasurable for all parties."
Directed by Lindsey Blane, the accompanying dreamy visual matches the empowering, unapologetic message of the track. Revealing the inspiration and team behind the video, Blane says, "Xana came to me envisioning a video that would evoke a very Garden of Eden meets the Last Supper meets Renaissance-era painting vibe, which we brought to life with the help of a crew and cast comprised of entirely women and queer/LGBTQIA+ folks." The steamy video also includes love interests from previous Xana music videos and is refreshingly unafraid to embrace and uplift queer sexual desire.
Watch "Better Kind Of Best Friend" (Official Music Video)
Xana's assertive 2020 debut single "Goddess" thrust her onto the scene and cemented her as an artist to watch. Today, the track has 13M+ streams on Spotify alone and the artist now has 254K monthly listeners. Atwood Magazine took notice of Xana's uniquely relatable writing and growing fervent fanbase, writing, "It’s her authenticity and vulnerability that allows her to connect with her fans, giving raw and relatable material through storytelling lyricism and themes of female empowerment, LGBTQ romance and the everyday experiences of navigating life." A string of singles followed in 2021, including "Kitchen Light," which Out Magazine named as one of their 30 Best Sapphic Bops of the year and its official music video has been viewed over 2M times on YouTube.
Tantrums, Xana's soaring debut album, arrived in 2022 and firmly established her in the pop space. Longtime tastemaker When The Horn Blows wrote the project is, "An unapologetic expression of emotion, [that] boldly takes listeners on a journey of love gone bad with honest vulnerability at the heart of each track." In early 2023, Xana shared the Western-inspired "Bad Bandit" prompting Eat This Music to write, "Xana’s command of pop music is undeniable, and “Bad Bandit” is a showcase of her versatility as an artist..immediately drawn in by the roaring rhythms and pounding bassline." In June 2023, Xana shared "babyblue" which Variance Magazine called "beautifully melancholy" and added "This driving pop anthem is the perfect mix of uplifting melodies and bittersweet, sentimental lyrics, delivered through crashing percussion and indie guitars." Now, in 2024, gearing up for another world takeover, Xana continues to carve her own path propelled by self-discovery, queer liberation and bringing listeners closer to themselves.
Filled with self-reflection, intimate storytelling and sex positivity, Xana's highly anticipated sophomore studio album The Sex Was Good Until It Wasn't will arrive on May 10 and is available for pre-order now. The latest alluring track lifted from the project "Better Kind Of Best Friend" is out everywhere now. Connect with Xana on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube and stay tuned for much more to come from the rising pop singer-songwriter.
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