Paige Duddy, professionally known as XYLØ, is an up-and-coming pop artist based in Los Angeles, California. The twenty-five-year-old attended music school for some time before eventually dropping out in late 2015 to sign her first record deal with Sony Music Entertainment.
Up until 2018, XYLØ was a duo consisting of Paige and her brother, Chase. Without getting into details about the duo’s split, Paige reveals to Queued that “the relationship of the band just fizzled. We’re ten years apart and at different points in our lives, and we just realized we wanted different things. It was honestly, probably the best thing that could’ve happened to, I think, the both of us.”
Since going solo last year, Paige has put out two EPs as well as a number of singles. She recently announced that she will be joining electronic duo Tender on tour this upcoming February, so she plans to release her next project sometime before then. She says that it will probably be an eight or nine-song EP and will be a bit more experimental than what she’s done before.
“I tried to blend more hip-hop influences into this and have songs that kind of have different sections and aren’t necessarily traditionally structured. I think I was kind of like, ‘Fuck it. I’m just gonna do whatever I want to do. I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say this project is more of a concept, so there’s like a theme.”
Despite experimenting with new sounds for this EP, Paige claims she has never felt more prepared walking into a project.
“I had loads of titles and lyrics and stuff already written down. So sometimes I would have an entire song already written, and then Lee, who produces my music, would work around those lyrics."
As for a debut album release, “I’m too scared to release my first album yet," Paige admits.
“I feel like I need to wait until the time is right because you only get your first album once. I don’t know. Who knows? I might change my mind about the EP in a couple of weeks.”
While the expected EP does not have any features, Paige shares exciting news about an upcoming collaboration.
"I have a feature coming out, I think in December. I don’t know when the date is. It’s a feature with an artist you probably don’t know, but the song is in this big movie that’s coming out. You’ll hear about that, I’m sure.”
With so many upcoming plans regarding music, Paige rarely finds herself with much free time. Recently, however, she has taken up yoga, although she hates how “LA bougie” it sounds.
“I’d never done yoga before in my life, but I really enjoy it! It’s something that soothes my mind at the end of the day.”
Alongside yoga, Paige enjoys eating, hanging out with friends, online shopping, and spending time with her dog.
“I’m obsessed with dogs. I will eventually do something in that world because I’m so passionate about dogs.”
Paige hopes to one day explore the world of fashion as well. Before pursuing a music career, she wanted to be a stylist. In fact, "XYLØ" was originally going to be the name of a clothing line she wanted to start. However, she quickly realized the industry wasn’t a good fit for her.
“I still love fashion so much. I care so much about what I’m wearing all the time. And it’s not because I care what people think. I love to express myself and be well-put-together most of the time.”
If you’re wondering where the name XYLØ comes from, it was the license plate of her grandfather, who was a jazz drummer and percussionist.
“It was back in the day when they started making those personalized license plates. He got one that said XYLO because he played the xylophone. I don’t know it was something that my mom was always like, ‘Oh, that’s a really cool name, you should use it for something.’”
If you had to describe yourself in three words, what would they be?
Aw, shit. This is a hard one. I’d say I’m pretty assertive. I’m also honest and passionate. I guess 'assertive' and 'honest' are kind of the same thing. I’ll go with loyal. That’s a character trait of my Leo sign.
What's one of your proudest moments?
A proud moment would be doing my first headline tour, I think. I’m not on a label anymore. I’m independent, and I had to fund and do this entire thing by myself. I saved up so much money, and I made my own lighting production. There’s just so much hard physical work that went into it as well, so I think by the end of that tour, after a month, I was really proud that I was able to do that and accomplish it. It was something that people I’ve worked with before told me I couldn’t do, so I was proud that I was able to do it. Oh, and selling out my first show in London that I did on that tour. That was the first time I’d ever played there, and I sold it out. It was honestly the best time ever.
Tell me an embarrassing story or fact about yourself.
I was actually thinking about my most embarrassing moment the other day. One time on my first tour, I was supporting a band, and my microphone wasn't working for like three songs. I was so inexperienced that I walked offstage, and I just let my band play. I eventually came back on stage, and it was a fun show. I think a lot of the people in the crowd remember me from that. Looking back, that was pretty embarrassing. I walked offstage and was all hysterical and was like, ‘I don’t know what to do.’ It was just embarrassing because I had no experience, and that was not the right thing to do. I laughed it off. It was funny.
What would you consider your biggest strength and weakness?
My biggest strength is that I’m determined; I don’t give up. My biggest weakness is that I need to be more open-minded.
What's your favorite song at the moment?
I really like Look at Her Now by Selena Gomez.
What's your favorite movie of all time?
Goodfellas.
What's your favorite TV or movie genre?
I’d say murder documentaries.
What's your favorite color?
Pink.
What's your favorite cuisine?
Fuck, that’s so hard. I love food so much. I’d have to go classic spaghetti with marinara, parmesan, and like a huge loaf of bread.
What would you consider your biggest strength and weakness?
My biggest strength is that I’m determined; I don’t give up. My biggest weakness is that I need to be more open-minded.
What's your least favorite type of music?
I don’t know; I’m trying to think of a weird genre. You know what, I’m getting older, and I don’t have a genre that I hate because I really respect everybody that makes music.
Are you a morning or night person?
Night. I’m in the best mood In the morning, but I like the night, to be honest.
What's your biggest pet peeve?
Liars, I guess?
If you could have the answer to any question in the entire universe, what would you want to know?
Fuck. I refuse to go to a psychic because I don’t want to know the answer to the things I question. That’s the fun of life. I was thinking about that today. The Grammy nominations came out, and I was like, ‘I wonder if that would ever be in the cards for me.’ And then I was like, ‘I don’t think I would ever want to know the answer to that.’ Then what would you work towards?
Calling all electro-pop fans! Meet Besomorph, a German music producer pushing the boundaries of genres...
You may not recognize the name Maty Noyes, but there is a good chanceyou are familiar with her voice...
Since parting ways with Kidz Bop back in 2016, 18-year-old music prodigy Grant Knoche has established a...
After putting out several infectious tracks over the last three years, LA-based musician AViVA recently...