Rising star Jxdn (Jaden Hossler) and Travis Barker, who signed Jxdn to his DTA Records label.

Talk about a whirlwind year. Rising star Jxdn (whose real name is Jaden Hossler) is well on his way to biopic status at only 19. Don't believe me? Then how is this for the opening of a movie?

A kid living in Texas until the age of 14, moves to Tennessee, battles depression and overcomes two suicide attempts, moves to L.A., falls in love with music at a Juice WRLD concert and less than a year after that show is the first singing to Travis Barker's DTA label. and is personally taken under the rock icon's wing.

That is a hell of a start to a movie. For act two, Jxdn has released now three successful singles "Comatose," "Angels & Demons" and the latest, "So What," which features Barker and Machine Gun Kelly in the just released video.

But every great biopic needs a story of redemption of some kind. And Jaden Hossler is living that right now every day as I found when I spoke to him. I have known Barker for many years and have had numerous conversations about appreciating life after the plane crash that nearly killed him. So talking to the wise beyond his years Hossler about his gratitude and humility about his rapid rise to upcoming stardom it is no surprise that he and Barker have become kindred spirits.

I spoke with Hossler about his depression, his Juice WRLD fandom and how signing with Barker's DTA Records was the best decision he ever made in his life.

Steve Baltin: How is it going your first year in L.A.?When you have Travis Barker showing you around L.A. that is a good way to get introduced to the city.

Jaden Hossler: Yeah, it's been amazing. The whole thing with Travis happened probably last February. And since then it's been a lot easier for sure cause I got a big bro showing me around. It's been awesome.

Baltin: I heard from him how you came together. I'd like to hear it from your perspective as well.

Hossler: Basically I came out with my first single, "Comatose," February 26. The day after that I get a call from Travis, who was the first person to call us. It was a Wednesday morning. And he tells us, "My son just showed us this song," along with my producer, who produced it, who was an old friend of his. So it was two parts of his life coming together at once is how he describes it. And so he checked it out. He was the first catalyst of the movement. People heard about that, so all the record labels started hitting us up. So we flew to New York, did that whole process, came back out to L.A., met with everyone here, Interscope, Capitol, a bunch of different people. I thought we kind of had our mind made up, then I met with Travis in person. It was like, "Oh man, this is the guy I need to be with." We went to his vegan restaurant at Crossroads and that's when it settled for me this is the dude. He's so real, so humble and the fact he can be that way after doing everything he's done and working with all the people he's worked with, the fact he chose me to be his first signee, it's still a blessing to this day. But at the moment it was the biggest blessing I've ever had in my life. So we went with Travis and thank god I did because it was the best decision I think I've ever made. It's been awesome.

Baltin: Do you feel like you are learning more because he has been through so much in his own career he can share with you?

Hossler: He's more than just an artist at this point for me. He's like one of my best friends at this point. He's an engineer, a producer, a band member, a dad, a son, he's everything combined into one person. And like you mentioned the humility of everything, that is one thing I really try to harp on at this point because growing up as kids we're all entitled to our own pride at a certain point in our lives. And I definitely was living in that for a good portion of my life. Then I hit the lowest point when I hit a really deep depression. And I had near-death experiences myself, so the fact I get to connect with him with that on a real level speaks a lot more than numbers. I don't know everything at all and I will never say I do. Maybe before when I was in high school I might say I did. That's just me in my ignorance. Now that I've come out and live on my own in the real world, actually left the south for the first time, I realize that I do not know everything. And to have someone that basically kind of does is really nice because he lets me live my own life, give my own opinions and tells me whether they're gonna work or not. Even in the studio I'm like, "I really want to change this melody like this." And he goes, "No, dude, I'm telling you, you need to keep it like this, it goes better with everything." And then we end up going with what he says because I trust him beyond anything and he's right. So I love having that so much.

Baltin: Do you feel like having gone through depression and near-death experiences you have a different appreciation for where you are today?

Hossler: Absolutely, this is one thing I try to preach to other people because I've learned it myself. pain is a very important thing for people. A lot of people try to run from it. I did for most of my life, but you can't escape pain. What you can do is choose how you let it affect you. You can either let it destroy you or you can let it change you and help you become a better person. To my experience there was a lot of hate in my heart growing up. I went through a lot of things that drove me to hate myself and everyone around me. I didn't have appreciation for human life or anything like that. And then my senior year a situation happened with a very close person in my life that drove me to the darkest depression I've ever had in my life. I was really involved in school and in sports and my senior year I just dropped it all. I didn't go to school for like four months. I didn't even really leave my room. I lost like 20, 25 pounds, tried to commit suicide like twice. I really just didn't have any grasp at life. But after that last attempt and it just didn't work it really brought me out of this selfishness that I really just kind of surrounded myself with. Everything I was doing at that point was for myself and after that, one, I vowed to myself I would never lie. Before I lived off of lies and manipulation. I stopped lying, which people are scared about not lying because it could hurt you in the moment. But I promise it's so much better in the end if you'll just be honest to yourself and other people. Then two, I just started loving people.

Baltin: When did it change for you?

Hossler: It all came to fruition when I was at a Juice WRLD last July and in the middle of moshing to the song "Empty," which is tattooed on my arm, he is like my idol, the line, "I'm empty, I feel so goddamn empty," it opened my eyes in the middle of a mosh pit, just thousands of people were screaming this line. These kids, Juice WRLD and myself were all feeling this. They genuinely feel it. I realized I have to do something with music because I know how powerful it is. That moment is when I decided I want to start making music. I went in the studio, started making music and a couple of months later I released my first single, "Comatose." That's really how everything started snowballing. I chose rock music because it's authentic.

Baltin: Take me through some of the upcoming music.

Hossler: There is hope and that's what I want to give in my music. After "So What," I have a song called "Pray," which I'm really excited about because when you hear it you'll understand what I mean about how real it is. It just talks about the point in my life where I really just wanted to die. I wrote the first half of it a while back and then I just finished it like a week or so ago. And there's a complete shift. One I go up a couple of octaves and, two, I use the same word pattern and cadence, but I switch the words. So for instance I'll even give you an insider [preview]. One of the lines is, "I pray to god, let me die in my sleep." That's the first half of it. Then the second half is, "I pray to god I don't die in my sleep." And it's because I had that realization in my life there is so much more to live for. Drugs aren't the answer, alcohol is the answer, whatever you try to fill that void with is not the answer. The answer is genuinely finding a joy that it longevity and sustaining for yourself. For me that's loving other people, caring for other people, seeing the good in people when there is so much bad for everyone. And that's what I'm trying to implement in my music. That's what I'm doing.

Read more from the original source:
Q&A: Rising Star Jxdn On His Friendship With Travis Barker And Overcoming Depression - Forbes