THE SOUND OF CHANGE
Inked|2022 Music Issue
JXDN IS ON A MISSION. THE TIKTOKER TURNED POP-PUNK RISING STAR ISN'T HERE TO MAKE FRIENDS, HE'S HE'S HERE TO CHANGE THE WORLD ONE SONG AT A TIME
Charlie connell
THE SOUND OF CHANGE

One of the few certainties in life is that the harder parents try to keep their child away from something, the more likely that child will become obsessed with the forbidden fruit.

Long before jxdn was playing packed stadiums with Machine Gun Kelly, he was simply Jaden Hossler, the son of two pastors being raised in a very religious household. Music was all around him growing up, but in the form of worship CDs, his parents would listen to the kind of music he and his sisters would fall asleep to but never really engage with. There was gospel music in church, there were songs he would overhear on the radio, but growing up he was never able to fully immerse himself in music.

Even without realizing it, there was something building in jxdn's soul, just waiting to be released. In July 2019, well into his teenage years, jxdn had the type of spiritual awakening his parents preached about from the pulpit. Only it didn't happen in church, it happened at a Juice WRLD concert.

"I'd never been to a concert before," jxdn recalls. "It's so bizarre because, at the moment, I wasn't thinking anything like, 'What's gonna happen after this?' But that shit just changed my life. I really heard music for what it is that night. I thought, if Juice WRLD can do this for me, then I've gotta do this for somebody else. It started this chain reaction."

The experience jxdn had that night attending his very first concert at the age of 18 made him look back at everything that led him to that place. He started to see the facade of a perfect family that his parents had put up, particularly the way that the denial of experiences like going to concerts only pushed him towards them.

When he discusses that first concert and the way it changed his life, it's easy to forget that it was only three years ago. More than that, it's hard to believe that jxdn is only 21 as he imparts the wisdom he gained.

This story is from the 2022 Music Issue edition of Inked.

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This story is from the 2022 Music Issue edition of Inked.

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