Band Of The Day: Xeila
Los Angeles-based alt-pop artist Xeila has released their newest single, “Colors”. The uptempo alternative pop track features slick production and songwriting, all showcasing pop singer-songwriter Ross Rocco’s, who performs under the moniker Xeila, crystal clear and emotive vocals.
About the song, Xeila had this to say: “This song talks about how I’ve been struggling to let go of the past, as of the last couple years, life just got tough and it was, and still is, easy to fall into the trap of just living in the past and constantly feeling sad about it. I use a lot of imagery of ghosts and hauntings on the song, to symbolize how the more you reminisce the more it starts to haunt you at times. Once you start living in different memories it’s almost like you get stuck in another world in your own mind, and you’re not sure at some point if you’re going to return to the present or continue to stay where you’re at.”
The song was a true labor of love for Xeila. “Even though I’ve had this song written for two years, I decided at the last minute to scratch half of it and just completely re-write some of the vocals, and re-produce the instrumental. I wasn’t terribly sure I was going to get this done in a way that I thought it would be good or I would happy with, but I surprised myself as I’ve never set a hard deadline to complete something in a short amount of time before like this.”
Xeila wrote, sang, produced, and mixed this single. Guitars and bass were performed by Ben McSherry and re-amped by Blake Mullens. The track was Mastered by Isaiah Prather.
“Colors” is now available across all major streaming platforms. Listen to it on Spotify now or watch the video on YouTube below.
Xeila combines the aesthetics of the dark and paranormal with the style of modern alt pop genres to create a haunting yet energetic world within their music. Xeila, formed by Ross Rocco, was a project in creation since early or mid 2020. It was heavily inspired by the artist PVRIS, wanting to follow in the footsteps of other bands and artists similar that would creatively blend electronic and rock elements into one song or album.
With Xeila’s first release of the song “Lifeless”, the song starts off this story of a character who died and woke up in the afterlife, only to fight their way back to the real world again. With newly discovering his place in the LGBTQ community, Ross often writes about feeling different from society and trying to re-discover himself in this new era of his life. A lot of these topics are found in the songwriting and storytelling of Xeila, usually symbolized heavily through paranormal and science fiction imagery.
Xeila Is:
Ross Rocco – Vocals and Production
Connect With Xeila:
https://withkoji.com/@Xeila