The moment TheHxliday stepped on the music scene, it was apparent that he was on a mission to be a beam of light among a cascade of dimmed optimism.
Reigning from Baltimore, Maryland, the birthing ground for prominent figures such as the great music composer Philip Glass, Grammy-nominated artist Sisqó and award-winning actress Jada Pinkett, TheHxliday, real name Noah Malik Lee, doesn’t shy away from serving as another symbol of success to add to the list of talented entertainers hailing from “Charm City.” But, to the “Thank U” artist, his career is more meaningful than just garnering clout.
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His journey in music is the evolution of a dream first pursued by his mother. As a member of the band ChicFlick, she also chased the dream of becoming a professional music artist when she came to a crossroads. At the cusp of signing with a record label and with three children to care for, she had to make a life changing decision.
Ultimately, she would choose to focus on motherhood, but as ironic as life can be, the music pendulum swung back in the family’s favor. TheHxliday revived the generational music dream and was soon offered his own record deal with the infamous Motown.
The deal didn’t just fall in his lap however. A consistent delivery of ear-catching songs flooded his discography as he worked his way up to mainstream success. TheHxliday’s 2019 single “ENEMY” gained traction with more than 1.3 million views for the music video. One of his less viewed, but more culturally influential music videos, “NO PROMISES,” touched the core of the rising generation who were being bombarded with bad news from the hip hop community as they grappled with the loss of XXXTentacion, Mac Miller, Nipsey Hussle, and Prodigy, at the time.
Expressing the trauma of those inspired by hip hop certainly made TheHxliday a focal point in the genre. Soon, he would cross paths with music video director Cole Bennett, who would work with TheHxliday to create visuals for his singles “Mistakes” and “Save Me,” both off of his 2020 project Broken Halls. TheHxliday would follow up with the optimistic “Laugh A Little” and cautionary “Thank U” from his EP Batbxy. The six-track album dropped at the top of 2021, along with the release of his third single “NxBody.” Other songs on the album include, “LxneChild” and “Batgirl.”
When asked what song was the most challenging to work on, TheHxliday admitted “LxneChild” needed a lot of work.
“It had a lot of work put into it because when I first made it the quality was bad,” TheHxliday said in the interview. “It was a whole different version but I updated it and tried to make it more clear. I switched up the lyrics in the second verse from the original version. That was only because I wanted it to sound perfect, you know.”
Interestingly enough, music listeners are begging for more from the recording artist. TheHxliday’s social media is currently being riddled with requests for a full album and more music — a great problem for an artist to have in an overly saturated music landscape.
While many have associated TheHxliday with artists such as, Juice Wrld and The Weeknd, for his ability to effortlessly merge singing over relationship and mental health laced themes, TheHxliday stands out among his peers for the evolution of his music as he gets older and his strategy of rolling out music to listeners. His latest curation exemplifies the growth of an artist with a promising future.
“The thing I talk about pretty often is obviously romance just growing up you know, being more mature about stuff when it comes to love situations or whatever,” TheHxliday said in the interview. “I went from puppy love type of stuff. I was 16. The whole time I was cut off from everything else and focused on just music. So, I was stuck in this mindset of just being me. When it comes to love, I was always like kiddie and everything and now I’m able to be more mature about it and explain it in different ways.”
He continues, “I got deeper into how I was feeling. Before, I was younger and just telling younger stories — you know, I was on my child love type of stuff…I’m more experienced and I have more to talk about now.”
The Motown music artist derives his name from his organic love of the holidays, a time of year that he cherishes for the “family vibe” and food — when there’s no lack in love or nourishment? Naturally, TheHxliday’s adoration for festive moments permeates through his music. For every holiday, he drops a song that carries that holiday’s vibe. To top that, he uses his music as a platform to combat the dangerous vices that are often promoted by hip hop.
With that said, TheHxliday still has a wish list for collaborations that include some of the best to ever do it in recent times, including Travis Scott, Drake, Justin Bieber, Sway Lee, Lil Uzi Vert, Paramore and Bruno Mars. He is hoping that they want to work with him as much as he wants to work with them. But, don’t worry, TheHxliday plans to pay it forward. As a rising artist, he hopes to be that leg up for others, as well.
“The one thing I was always looking forward to coming into the music industry — I was always like ‘I hope my favorite artist hits me up,” TheHxliday said. “That would be so crazy!’ So, what I do is, I want to do that to the younger kids that are coming in because maybe they’re a fan…”
From open group chats to an inside look at his authentic relationship with his friends, TheHxliday is hoping that his fans will perceive him as approachable and relatable at the end of the day.
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“Im showing people that I’m not gonna drop what you expect ever, but I’m going to always try to drop something that makes people feel good in a way,” he said. “Even if it’s a sad song. The whole point of my sad songs is for people to relate and vibe to it.”
TheHxliday feels no pressure to assimilate and follow in the exact path of others that have gone before him. His thing is just to have fun as he embarks on this musical journey. His formula is simple. Being surrounded by friends and acting his age keeps him grounded and helps him churn out the hits his fans love.
“I honestly just do me,” TheHxliday said. “I’m just myself. I just take pictures here and there and let my friends know what’s going on.”
