Josh Levi Talks ‘Hydraulic’ Debut Album & Keeping Dance at the Forefront of R&B: ‘To Say Destiny’s Child Gave Me the Green Light Is Amazing’
Billboard's July R&B Rookie of the Month also discusses working with Sean Bankhead, his favorite ad-libs, and why he loves using Cécred.
Crafting a debut album is already a daunting task, one that gets more difficult when you enter the entertainment world as a child star whose successes never quite culminated in an indisputable mainstream breakthrough. For Josh Levi, a 26-year-old Houstonian looking to be R&B’s next song-and-dance heartthrob, that journey is intimately familiar, which only makes him more excited to unleash Hydraulic, his debut studio album, upon the world.
“I was watching a TikTok the other day, and someone called me an underground artist. I guess I am that, but I definitely have been working for a long time — since [I was] nine years old — in the studio, being an artist and doing music videos,” he tells Billboard the day after debuting the music video for his new “Don’t Go” single. “I love the headspace that I’m in today of focusing on my journey, telling my story and being as authentic as I can be. This album really does reflect my journey in a lot of ways without alienating the people who are just now getting to know me. You can really get a sense of what I stand for and where I’m coming from, while getting to know me for the first time.”
From making his television debut in 2009 on Friday Night Lights to reaching the finals on season three of The X Factor USA in 2013, Josh Levi has been percolating through the industry for several years. After a few years of putting out music and covering songs on YouTube, Levi joined Citizen Four, a boyband at Island Records, for a brief stint in 2017; he followed that up with a few guest appearances on Nickelodeon before earning his bachelor’s degree in business and finance from Florida’s Full Sail University in 2019. That same year, he joined forces with his current manager, Cooper Wilson, who knew Levi from his teenage YouTube days. They reconnected at a benefit concert right before the pandemic — and right after Levi had fired his then-manager.
By 2021, Levi signed with Raedio, Issa Rae’s record label, and Atlantic, giving way to his 2022 Disc Two project — a follow-up to his 2020 Disc One debut EP — and its 2023 Scratched Up expansion. As Disco Two delighted R&B heads, Levi made his Billboard Hot 100 debut as a part of 4*TOWN, the fictional boy band from Pixar’s Oscar-nominated animated film Turning Red. Peaking at No. 49, the Billie Eilish- and Finneas-written “Nobody Like U” also scored a Grammy nomination.
Out August 15, Hydraulic isn’t merely a debut LP; it’s the progeny of one of Gen Z’s most well-studied R&B students. Trading on crisp layered harmonies from the school of Brandy and the chilly electronic music influences of Looking 4 Myself-era Usher, Hydraulic finds Levi pouring his lifelong journey to stardom into a set that rides life’s emotions like the H-Town-certified car hydraulics that inspired the set’s title. From the Destiny’s Child-interpolating “Don’t Go” to myriad chopped-and-screwed influences, Levi’s hometown isn’t just his muse, it’s his bedrock for how he understands himself and his artistry at this juncture of his career.
“I was very passionate about not creating a love album or a heartbreak album or a club album or a moody album,” he muses. “I really wanted to create something that could represent different parts and moments and times of people’s lives so that you can get lost in this album.”
In a revelatory conversation with Billboard, Josh Levi talks about clearing “Don’t Go” with Destiny’s Child, crafting Hydraulic over the past few years, his all-time favorite ad-libs, and why Cécred is a mainstay in his haircare routine.
What are some of your earliest musical memories?
I grew up singing in church. [I remember] getting in trouble for getting away from my mom and my dad and trying to go up on stage. Eventually, I made it to the choir really, really young. I remember writing a song for my sister’s kindergarten graduation, [and] recording my first song in a studio in downtown Houston that smelled like weed when I was nine years old.
You gotta explain this studio session.
It was hilarious. I didn’t know what that was, but I didn’t like the smell. I mean, I still don’t. [Laughs]. It was hella people in the studio. I was so young; it did feel like I should not have been there, but my mom was with me, which was really good because I was literally nine!
I was recording this song called “Favorite Girl,” [which] actually still sounds like my album. It still has vocal layers and harmonies like how I be doing in my songs now. When I listen to that song, it’s still edgy and dark and in the same sonic world that I’m in today. It’s not this bubblegum, kiddie song. It’s very mature. I remember doing takes over and over, not knowing what I was doing, but just figuring out my tone. It was a day that I’ll never forget; I still have footage from it!
What’s the first song you remember being stuck in your head?
Probably “Shackles” by Mary Mary. The first non-gospel song I remember is “Lions, Tigers & Bears” by Jazmine Sullivan.
So you’ve just been an R&B head your whole life?
I guess you could say that. My dad and my mom didn’t really have a [specific] taste in pop culture. Every now and then, my dad would call me downstairs to watch YouTube, like, “Joshua, come watch this Jazmine Sullivan!” or “Joshua, come watch this Boyz II Men!” And then it was like Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, etc.
When did you start working on Hydraulic?
They say you spend your whole life making your first album, so I feel like I spent a long time getting to this point. The oldest song on the album is maybe three or four years old, but there are also songs that I’ve done in the last couple of months. I never really went into the studio and the making of this album, until recently, [with the mindset of] “I am making a debut album.” I can’t think that way; it will drive me crazy. I went into this process seeing how I could tell my story and make music that sounds like Josh Levi as much as possible. But the concept of Hydraulic came to me around Thanksgiving last year.
Who were you working with in the studio? How did you guys build out the album’s soundscape?
I worked with Mariel Gomerez on this album, who is my A&R and a master at working with artists that are trying to push genres forward and break boundaries. [Gomerez] was someone [who] really helped me lean into my daringness as an artist. And that has been one of the biggest challenges of being in music since I was a kid. From day one, people were telling me what I should be more of and less of, and it was never what I wanted to do.
“You should be more commercial, you should be more like Usher, you should be more like Chris [Brown], you should be more street, you should be more clean, you should be more pop” — I’ve heard every single thing since I was a kid. One of the coolest things about working with Mariel is that she was one of the first people [who] said, “You should be more like Josh Levi.” So she partnered me with people that brought that out, like London on da Track, Poo Bear, BEAM, Deputy, MNEK, Camper and Koshy.
How did “Don’t Go” come together?
I’ve never sampled or interpolated anything, so when I made “Don’t Go,” I went to the studio that day, intentionally being like, “Why am I doing everything from scratch all the time?” There’s so many artists that interpolate songs that I really love, and I don’t know why I haven’t done that yet. I have a playlist of songs I’d love to sample, and “No, No, No Pt. 2” was on there.
I’ve always loved Destiny’s Child. I grew up going to Music World, which was Mathew Knowles’ record label in Houston, all the time. There were posters of Destiny’s Child everywhere, House of Deréon too, and I remembered thinking, “Who are these brown-skinned models?” Then, I quickly got caught up and lost in the Destiny’s Child lore, so that song has always spoken to me. I worked with Trey Campbell and Tony Jones on this record; we came up with the idea, and I tried to make it feel less percussive and as bass-driven and as Houston as possible.
I definitely had to ask permission from all the people [who] were a part of the song. I guess they saw the vision and respected my version of it. It means a lot because you can never really guarantee that the original writers and performers of a song will rock with the way that you made your own. But to say Destiny’s Child gave me the green light is amazing. I take that with pride. I want to make them proud.
What was it like working with Sean Bankhead for the music video? Why is it important for you to keep dance at the forefront of R&B?
I’ve always wanted to bring energy to R&B. I also grew up dancing competitively, so that’s always been a part of who I am. I want to dance. I want to compete. I want to add something different. My favorite artists weren’t the ones that just were standing there; they were moving around — Michael Jackson, Beyoncé, Aaliyah, Missy Elliott, even Brandy used to dance a lot in certain eras. I think it’s something special about giving people a reason to get up, grab a partner and two-step.
I’ve also known Sean forever, so it was one of those things where you know and respect your homie, but you’ve never actually collaborated. “Don’t Go” felt like a really cool moment to do something with him specifically. He’s a master of his craft and no stranger to getting people moving. We both wanted to do something with each other that we’ve never done, and I think we did just that.
You love a good ad-lib. What do you understand the function of an ad-lib to be in R&B? Who are your favorite vocalists in that lane?
An ad-lib should be obnoxious — sometimes — but tasteful. Just hitting the right spot like seasonings on your favorite meal. I say “obnoxious” because a lot of my favorite ad-libs are like, “Did you have to do that much?” No, but that’s why we’re obsessed.
When it comes to ad-libs, I love Brandy for sure, Joe has some of my favorite ad-libs, Boyz II Men on “Water Runs Dry,” specifically. Beyoncé has crazy ad-libs; they’re famous on their own. The Dubai [“Drunk in Love”] riff is crazy, the original “Crazy in Love” riff, the ad-libs in “I Care.” That’s what makes music fun: Giving people an opportunity to choose something that they’re obsessed with in a song outside of the lyrics or the melody. You can really plant things inside music for different people to connect with.
You signed with Raedio and Atlantic in 2021. How do you find that you’ve grown personally and professionally since then?
My mental health has grown a lot in those years of being signed. I can say that being signed to a major label and being an artist and putting yourself out there and the business and numbers of it all can be very difficult to do every day. It’s hard to see yourself as a product or something that always has to sell something. That’s not something that necessarily comes naturally to me. I fell in love with music for the art and sharing the gift of it all.
But that ain’t what it’s all about. I’ve really grown mentally in terms of figuring out a system that allows me to feel like I’m sharing my gifts while understanding how to be a businessman. That’s something that my degree has also taught me. I’m really ambitious, and I know that I can’t be selling out arenas and stadiums one day unless I understand how to really connect with people, and I feel like I understand how to share myself better. I’m still learning.
How was your time on the FLO tour?
I don’t always reach this goal, but I really want to do things with people that I’m a fan of. Going on tour with a group of women that I actually am a fan of and respect was really cool. I knew their songs and vice versa, which was beautiful. There’s no better feeling than it being a mutual thing. I’ve been watching Love Island, and sometimes they can’t tell when it’s really mutual.
They were like, “We’re loving your new single, ‘Feel the Bass,’ how’d you feel about coming on tour starting in Houston and staying on for some dates?” I was just like, “When you guys speak in those accents, I can’t even say no!” They also had a studio on their bus, so I played them some songs from my album, and I heard some of their unreleased stuff, and we were like, “Hm, FLO x Josh Levi … maybe there’s something there!”
The braids are always on point. What’s your hair care routine?
I do be using Cécred. I got to sit in the Cécred chair in Cécred Salon actually. The Queen herself allowed me to be a part of the Cécred experience. I actually really do love her products. I get my hair styled every week. But in between getting braids, I try my best to take care of it because it’s super thick and there’s a lot of it. It’s like a full-time job. I don’t know how women do it!
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