XXXTentacion used to hold a lot of weight and influence over young people. His fans were always devout, even in his lowest moments, shrouded in darkness and controversy. With records like “Jocelyn Flores” and “SAD!”, people saw themselves in his moody depression anthems. However, in June 2018, he died after being shot three times in a robbery. This left his supporters devastated by Jahseh Onfroy’s passing away at 20 years old. One person it impacted severely was Noah Cyrus, who is opening up about her connection to the late artist.
Recently, she spoke on The Zach Sang Show about her recent album, I Want My Loved Ones to Go with Me. There, she talks about her closing song, “XXX”, and how she often ends her letters in tribute to XXXTentacion. “That wasn’t our ending [to the album] for the longest time,” Cyrus admits. “And we had, I guess, ‘Love is a Canyon.’ It was ‘XXX’ and then ‘Love is a Canyon.’ One day, I texted Mike. I was like, ‘Are we dumb? I sign every letter with ‘XXX.” I’m like, ‘That’s literally like what we’re saying. We end our every goodbye with ‘XXX.””
Noah Cyrus Opens Up About the Impact of XXXTentacion’s Death on Her Life
“Again” is another tribute to XXXTentacion. Initially, it was a song by her dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, that never saw the light of day. Whenever he sang the song, the late rapper would immediately come to mind. As a result, she knew she had to put it on her record. In a sense, Noah Cyrus looks at it as her way of connecting with someone who meant so much to her.
“Originally, back in 2018, when I was really struggling with what had happened to [XXXTentacion], this song my dad would always sing me, which was his first song he ever wrote,” Noah Cyrus recalls. “Every time he sang it, ‘Just listen in the wind, know that I’m your friend and always with you,’ I just would always see Jah. And so that was my intent and purpose of putting it on this album was to finally like put that out there and connect with him.”
Moreover, she notes how her collab with XXXTentacion will always be an integral part of her concerts. “I always want Jah a part of my set,” Cyrus says. “No matter how the genre changes, we’ll find a way to keep that in the set.”
The post ‘I Would Always See Jah’: Noah Cyrus Recalls Intense Grief Over XXXTentacion’s Death appeared first on VICE.
