When he isn’t creating baby-making music he’s walking fashion shows, most recently he walked for Willy Chavarria’s UNCUT collection as a New York archetype. He’s the summer it-boy and Disc Two proves it. His poetic lyrics and a smooth soulful voice are sure to make any summer night one to remember. The LA-based singer-songwriter catches up with office to talk about his new EP, working with his childhood friends, and some muses for his own sound.
Hey! How are you? What have you been up to today? What have I been up to today?
I just got back to LA from Houston. So, that's what happened today. I opened my suitcase. I closed in the laundry. And then it was 11 o'clock. I opened my laptop. And I clicked Microsoft, and so here we are. Okay so, Disc One came out in 2020, and Disc Two is coming out soon, what was the creative process like for this new project? For this new project, I really just wanted to put it all out there. Just to lay it all out in the stories that I'm telling. And just be completely transparent, and raw and honest, and unfiltered, and address kind of everything. Disc one came out in 2020, Disc Two is coming out in 2022. So, a lot has happened in my life and in the world into in the last like, in that time. So I think you can hear all of that in the body of work. And it feels more mature. It feels just in my eyes, it's more exciting and more alive and like this one had a fire about it. And I feel like Disc Two has like a whole fire to it.
Don’t They Pt 2 ft Normani is the stand-out track in your new EP, how was working with fellow Ex-Factor alumni?
I mean, she and I grew up together. So it was overdue. Since I've known her and she's been so a part of my life for a long time. So it just was really special to finally collaborate on something. And I love the song. I love what we did. And I'm so excited for people to hear it. It's a song about romance and nostalgia and just chaotic and like sexiness and it's just like an electric song. It was really, really adult. We've done so much stuff together. But we've never collaborated. So I'm excited.
Since going solo, I think your sound has really solidified, how would you describe your music in the way it makes people feel?
I love that question. My goal always with music is, for people to feel something, whatever it is, if they feel something, then I'm happy. I like to provide an escape, that's my goal in creating Disc Two. Just whatever I make is to create an experience that someone when they press play on Josh Levi, they're going to somewhere else, wherever that is for if that's a place of healing, if that's a place of fantasy, or if it's a place of relatability, or pain or happiness, whatever it is, I just always like to transport someone from where they are to somewhere else. So my process of doing that is, that I think I'm most successful when I just let it go. And I just like surrender to the process.
How would I describe my sound? It's a combination of things. All the things that make me so I'm from Houston, Texas. I love hip hop. I love bass. I love 808s. It has always been my favorite part of building a song. Every producer that I work with will tell you that I'm like, “Where's the 808s? Let's start with 808s.” I think that's the Houston in me. And then the electric guitar is my favorite instrument. So that's also really present in my sound. I grew up listening to a lot of gospel, a lot of R&B, Jazmine Sullivan, Brandy, Stevie Wonder, and Joe. And so I think there's a really soulful element to my sound also, that's kind of like a combo. Of all those things. I don't know what genre people want to put that in.
The Jasmine Sullivan deluxe album?
1,000%. Jasmine is my favorite female vocalist.
Who's your favorite male vocalist?
Stevie Wonder.
What’s your favorite Stevie Wonder song?
“These Three Words” is really beautiful. It's like a hidden gem. Of course, I love all the popular songs and all the singles and stuff but “These Three Words” is my favorite, and “Overjoyed” is also a really good one.
Overjoyed, that's mine. It just transports you. Like you just, sit somewhere and you're somewhere else when you listen to that song.
Exactly and that's why he’s one of my favorite artists. And that's what I aspire to be. That's my whole point of view as an artist is to create that for other people, because that's what I enjoy the most. That song most definitely takes you to Mars.
You’ve become quite the heartthrob and played the role of a boy band member in Turning Red. How did that come about?
Billy [Eilish] who I’ve also known for a minute. Billy and Phineas wrote all of the music for Turning Red. So they had me in mind to be in the boy band for the movie and asked me to be a part of it. So it came out of nowhere. I didn't even know it was a thing. But I'm the biggest fan of Pixar. And also, love and respect, Billy, so it was a no-brainer for me. It was a really really special thing to be a part of and people love that movie it’s kind of crazy.