Xav Trudeau Is Trying to Escape His Dad’s Shadow Through R&B

Last weekend, Justin Trudeau’s son, Xavier “Xav” Trudeau, performed at the second annual Shawarma Festival in Ottawa. A headline about the news prompted a post on X — “There are new sentences being formed that haven’t been formed before” — that went viral. The post also served as thousands of people’s introduction to the fact that the former Canadian prime minister’s son is an aspiring musician — one who’s far enough in his career to headline a halal-meat-themed community event.

The 18-year-old is relatively new to this. He launched his career in January 2025, a few weeks after his dad announced his intention to resign as Canada’s prime minister. On paper, his debut single, “Til the Nights Done,” is exactly the type of song one imagines a teenage Canadian raised on Drake, Travis Scott, and Don Toliver might make: full of atmospheric production, warbling melodies, and tossed-off references to weed and sex. But coming from an active head of state’s son, the song’s moody tone and lyrical content (“You got something I could grip on / I know you don’t miss no meals”) raised eyebrows. Complicating matters further was the fact that the elder Trudeau’s political popularity rating had reached a low point around this time, and Xav’s music attracted a lot of reflexive backlash because of it. One top YouTube comment on the “Til the Nights Done” music video mockingly calls him “Lil Carbon Tax.”

But Xav has remained steadfast in his musical ambitions. He’s since released four more singles, an EP titled When Does It End?, and a reaction video featuring his dad’s responses to another music video, “Back Me Up”; this September, he plans to take the next step in his career by moving to Los Angeles. Xav is not shying away from the fact that he’s son and grandson of former Canadian prime ministers, even if he thinks it’s led to some people judging his music unfairly. He’s happy to have the support of his dad (not to mention the possible support from his dad’s girlfriend, Katy Perry), but his ultimate belief is that he’ll be able to carve his own path and that his music will speak for itself. “I could have done it with or without him,” he says.

When did you get into making music?
As a kid, I had security all the time that would drive me around to my basketball practices and music recitals and stuff like that. I didn’t get a phone until I was like 13 or 14, so I would always ask them to put the radio on. There was this one channel in Ottawa, Hot 89.9, and I was always like, How do they make this? So one day, I literally picked up my phone and got some wired headphones and just started singing into BandLab, which is this DAW that people who start off like to use, and I just fell in love with creating music and being able to share my story in a different way than maybe people expect me to. That turned into me doing it almost every day, trying to mess around making beats. Then eventually, I got into a professional studio, made a song, met some good people, and now we’re here.

How did your sound evolve into the moodier R&B that you make now?
Other artists inspire me. A couple years ago, I discovered Don Toliver, and I really studied his stuff. Not even his lyrics, but his melodies, his flows, and his genre in general. He’s a super-huge influence for my music. The Kid LAROI has been a big one recently. I really like his swaggy pop stuff.

What were the considerations that went into deciding you want to pursue this as a career?
Honestly, it came naturally. I think that’s one of the biggest blessings I’ve had is being able to choose what I want to do and push for it. I just totally fell in love with being in the studio, creating music, and being able to express myself differently than, like I said, my family has.

I imagine the decision had to be complicated by the fact that your dad was prime minister at the time. Did you have any conversations with him or his team about how you could or could not present yourself publicly? 
Of course, but that wasn’t just when I started making music. That was my entire life. I was told, “You should stay away from doing this,” “You shouldn’t do that.” That’s one of my biggest gifts: I’m very good at gauging when I should be doing things or not. I think that’s going to take me far.

You did hard launch yourself as an artist after your dad announced his intentions to resign as prime minister in 2025. Was that strategic on your part?
Not at all. I had been making music way before that, and we literally pitched it to Spotify before he even told us he was gonna leave. The song was already distributed and supposed to come out for that date. It just ended up being around the same time.

How have you found the public reception to your music has been?
I think the biggest thing is people will say something before they even take ten seconds to listen to a song. If they don’t like my dad, right away, they don’t like me. If you don’t like me because you don’t like my music, and you think it’s the worst thing in the world? Okay, fine. I’ll live with that. But when you don’t even give it a shot? I can’t respect that. I’ve talked to some haters and said, “Yo, listen to the music.” And they’re like, “Okay, you know what? You’re pretty chill. You make good music.” But that stuff doesn’t bother me. I’ve had to deal with it my whole life.

You haven’t shied away from advertising that you’re Justin Trudeau’s son. Would you say having him as a dad is a net positive or negative for your music career overall?
It has its benefits, and it has its negatives, like anything has. You could be the son of a lawyer and have challenges that you’d have to go through. Obviously, mine’s a little bit more specific, but I definitely think it’s a benefit. He’s been able to publicly share that he’s proud of me, and that means a lot. I could have done it with or without him, though.

There are a couple lyrics of yours that made me wonder about whether they caused tension with him or his team. On your song “Til the Nights Done,” you have a lyric where you say, “We could roll some / We could light one.” You’re technically underage for using cannabis in Canada, and given your dad’s political reputation, I imagine that’s a dicey thing to reveal publicly.
What I like about writing music, and what I like about listening to other people’s music, is that you can actually interpret that however you want. There can be a bunch of different meanings to it. I liked the flow. I like how it sounded. I had writers help me write that one too, so it was a team thing. We thought about it and we were like, “You know what? This is going to create some buzz as well.” For a first song, it played out exactly how we wanted it to, so definitely no regrets for that.

So you didn’t face any backlash based on the idea that you’re Justin Trudeau’s underage son, and you’re talking about smoking weed on record?
There was! And that’s what got me hundreds of thousands of streams on the song.

So it was a calculated move?
You could say that, yeah.

On your song “Back Me Up,” you have a lyric where you say, “They won’t even let me go out alone,” which is presumably about the fact that you’ve had a security detail for most of your life. Are there other things specific to being the son of a prime minister that make their way into your music?
Of course. I haven’t released anything where I’m fully talking about that yet, though. I’ve tried writing about it, but it’s just not there yet. I want to drop something like that when I have millions of fans really interested in my music, and it’s almost like a story. And it’s going to bang. And it’s going to go crazy. And people are going to love it. That’s going to be a calculated one, for sure.

When the time comes, what do you want to express about it?
I think the main idea is me growing up almost as someone’s shadow. It didn’t really click to me until I was like 14 or 15. I was like, I’m doing all these cool things, I’m meeting cool people, I’m traveling, and it’s awesome. But I’m not doing this because of me, I’m doing this because of my dad. Eventually, I wanted to be my own man. I was tired of being “Trudeau’s kid.” So I started being like, Okay, it’s your time. Start something.

A lot of your songs are about dating and relationships. I imagine you weren’t really able to have a regular teenager’s dating life. Can you talk about that?
A lot of people would think that it’s super easy and you can get whoever you want, and maybe that is the case, but what comes with that is a lot of, Is she here because she likes me as this, or does she want something else? I’ve screwed up a couple times and made the wrong calls, and they’re all learning experiences. That’s something I’ve had to deal with a lot. I’m grateful I have an amazing girlfriend now.

Hip-hop has a long history of musicians using their platforms to speak out on political issues. Is that something you ever see yourself doing?Yeah, I’m not going to shy away from that because of my family’s political position. People think I’m super political and that I have a bunch of opinions on things, but I’m not a very political person. But eventually, when I have a platform and I feel strongly about something, I’m not going to shy away from talking about it.

Have you been able to connect with any collaborators you’re interested in working with?
There’s a lot of good artists in Canada that I’ve been talking with: Tyler Shaw, Virginia to Vegas, Chantal Kreviazuk.

Obviously, you’re not the only musician in your dad’s life right now, because he’s also dating Katy Perry. Have you gotten a chance to show her your music and get any advice from her?
Yeah. She’s been super supportive as well. Everyone that I like to surround myself with is supportive, and that’s what’s important.

Do you get specific advice on songwriting or anything like that? 
Yeah. If I have a question — like I would go to Tyler Shaw and ask him, “What do you think of this?” — she’s like that.

What are your bigger goals in the music industry?
I definitely want to make a change. I definitely want to impact people the way that artists have impacted me. I want to sell out arenas. I want to leave this planet with a good … I don’t want to say name, but a good image. I really do want to change people’s lives with the music.