Givēon

At the end of high school, a Grammy Museum youth program pointed Givēon toward Sinatra's 'Fly Me to the Moon' — the first voice, he says, that ever sounded like his own. He'd grown up assuming an artist had to belt and run like Anita Baker or Sade; Sinatra proved otherwise. "He wasn't going over the top with being a powerhouse vocalist," Givēon told Rolling Stone. "He had that tone, and that carried you through the song." He later borrowed the stage persona too — tailored suit, wine in hand, floating rather than dancing.

listen: upstream & heresource: Boardroom — GIVĒON on Being the Future of R&B, Frank Sinatra, & More (Sinatra stagecraft, Frank Ocean, Barry White) ↗share

1964

Fly Me to the MoonFrank Sinatra

→↓

2021

For TonightGivēon

listen forSinatra rides behind Count Basie's band on 'Fly Me to the Moon,' never rushing to catch the beat, letting charm do what a run would. Givēon's 'For Tonight' — co-written with a producer who first thought the vocal was a record played at the wrong speed — works the same way: a low, unhurried baritone that holds a note and lets it carry the ache instead of climbing after it.

Everything his mother played was direct — Isley Brothers soul with no poetry in it, as Givēon put it. Then in high school he heard Frank Ocean's 'Thinkin Bout You' and it rearranged what he thought a song could do. "It was atmospheric," he told Boardroom. "It was like, oh, you don't have to do this. You can mix your own things. And that was pivotal." He credits Ocean, specifically, with teaching him "word building" and how to make an album feel like one continuous piece rather than a stack of singles.

listen: upstream & heresource: Boardroom — GIVĒON on Being the Future of R&B, Frank Sinatra, & More (Sinatra stagecraft, Frank Ocean, Barry White) ↗share

2012

Thinkin Bout YouFrank Ocean

→↓

2021

Heartbreak AnniversaryGivēon

listen for'Thinkin Bout You' floats on a thin, reverbed bed with almost nothing else happening in the mix — Ocean lets the mood, not the arrangement, do the work. 'Heartbreak Anniversary' is built the same way: a spare, moody backdrop under a vocal that tells one specific breakup rather than a generic one, trusting atmosphere and narrative over a shouted hook, the way Ocean's record does.

White is the second name Givēon reaches for whenever Sinatra comes up — never expanded into a scene or a specific song, but named twice, unprompted, across separate interviews as one of the deep-baritone singers who proved a voice like his had precedent. "He was one of the first baritone singers my ears ever discovered," Givēon told Boardroom. "And then I would start to get to Barry White and stuff like that." The debt here is narrower than with Sinatra or Ocean: tone recognized, not a record studied.

listen: upstream & heresource: Boardroom — GIVĒON on Being the Future of R&B, Frank Sinatra, & More (Sinatra stagecraft, Frank Ocean, Barry White) ↗share

1974

You're the First, the Last, My EverythingBarry White

→↓

2019

Like I Want YouGivēon

listen forNo specific White song is on record as Givēon's touchstone, so listen for the trait he does name: White sings 'You're the First, the Last, My Everything' from deep in his chest at an unhurried, conversational pace, never straining upward. Givēon's 'Like I Want You' sits in that same low register and refuses to rush — the resemblance is in the register and the patience, not a direct lyrical or melodic borrow.