With a gigantic new track '3, 2, 1' out today (Friday 19th February), you could say 24kGoldn has a certain touch.

By: Steven Loftin.

When 24kGoldn - real name Golden Landis Von Jones - swept his way to the top of the charts with ‘Mood’, reaching dizzying billions across streaming services, there’s no way he could have seen it coming. But that’s not to say the idea of being one of the biggest artists in the world hasn’t been there from the word go.

Right now, he’s a busy bee. Understandably, given that with success comes the avalanche of opportunity that can feel a bit blink ‘n’ you’ll miss it. Finally pinning Golden down, the Californian is sitting in a coffee shop after a “cup of tea”, he says with a cheeky put-on British accent.

When he quit college and moved to LA to truly become 24kGoldn, the plan was “to be the biggest artist in the world!” he explains. “I didn’t know how - I didn’t know what to do; how to get there but I knew if I just keep doing what I’m doing, I think it’s gonna work out.”

As with most things, “by meeting the right people, learning the right things and being open to new experiences,” it did happen. “Technically you know when it was Number 1 on the Spotify global and everything, I was the biggest artist in the world for a little bit!”

But as happens with most who travel to the top of the highest mountain - how do you deal with conquering the reasonably unconquerable?

When they say there’s no rest for the wicked, the same goes for the virtuous. With his debut album proper, ‘El Dorado’, in the works, Golden is ready to take the 24k world to the next level.

Hard to dispute given the success that seems to continually appear from wherever his name appears; there’s ‘Mood’ (featuring iann dior), his feature on Clean Bandit’s ‘Tick Tock’ along with Mabel, and most recent single, ‘Coco’ (featuring Da Baby) - all turning Golden into the goose that lays… well, you know the rest.

But, trying to get the world of ‘El Dorado’ out of the mythological and into the musical, especially with the world watching, is no easy feat.

“If anybody tells you that making an album is easy, they’re a fucking liar - location switch up!” He says amidst laughter. Sweeping out of the coffee shop, he jumps into a cab.

In constructing the world of El Dorado, or at least to understand where Golden wants to go with it, you have to take a look at what he achieved on his debut EP, ‘Dropped Out Of College’. An interlacing collage of genres, including another of his smash hits, ‘City of Angels’, with its slacker-guitar riff and dosing of imagery of heaven, hell and the LA in-between.

“I would say my first project was an experiment of sorts. You know, it was figuring out. Can I make a rock song? Can I make a trap song? Can I make an emo-rap song? Can I make a pop song? And the answer is, yes!” He bursts out into a laugh.

Golden’s pop bangers are perfectly suited for an escapist world; they’re coated in the truth of his voice while never take things too seriously; there’s always a beat to latch onto, or a hook to sing continuously for days on end. However, Golden wants to be a part of that escapism for his fans, hence the construction of his new world in ‘El Dorado’.

Sarnies aside, he knows that it’s important - especially in these crazy days - because “it allows people to remove themselves from whatever situation they’re in temporarily and just vibe with me. My good energy rubs off on them because it’s contagious! Even through the computer screen.”

But how far does this energy go when you’ve achieved one of your career aspirations at such an early point - and young age to boot?

A very good question that we have to wait for an answer for as he’s just hopped into the elevator in his hotel. A couple of minutes later, glitching back to form, the answer turns out to be giving back - as well as making the “best music [he] can possibly make”. Obviously.

“I want to inspire the world with fashion too because that’s something that I’m really passionate about,” he continues, “and just give back in a more literal sense. It’s one thing knowing you could do something, but actually doing it? I know that I would not be in this position, if it wasn’t for scholarships, if it wasn’t for, you know, my mom’s union paying for me to have daycare as a kid so that my parents can work to put food on the table.

It’s not hard to see Golden as someone with a deep sense of humility. He’s barely turned 20 and had one of the biggest songs of the last year, continually racking up plays like a broken Tesco meat-counter ticket machine; and he’s still ready to give back.

He’s also someone with innate confidence - which surely being given the name Golden was in itself a sign of things to come. Thinking back to a visit from one of his old high school pals, the serendipity of it all sitting with him even now he recalls:

Undoubtedly whatever the future holds for 24kGoldn, it all seems to have been written for him already. He’s the one with the golden touch, and in his own way, he sees it as written in the stars.