An interview with Chrxstopher, creator of the sober anthem “SPRITE”
If you have spent ANY time online in the past few weeks, you’ve likely heard “SPRITE”: A dance tune with a catchy synth riff that proudly declares “I don’t need the alcohol to have a good night, I’ll just have a sprite”. The mastermind behind the song is Chrxstopher, aka Christopher Davis, a professional dancer, make-up artist, and TikTok creator with over 1 million followers. Of course, I had to interview Christopher to learn more about him and his motivation behind writing the sober anthem of 2024.
Hey Christopher, how are you doing! Tell me a little bit about yourself, what’s your story?
Hi there! Well, first and foremost, I’m a dancer. I moved to LA to dance professionally, did that for a few years and got a pretty good resume, and then the pandemic hit. And that was when I started focusing more on social media, it just kind of fell into my lap, and I went viral with a couple of videos. That’s when I realized I could use social media as the jumping off platform to dive more into music.
But I've still been working my day job as an MC for a dance competition and parties and doing content creating on the side. And then I just decided to release this silly little song about drinking Sprite in the club and all of a sudden it felt like everybody in the entire world had heard that clip!
“I went up to the bar after they had ordered their drinks and said “I’ll just have a sprite”, and I remember thinking: there’s something there, that’s a song!”
“SPRITE” has gone viral in the alcohol-free community, but I didn’t actually ask if you’re sober yourself!
I’m sober from drugs, I don’t smoke or anything. The reason that SPRITE came into existence is because I have been cutting back a lot from drinking. First of all, because in Los Angeles, it's so expensive to do anything in regards to drinking, because you have to Uber and you have to pay for the alcohol. And that’s just not my vibe anymore.
I came up with the idea for SPRITE when I was the designated driver for a group of friends. I went up to the bar after they had ordered their drinks and said “I’ll just have a sprite”, and I remember thinking “there’s something there, that’s a song!”.
I really love that spin on Sprite, that it's not necessarily like” Oh, I've been sober and strictly sober all the time”, but more of a motivational song for people who are interested in cutting down and want to feel confident in their choice!
I never have been somebody who drinks all the time or religiously. I like wine. I like the occasional cocktail. But I've never needed alcohol for anything. 2023 was when I noticed that it was just more than I usually drink and I said" “okay, it's becoming expensive. It's becoming a little bit more frequent. And I don't think I love that.” So towards the end of last year I decided to pull back a little bit, and that was when I wrote SPRITE!
Being in the entertainment industry in LA, I imagine there’s a lot of partying, alcohol, and substances. Do you find yourself surrounded by that?
I’m not gonna lie: It’s rough. Addiction runs in my family, which is why I've always been a little bit cautious of substance use, but even for me it was difficult to not partake. I can only imagine how difficult this place is for some people, which I assume is why so many people spiral here. Especially in the queer culture, any drag queen interview you watch, it's part of their job is to have a drink in their hands. Any kind of queer event, there's always bottomless mimosa, or like, fireball shots, there's always something.
On the flip side of that is a darker side with heavier drug use. It can be very, very dangerous so quickly and I've had friends who have luckily made it out alive. One of my very best friends is sober from hard drugs. They were very, very heavily into all of the hard drugs that circulate through West Hollywood and have made it out and will never go back.
“All the pretty people and all the lights and all the music and then all of a sudden, it’s like specials, and everybody’s at the bar and it just spirals so quickly from it being such a pretty thing on the outside to being so scary and dangerous on the inside.”
What is it about West Hollywood specifically?
It’s very party heavy. From the outside it’s so glamorous and everyone's pretty, everyone is partying, everyone's dancing, everyone's having a good time. It's easy to get sucked into all the glitz and glam. All the pretty people and all the lights and all the music and then all of a sudden, it's like specials, and everybody's at the bar and it just spirals so quickly from it being such a pretty thing on the outside to being so scary and dangerous on the inside.
I will say that in regards to the general public I feel like LA has the tendency to be a little superficial. And when it comes to what you do or don't do, or what you portray to the outside that you do or don't do, a lot of times what you do in the comfort of your own home here is very different than most on social media that you're doing here. From the outside, it probably looks like everybody is super healthy and into fitness and whatever, whatever. But chances are those people have some skeletons in the closet.
What I have always strived to do in my journey is to be authentic, whether that is posting that I'm having a drink on the internet, or posting that I'm getting a sprite at the club.
I ask most guests this question, even though I feel like we already know the answer: What’s your favorite non-alcoholic drink?
I mean, the obvious answer is sprite. They sent me 80 cans yesterday! But I also love just a plain Coke. For some reason sometimes that just hits different, you know? So I guess it depends on whether or not I need caffeine.
Is “COKE” going to be the SPRITE remix?
This is blog exclusive: I do have some remixes in the works with some exciting people!
Other than the SPRITE remixes, what’s next for you in your career?
Oh, boy! I really want to just capitalize on this momentum I have. I’m currently working on a record, I don't know if it'll be an EP or an album. But I am taking the entire project in the direction of SPRITE, everything that I've always thought was funny or early 2000s camp, that sort of vibe. I’m just writing Y2K girly fun music that I'm really excited for people to hear. The next song will come out some time around Pride!
How can people find you?
I’m @iamchrxstopher on all platforms, like Instagram, Tiktok, and you can listen to my song SPRITE on Spotify and Apple Music!
Thank you so much for taking the time to chat Chrxstopher! We’re excited to see what’s next after SPRITE.
