Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has largely stayed out of the spotlight since resigning in January, made a surprise appearance this week - not on a political stage, but in his son Xavier's Instagram video promoting the teenager's latest R&B single.
"Proud to see my son [Xav Trudeau] pursue his dream," Justin Trudeau posted on X, sharing the video that features the 17-year-old, who performs under the stage name 'Xav', reacting to his third music video release, 'Back Me Up', with his father.
In another clip, posted by Xavier, father and son are seen watching the new video together, bobbing their heads to the beat and sharing laughs. At one point, Trudeau says, "I think I missed one of the videos." Xavier quickly replies, "How?! You gotta watch that, man."
Then Trudeau admitted he didn't have any social media accounts. "C'mon! Who runs your Instagram? You don't run it?" Xavier teased.
The music video itself shows Xav dancing alongside two others in a room wallpapered with newspapers, with occasional grainy footage of a moving car. The beat for 'Back Me Up' was produced by 16-year-old Ottawa native DUAVA and Joey "Tekika" Boyer, who operates a studio in the Canadian capital.
In the video, the former Prime Minister playfully ribbed his son, "So you do know girls," he joked, as the music video showed him grooving along with people.
Trudeau then reminisced, "Your grandfather at one point, when I was off to go dancing one evening then a girl would come by to pick me up, explained that, you know, you're taking my son Justin dancing and she said, yeah. Oh, what do you mean? Oh, oh, my son Justin has an acrobatics sense, but not so much a sense of dancing."
Xavier launched his R&B career in February with the debut single 'Til the Nights Done', followed by 'Everything I Know' in March. Both were produced by Daluwatte and Boyer, co-founders of the Ottawa-based Pathway Music Group.
Justin Trudeau resigned as Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party in January, making way for former Central banker Mark Carney to take over Liberal leadership. The Liberals won a fourth consecutive term in the April 28 election, though with a minority government. The Conservatives, led by Pierre Poilievre, underperformed, with Poilievre losing his seat. The NDP suffered historic losses, prompting leader Jagmeet Singh to step down.
