In the midst of a year defined by political and social unrest — not to mention an unprecedented global pandemic — a new chapter is what we all need. For Canadian singer-songwriter Michelle Treacy, the release of her new single “Time Off From A Letdown” is just that — the start of something new, and something “unapologetically Michelle.”
Three years after releasing her breakout track “Armageddon,” Michelle won an episode of CTV’s music competition show The Launch and was officially “launched” into the spotlight with an angsty new single, “Emotional.” Fast forward a year, Michelle is stripping her sound down to the basics, embracing a more somber and reflective folk-pop tone that’s perfect for the times.
To celebrate her first independent release, I caught up with Michelle to chat about “Time Off From A Letdown,” using your platform and performing with Lady Gaga (yes, you read that right!).
What does “Time Off From A Letdown” represent for you?
Thematically, the song represents the feeling of letting everyone down — the reality being that you are only letting yourself down by putting others first. It is about refocusing on yourself, as I have spent the last couple of years doing just that after going through a dark time in my life. The cinematic video is a beautiful representation of this created by an all-female team. It is a piece of art in its purest form, and I hope people take something from it.
You’ve been vocal throughout the pandemic about mask education (masks are definitelysexy!) and #BlackLivesMatter. Why is it important for you to use your platform to shine a light on global issues?
I am really grateful to have a platform where people see my stuff and listen. If you have a platform and you’re not using it to educate people on current issues — why bother having a platform? I am pro mask and #BlackLivesMatter. If you are not, you are on the wrong side of history. It’s time to get educated.
The pandemic has presented a bit of a creative block for many artists. Which singers have inspired you the most this year and why?
Finneas has inspired me a lot. He has taught me that you don’t need anything to make a good song and record. He taught me that recording from home is cool. I mean, look at all his work… all done from his bedroom. So, that’s what I’m doing now. All my music is recorded in my closet.
Can you share the story behind that moment with Lady Gaga where you got to perform with her on stage in Montreal? Also, I have to ask: What’s your favourite song off Chromatica?
Long story short, I got really lucky when it came to singing with Gaga in 2014. I had met her a bunch of times prior and asked her. She said yes and the rest is history. My favourite song off Chromatica is “Sine From Above.”
What’s next for you? Are you working towards another EP or perhaps an album?!
I’m working on a bunch of new music. No release date yet but it will be worth the wait I promise. We are gonna do this right this time!
As an accomplished artist, songwriter and producer for the likes of John Legend, Tom Misch and Disclosure, there’s little that Birmingham-based Reuben Jamescan’t do.
Reuben, who many will recognize as Sam Smith’s former pianist and frequent collaborator, broke out onto the jazz scene last year with the release of Adore. His seven-track debut EP cemented his status as a fast-emerging one to watch.
Out today, his sophomore EP Slow Down was originally scheduled for release last Friday, June 5. In solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter movement, Reuben joined artists like Chloe x Halle and friends HONNE in delaying their release dates by a week. “Proud of the movement and proud to be Black,” Reuben wrote on Instagram.
To celebrate the official release, I called Reuben over Zoom to chat about slowing down, genre labels and Canadian surprises.
How does it feel to have Slow Down out for everyone to hear, especially given everything going on around the world?
It’s a crazy time right now. We’re getting a lot [of news coverage] and there have been a lot of marches and protests going on here as well. It’s time for change and this is all for the right reasons. I feel like people need to use music to escape what’s going on so hopefully my music can bring some healing to people that need it right now. It’s my second baby out into the world and it’s scary, but at the same time I’ve worked really hard to put it together so I’m happy it’s coming out.
Your sound crosses from soul to R&B to jazz and back again. How would you describe it, and what are your thoughts on genre labels?
I’ve got such a broad influence of music, but if I had to pin it down I’d say jazz-influenced R&B. There are so many new names for genres now. People say neo-soul or jazz hop…I don’t even know. But I like to think mine is in the category of good music. I think there’s only two genres – good music and not so good music. Hopefully mine comes in the good category! But definitely the music that I’m making now is R&B with jazz harmony and beats flowing on top.
Does the EP title have added significance for you as we’ve collectively slowed down in quarantine?
When I wrote “Slow Down,” the title track, I’d been touring with Sam for almost seven years, so my life was super fastfastfast, and it was like the world was craving the opposite. Obviously, everyone’s all about instant gratification and ordering things on Amazon and getting it the next day. You’re also thinking about social media and work and there’s just so much going on and so much stress and anxiety. Now everyone’s craving nature and doing yoga, meditation and exercise. I was definitely craving that. This quarantine situation has made it so everyone’s kind of forced to slow down and I feel like people can use the EP as a tool to just escape for 20 minutes and really relax and listen to some smooth sounds.
Are there any artists you’ve worked with who have really challenged you musically, in terms of exploring new influences or recording styles?
Sam definitely challenges me musically. Sam’s an incredible top line lyricist; melodies just flow out so you really have to be on your game and be organic in the moment. As soon as I told Sam that I was starting to put out music, they’d be posting about it, telling people about it and giving me feedback and the best advice. I know that Sam’s got my back and is the most supportive friend I could dream for in the world.
Also, working with Bruno Major was amazing. The first time I saw Bruno, he opened for Sam in early 2013 at St Pancras Old Church in London and he was unbelievable. We’ve been friends since then. Bruno is very particular and he really wants to strive for kind of the most poetic and beautiful lyric. I come from more of a chords and grooves background and I’ve got chords going through my head 24/7, whereas I do have a lot to say lyrically but I have to take my time. That’s something that I’ve been working on improving and Bruno’s been a big part of that inspiration for me. His lyrics are like, very expensive sounding.
Have you learned anything about yourself being on the road so much that you wouldn’t have discovered otherwise?
You have to be comfortable being away from your friends and family for so long, but you create your new family on the road. I definitely grew up fast and have learned about a lot of different cultures. The joke here is a good friend of mine is in Vancouver and I got out to Canada with Sam, and the first thing I did was called him and was like, I’m here, can you get me at this place? He said, Where are you? I don’t know that place. Anyway, turned out I was in Montreal and just assumed that he’d be around the corner. It was ridiculous. He was like, Bro, Canada’s a big place. I know that now.
Introducing Take 5 — a new series on angelamclean.ca introducing you, through just five questions, to ones to watch who are killing it in their respective fields.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Please take a minute to read the linked article, which was published just under two months after this interview, before you proceed. More Take 5 interviews are available on my blog.
Turn up your speakers: Toronto-based singer-songwriter Langston Francis is having a moment.
Prior to recently graduating high school, Langston had already amassed an impressive list of accomplishments — a successful debut EP roaming, an ad campaign with Roots, national radio play, sets at Canada’s biggest summer festivals, opening slots for artists like Hayley Kiyoko and, most recently, his first stateside show. “The moment that I have is here right now and I’m always aware of the fact that it might not be here tomorrow, so I’ve got to seize the opportunity,” he says, an observation more relevant than ever in the midst of our shared global experiences in quarantine.
Kicking off the rollout for his sophomore EP due out later this year, Langston just dropped his new single “Waste My Time,” a flavourful summer-ready track about giving into temptation despite knowing exactly how things are going to end. With much more music to come, I caught up with Langston over FaceTime to get the inside scoop on staying creative, overcoming Instagram Live fears, the new wave of local talent and more.
Happy release day! “Waste My Time” serves as the first taste of your upcoming EP and your first release of 2020. How are you feeling?
I’m so excited. I mean, I didn’t go on a hiatus in terms of creating things, but I released my debut project (in 2018) and then I only put out two singles — “Throw It Away and “Peaches” — for a large chunk of time. I’ve kind of been teasing at stuff for months, because I had this single done but we wanted to get the EP pretty much completely done. It’s kind of hard to put it all into words, but it’s a warm feeling. Coming up on past releases I had a little bit of anxiety and nervousness thinking about how it was going to be received, and I’ve let a lot of that go in the sense that I’m just happy to share the music with whoever wants to hear it. I’m so happy that I have my art because it’s something that I can enjoy by myself and create by myself and still share with others from essentially the comfort of my house.
What really wastes your time?
People are always joking on the label calls about this. Someone will be like, We don’t want to waste people’s time! I think for a lot of my life, it’s been the transit system — just the way I’ve spent a lot of my time freezing my ass off waiting for buses. Also, I spent 13 hours in a Cuban airport one time. The flight was delayed two hours more every two hours. We weren’t allowed to leave the airport, there was no food, the debit machine system was broken so we couldn’t take money out and we didn’t have any pesos because… well, I don’t know, me and my friends were just irresponsible teenagers. At one point they were like, We’re giving food out to everyone for free! It was just a hot dog bun and a can of Coke. We were like, alright, bless.
How has the creative process changed for you in quarantine? Have you felt a desire to be more experimental and productive, or is the isolation leading to creative block?
It was interesting; in the beginning, I definitely felt stir crazy due to the lack of human contact. When I’m writing, I like to draw from experiences in my life and it’s tough when you’re just staying inside and everything you’re seeing on the news is so negative. But I’ve figured out how to adjust, especially as a lot of producers and writers have been working via Zoom — which sounds like it would be difficult but surprisingly it’s been really nice. Also, I’ve always struggled with telling my story and showing my personality online. I’ve always been encouraged to do more of it, but I sometimes find that I just care so much more about doing live shows and releasing music and that was what I was so focused on.
Being in quarantine, I started this Instagram Live series where I play some songs, chat with people and then bring on a young creative on the come up. The first one I did recently was with this producer Jenius. He’s 18 and has produced for Travis Scott and a lot of pretty established artists, so it was really cool to talk about creativity in quarantine and answer questions from people about how you navigate the industry at a young age. I never really live streamed; I was always awkward talking to the camera. So, I think one pro of being stuck inside is it’s opening my eyes to exploring different mediums to connect with the fans. Hopefully even if one person feels like they got some knowledge or inspiration from hearing us talk, then that was a success.
What have you missed most about playing live shows and how hard are you going to go at the first gig back?
I had a couple of shows announced and some other stuff behind the scenes that we were lining up that I was massively anticipating, especially because I have this new project and I felt like I’d really gotten to a point where I was able to just enjoy the shows and be in the moment. From what I’ve heard I don’t think there’s going to be international touring on the larger scale for probably a lot of 2021. At the same time, I was actually just talking to a friend and we were thinking about how, especially for shows in Toronto, we’re spoiled sometimes. We have all these incredible acts playing large and small venues and it’s so accessible and for a lot of Canadian cities, artists just don’t come there. So, I think when we’re able to tour again, for artists and fans both the appreciation is going to be crazy.
I saw photos of the first social distancing concert and yeah, I didn’t really get that. I was also thinking, how did they break even? It was weird though, the fact that we both know it from that post that kind of went a little viral and obviously I imagine that’s not what they were intending – for everyone to kind of clown it — but if it was something that they did to live stream or just let a few fans in then that’s cool. It’s hard to say what’s safe and what isn’t.
Self-titled EPs don’t mess around and are typically more raw, authentic and revealing. What can fans expect and how would you describe your musical growth?
With my first EP, I had no idea what the project was going to be called when I released the first single and I was kind of taking it step by step. I describe this EP as more sure of itself, and I’m more sure of the songs. People might hear “Waste My Time” and I wouldn’t want to say that the whole EP is totally like that because we also have a big, epic, almost shimmery pop track, and then there’s a track that explores more of a rocky feel. I’ve also got my first feature on the project, which I’ve never done before and is really exciting being that we’re both Toronto artists. There are actually a lot of really cool artists coming up from Toronto right now that are around my age. I feel like since I was 15, 16, starting to drop music, I’ve gotten so much love and acknowledgement from people that I looked up to, and now seeing this new wave of young teens and early 20’s people coming up has been really dope.
Every winter, I love adding the latest holiday singles to my Christmas playlist. My heart fills with festive joy hearing all the new melodies, lyrics and fresh twists applied to Christmas classics. It’s like the 12 days of Christmas — music edition!
This year, artists like Taylor Swift, Kacey Musgraves and the Jonas Brothers came through with fresh takes on the OGs and new releases that are sure to be instant holiday staples. Scroll down for this month’s playlist and press play on 12 of the latest and greatest holiday tunes!
Also, keep your eyes peeled in this post for my Christmas appreciation giveaway — you don’t want to miss out!
You’re guaranteed to fall in love with the full playlist, but here are five songs that will instantly warm you up.
“Christmas Tree Farm” — Taylor Swift
If Taylor’s hit single “Lover” didn’t give you enough holiday vibes, “Christmas Tree Farm” will be the best gift to your playlist. I knew this song was going to be incredible when I saw Jimmy Napes, my favourite songwriter and producer, was involved in the production — and boy, was I right. I just want to grab my friends and sway back and forth belting these lyrics every. single. time I hear it… and the fact she wrote this a week before its release? Tay is unstoppable!
With the leaves falling to mark the start of fall, I’m also turning a new leaf — and highlighting all the new music filling my ears this month! From star-studded collaborations to the latest bops from rising artists, a new season is the perfect time to take your music library to the next level. Plus, why not impress your friends with your fresh finds? No thanks needed — everyone deserves a bangin’ playlist.
Plug in your headphones or turn up your speakers, and get amped up to enjoy some of my fave new songs and the new artists you need on your radar.
“Like This” — Sofi Tukker
I haven’t stopped raving about Sofi Tukker for the past two months, after finally having the chance to see the party duo live in Montreal (at one of their unforgettable Animal Talk club parties, nonetheless). Side note: They put on a MUST-see show — and it takes a lot for me to say that!
They premiered this song in Montreal and I was immediately counting down the days until their ‘Dancing On The People’ EP release to get the studio version for my playlist. It’s an irresistible jam and always puts me in the best mood! Take a listen and try to prove me wrong. ㋡
