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Music Quickspins

QUICKSPINS: Tinashe – Songs For You

Tinashe - Songs for You

Songs for You is Tinashe’s strongest work in three years

Following a lengthy period of silence and frustration from Tinashe, she divorced her label, RCA Records, after her last album, Joyride, received mixed reactions and poor album sales. The project wasn’t a failure, but it was definitely a step down from her Nightride mixtape that showed her talent in making alternative R&B.

Now with no leashes or boundaries, Tinashe has released Songs for You, her best work in three years. She seems at home, bouncing from sultry R&B, to club bangers, and even genre-bending tracks such as “Die a Little Bit.”

The production, stemming from heavyweights like Hitmaka and Hit-Boy, is gleaming with personality, especially on the highlight “Hopscotch,” Tinashe’s most club-ready hit with an infectious hook and stylish flows spread across the track.

The hooks are also where Tinashe shines the most. “Story of Us,” “Die a Little Bit,” and “Feelings” all have sharply written hooks that are sure to be remembered and sung by fans at all of her future performances.

The collaborations also offer a nice touch, as Ms Banks, 6lack, and G-Eazy all offer something unique to their respective tracks. The few features are smart as it allows Tinashe to show off how much more versatile she has become in the past few years.

Songs for You is a strong return to form for Tinashe that might help her regain some traction in the mainstream. It’s a carefully-crafted album that ranks among 2019’s most consistent R&B releases.

8/10

Trial Track: “Hopscotch”

Star Bar:

”Wish you would say somethin’ to make me change my mind

Got me feelin’ like somebody else

I been so patient with you but you won’t act right

And I’m tired of sleepin’ by myself

What is we on? Somethin’ is wrong”

(Tinashe on “Touch & Go”)

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Opinions

Gender inequality is real in the music industry: Taylor Swift can’t re-record or use her old songs

As a 20-year-old music fan living in Canada, I have been listening to Taylor Swift for as long as I can remember.

When I was younger, she was an idol, and I still love her and her music. From “Our Song” to “Lover,” her songs just keep getting better. I have to admit that there’s something about her old songs that hits me differently – perhaps because of my sentimental ties to the memories of these older songs.

On Nov. 14, Swift tweeted about how Scott Borchetta, founder and CEO of Big Machine Label Group, and Scooter Braun, the company’s new owner, wouldn’t let her perform at the American Music Awards (AMAs), where she’d be honoured with the Artist of the Decade Award.

Ironically, as soon as she expressed concern about the restriction, Big Machine Label Group released a statement saying artists can perform their music live without the label’s permission. They granted “all licences of their artists performances to stream post-show and for rebroadcast on mutually approved platforms.” However, they still won’t let the artists re-record or use them. This statement was obviously directed at Swift.

When Braun purchased Big Machine Label Group, he became the owner of Swift’s first six albums. According to Swift, Borchetta never gave her the opportunity to buy her music before selling the label, even though it is suspected he did with other artists. Braun owning Swift’s music means he legally controls it, which is why he’s allowed to tell her what she can and can’t do with it.

Essentially, two men who didn’t write, sing or collaborate on her songs wouldn’t let her perform them or use them in a documentary she is filming with Netflix. It is evident that this is all an attempt at controlling Swift in order to make more money off of her and her work.

This issue speaks to a wider systemic issue of women’s rights in music. Swift is a successful and well-respected artist, but it seems like it’s never enough. This has happened to many other amazing women in the music industry. Demi Lovato has been body-shamed countless times by fans, media, and other celebrities. According to MSN, Lady Gaga was also judged because of her looks and fashion sense and felt she was never enough. Miley Cyrus was also judged after the split with Liam Hemsworth. This confirms that there is still a long way to go for gender equality.

However, according to Vox, Swift will be re-recording all of her old songs starting in November 2020, when her contract with Big Machine Label Group legally allows her to.

But what about her Netflix documentary? Borchetta and Braun won’t let her use any of her old recorded songs. What would a Taylor Swift documentary even be without “Mine” or “I Knew You Were Trouble?”

In the meantime, show Swift some support by using #IStandWithTaylor on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. 

Graphic by @sundaeghost

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Music

Saint Jhn puts on a fun, but unremarkable show

Photo by Derek Campbell

The Brooklyn rapper hit the stage in Montreal for the second time in as many years, on his “Ghetto Lenny’s Ignorant Forever” tour

After performing at Osheaga shortly after the release of his debut album, Collection One, Saint Jhn returned to Montreal a year later for the promotion of his latest full-length project, Ghetto Lenny Love Songs.

The concert at L’Astral was exactly what you’d expect from an artist who balances bass-heavy trap bangers and melodic R&B leaning tunes. Near riots occurred when Saint Jhn performed hits like “Roses” and “All I Want is a Yacht.”

The visuals on loop behind the auto-crooner reflected the cult-like aesthetic that Saint JHN evokes in his music and album artwork. Both Collection One and Ghetto Lenny Love Songs have a cross spread across the cover and might fool someone into thinking that Saint Jhn is a Christian rapper.

He really isn’t.

His songs focus on the club life he lives in Brooklyn, filled with drugs, sex, and any other topic that you’d find on a trap album. While the subject matter can get repetitive, Saint Jhn’s lively performance kept it from being a boring concert. After all, how many trap concerts can you go to before they all seem the same?

At times, Saint Jhn skipped words to see if the crowd would continue to rap his lyrics and while they did, it was muffled and unintelligible. It wasn’t that the crowd wasn’t into it, it was that they were so drunk that rapping coherently was quite a difficult task.

While Saint Jhn’s power came from his bangers, he proved that his voice could hold up to the high standards he set for himself with the album versions of his songs.

“I Can Fvcking Tell,” “Trophies,” and “High School Reunion” put his voice on the forefront and with the help of some reverb and a little autotune, he never went off key or lost energy. The crowd drunkenly mumbled along, at least proving to Saint Jhn that his fans knew his songs, sober or not.

Most of the songs he performed were deep cuts from his Ghetto Lenny Love Songs, but he also performed all of the big numbers that jump started his career, towards the end of the concert. After a lively performance of “Anything Can Happen,” Saint Jhn jumped into the crowd, made his way to the middle and asked everyone to form a circle around him.

He asked, or rather demanded, that the crowd keep making a larger circle so that everyone could mosh around him, while he played his biggest single from the summer, “Trap.” 

Following that mess, Saint Jhn went back on stage and ended the concert with a prayer that had too many white people in the crowd usher a word they were in no position to say.

Sure the concert was a standard trap affair, but at least Saint Jhn knew how to entertain.

Photo by Derek Campbell

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Music

El Dorado concert movie review

Shakira - El Dorado

Shakira, you truly are the golden one

It’s no secret that we all have – whether we like it or not – a favourite musician we dub a guilty pleasure. No matter how music savvy we claim to be, there is that one rapper, pop icon, or country singer we grew up listening to, and cannot for the life of us let go of.

In my case, it’s a 5’2 Colombian icon, who goes by the name Shakira. When I was nine years old, I would hide in my room and replay the quintessential song of the 2000s, “Whenever, Wherever” with its iconic music video to replicate Shakira’s exact moves. My dream was to attend one of her concerts and watch her front-and-centre.

So when she announced her El Dorado world tour, I was over the moon. Finally! My childhood dreams would come true … until they didn’t.

Life got in the way, and I was not able to attend any of her shows, be it the Montreal concert, or the one she had in Lebanon. Imagine my frustration, knowing I could have been present at both shows, only to attend neither. Eff my life, eh?

Luckily, this woman goes above and beyond for her art and her fans. On Nov. 13, a one-night-only screening of her world tour was shown worldwide, and I had the greatest pleasure of attending it.

The thing that always fascinated me about Shakira was her voice. I’ve come across a lot of people either criticizing it for being “weird,” or making fun of it because she sounded like a goat. I would quote them directly, but we’re no longer friends, for obvious reasons. 

Shakira has what is called a coloratura contralto, a “unique and versatile vocal styling that incorporates a yodelling-like technique as well as Arabic influences,” as described in divadevotee.com. Convenient, if you think about it, considering she is half-Lebanese.

The thing is, before I knew what any of this technical talk meant, I always used to draw comparisons between her voice and belly dancing. It astounded me how – similar to the undulating of her hips when dancing – the uneven sounds she would make when singing (and I don’t mean this in a bad way) would take me on some sort of trip. Weirdly, whenever I would listen to her music, I would find myself “riding a wave.”

In El Dorado, the fans are shown the many sides of this pop-culture icon. Shakira is, in every sense, a devoted artist. Although the concert seems to have an effortless, party-like atmosphere, the movie shows that behind-the-scenes, the singer has calculated every bit of detail, from the smallest false note to the ethereal lighting, to make sure her fans come out of the concert hall satisfied. A committed performer in every form, Shakira is not one to take her craft lightly. 

Some would remember that various concert dates were postponed due to her falling ill and losing her voice. She describes this period of her life in the movie as “one of the hardest things she’s ever had to go through.” She also stated that her voice defines who she is, and to lose that would mean to lose herself. Luckily, all worked out for the best, and nothing derailed her from putting on an amazing show.

Vibrant, colourful, fun, and transcendental, Shakira’s concert is the embodiment of who she truly is as an artist, and warrants the name “The Golden One.” 

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Music

Daniel Caesar shows off his pipes on CASE STUDY 01 tour

Daniel Caesar is loved.

At least that’s what the crowd at Place Bell yelled to him at every opportune lull throughout the crooner’s set last Tuesday night.

Despite some trying to ‘cancel’ the singer in the earlier part of 2019 for his defense of controversial comments made against African-Americans, Caesar had no problem drawing in a massive audience on the first snowfall of the season. Fresh off the summer release of his second studio album, CASE STUDY 01, the Ontario native was back in Laval on his tour of the same name.

The R&B artist rose in popularity following the positive reception surrounding his debut studio album, Freudian, that was nominated in the Best R&B Album category at the 2018 Grammy Awards. The album also featured his nominated singles “Get You” featuring Kali Uchis and “Best Part” featuring H.E.R.

The show’s set was simplistic, with a full band playing behind a pair of transparent curtains and two vocalists on either side of Caesar. The visuals featured juxtaposed videos of aesthetics pertinent to the songs being played, like strippers pole dancing to “Who Hurt You?” and a dancing Kali Uchis for her “Get You” feature.

Caesar played most of his new album – one more experimental in nature than the gospel-centric Freudian. This allowed him to show off his vocal range that was raw at its core and was accompanied by little, if any, of his own backing track vocals – a breath of fresh air as a concert-goer in a hip hop and R&B era that seems to be dominated by lip-syncing and laziness on stage.

Three songs in, Caesar brought out fellow Torontonian Sean Leon. The crowd’s initial reaction was weak, perhaps not recognizing the guest on-stage. Yet, once the two dove into their collaboration track “RESTORE THE FEELING,” the audience piped up and clapped for the stranger in front of them.  Leon thanked the crowd for his first performance in Montreal and the two artists gave each other a loving embrace before Leon exited the stage.

Caesar’s trifecta of “OPEN UP,” “Who Hurt You?” and “ARE YOU OK?” truly highlighted his voice and musical capabilities. The latter did not have any accompanying background instruments – only Caesar and his guitar. He frequently rotated between acoustic ballads and R&B melodies throughout.

The most well-received songs were undoubtedly those from his first album, whether this was due to the fact that they are the best in Caesar’s catalogue or that the crowd was reminiscing on the previous times he’s performed in Montreal over the last few years. The highlight was undoubtedly “Best Part,” of which the audience took over the whole first two and a half verses before Caesar even stepped towards the microphone.

Caesar finished off the night with “SUPERSTITION,” a personal favourite on the album and the perfect closer for an intimate night. After thanking the crowd for a lovely evening and wishing them a safe drive home in the snow, the chants brought him back on stage for one more song. Caesar ended with “Japanese Denim,” one of the first singles from his impressive repertoire and left attendees reminded of his earlier catalogue before the breakthrough success.

Photo by @Villedepluie

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Music Quickspins

QUICKSPINS: Hot Pink is hot fire

Doja Cat - Hot Pink

Hip pop is in good hands with Doja Cat’s latest album

Let’s face it: no one expected Doja Cat to explode into such virality after releasing her meme-hit “MOOO!” The song is hilarious and is the antithesis to the current pop formula. She clearly knows her audience is composed of Twitter users and avid meme lovers.

Hot Pink doesn’t stray far from her hip pop formula used on “MOOO!” or her Amala mixtape from 2018. Her wide range of voices is undoubtedly influenced by Nicki Minaj’s earliest works, but it doesn’t feel like a carbon copy. “Say So” could easily reach the Billboard pop charts while “Juicy” with Tyga is already a proven hit.

Doja’s rapping is also strong and her flows are consistently on point. However, where she succeeds in technical style, her content lacks. “Cyber Sex” is a weak intro to an otherwise strong album. “Rules” features a chorus with a line that sounds like it was written by a “Tumblr girl” in 2012 (“Play with my pussy but don’t play with my emotions”).

Still, these weak moments are few and far between as the songs succeed in every other aspect. They’re fun, sexy, and immensely replayable. Standout “Streets” features a lovely B2K sample while the bass-heavy instrumental is an automatic add to a late-night drive playlist.

If Doja Cat is the leader of the new hip pop wave, then the subgenre is in good hands. She knows how to make a hit and how to make an album full of bops that aren’t boring, corny, or watered-down radio songs.

7.9/10

Trial Track: “Streets”

Star Bar:
“Baby, we tried to fight it
We all been there some days
Thought I need something else
And acted like I was okay
We just had to work it out
And baby, I needed space” (Doja Cat on “Streets”)

Categories
Music Quickspins

QUICKSPINS: Wiki – OOFIE

Wiki - Oofie

On OOFIE, the eccentric New York MC is growing up and growing weary of his place in hip hop’s landscape

When we last heard from Wiki, it was on his 2017 studio debut No Mountains in Manhattan. A beautiful love letter to his hometown, filled with bouncy beats and playful punchlines. Though it’s only been two years, it feels like a lifetime. He has grown up and grown more fearful of failure and being replaced.

On OOFIE, Wiki is expressing feelings of fear and doubt that we’ve never heard so openly in his music before. It’s an honest depiction of a teenage hip hop prodigy hitting his mid-20s, afraid that he might have also hit his ceiling. A sentiment that’s present throughout the album, though it’s almost paradoxical as he’s sharper than ever.

The fun qualities in his voice and delivery are still present, but are refined, making his words seem punchier and more purposeful. His flows range from simple and effective to dense and multi-syllabic, and on top of these structural improvements, his writing has gotten much more personal and emotionally striking.

He is joined on a few songs by a fantastic crop of features, including Princess Nokia and Lansky Jones. While they all do a great job, they do momentarily take away from how personal the project feels. It’s like watching a movie scene where the protagonist is delivering an emotional speech, and a supporting cast member interrupts him with an extended, unrelated monologue.

Wiki’s music is aging gracefully, improving on his most lovable qualities and using them to deliver more mature content. Shedding his label as the wild, whimsical young wordsmith from Manhattan, he has grown into being a young elder statesman and a pillar in New York’s independent hip hop scene.

8.5/10

Trial Track: “Downfall”

Star Bar: 

“Who is he? Is that what they’ll say in the eulogy?

Will they say between you and me

He was an idol when he was in the right mood

When he wasn’t fucked up, when he wasn’t tight, woo” (Wiki on “Downfall”)

Categories
Music

Toro y Moi truly emits inner and outer peace

Photo by Cecilia Piga

 

Toro y Moi takes me back to my years in high school: playing Tame Impala, MGMT and Toro y Moi in the yearbook room, lying on the grass with our heads in a circle, feeling whole with the world and one with my friends… yeah, I did that.

On Nov. 5 at Corona Theatre, Chaz Bear, aka Toro y Moi, aka Chazwick Bradley Bundick, brought this back.

Bear, who changed his name four years ago when he married Samantha Beardsley, feels fresh, composed and genuinely happy; he emits a gentleness. He sings, his eyes squint, a smile spreads across his face. Moving across the stage in a dance that feels characteristic of Childish Gambino.

Blissful. Real. Truly himself, in love with his music; a joy that rubbed off on the crowd.

His band members feel very Portland – I’ve never been to Portland, any Portland, but that’s the vibe – complete with long shaggy hair, blundstones, thick socks, button down shirts and reusable canteen bottles. Bear wore an Everlane-esque get-up, mod wide-leg blue pants (not jeans), a black jacket, and a black mock neck, which he kept on the entire time – a rarity on stage. Performers usually strip halfway into the third song.

Photo by Cecilia Piga

The stage glows with simple, pleasing colours: pinks and purples, blues and greens, yellows, oranges, peaches… the instruments highlighted with bits of fluorescent orange tape scrawled with “TORO E MWA,” a translucent drum set of the same colour. His crisp lyrics linger, echoing not only in the theatre, but mashed up in my mind days after the show. 

You saved my life, I don’t want to be alone, I want somebody, I don’t have time for this weather… Die for my love… For a second I forgot who I was, I thought I was over you … now I don’t know who I am … I feel weak, uhuh… 

On Oct. 29, Toro y Moi released “Soul Trash,” a 30-minute long art film by the same name of a mixed tape released in January of last year. The duo moves away from simple lo-fi musician status and into the world of pure artistry. Sixteen minutes in, the film pauses to watch Bear, wearing a bucket hat, eat chips.

“I see two of you, I see one of me,” he says, pointing to the viewer, a photographer taking pictures of his reflection, I imagine. The whole thing is pretty obscure.

As though Bear was given a paintbrush, needle and thread to collage together this masterpiece, his new album, Outer Peace, feels authentic, not as laboured or crafted as I felt in some of his older albums. Now the poster child of chillwave, his music crosses boundaries, feeling very 70s indie pop with a sprinkle of some classic T-Pain autotune.

Outer Peace speaks to finding satisfaction, oneness and peace out in the world, rather than just within. Whether in blending genres, dance, work or just being present in a social environment… there’s no one way to find that.

 

Photos by Cecilia Piga

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Music

Black Midi make it look easy

Photo by Cecilia Piga

Black Midi impress with their musical chops, leaving the crowd wanting more

“I just want to get the energy right,” said Brooklyn-based MC Fat Tony as he waved a stick of burning Palo Santo around the stage. Standing on the monitor he engaged the crowd and took them on the journey which was his set. His hands flew back and forth from his laptop to his turntable, to one of the two microphones he was using, employing his incredible MC abilities as he showed the diversity of his music.

The Houston native flew through his songs, some of which sampled music from many different genres – from fast-paced punk to Texas country and 80s pop. Shortly after performing a song about his decision to eat healthy, Fat Tony left the stage to the cheers of the satisfied audience.

Casually strolling onto stage, Black Midi picked up their instruments and immediately thrashed away while the pink and blue lights strobed over the energized crowd. For a band of twenty-somethings, the complexity and musical prowess of Black Midi is mind-blowing and sets an extremely high precedent for other bands. Based out of London, England, Black Midi were formed while the members attended Brit School, the school responsible for celebrated alumni Adele, Amy Winehouse, and Tom Holland, to name a few. 

Photo by Cecilia Piga

The Mercury Prize-nominated band wasted no time and controlled the stage as they performed “Near DT, MI.” Bassist Cameron Picton recited the sparse lyrics while the band played softly; the audience anticipating the next change. A quick pause, and the wall of sound began as they wailed on their instruments and the bassist screamed into his microphone, while a young man climbed onto the stage and perfectly timed his stage-dive. Guitarist and lead vocalist Geordie Greep prowled the stage as he sized up the audience, his hands flying over the fretboard and strings.

After a quick finish to the song, Black Midi diverged into what they do best: jamming. Drummer Morgan Simpson held the gaze of the other band members while they read each other for signals of where they would be headed next. The intense instrumental blended seamlessly into “Speedway,” the second track off their debut album Schlagenheim.

Their musical abilities were on full display; particularly Simpson’s drumming. In 2014 he was awarded the “Young Drummer of the Year” award, and it was clear that night that it was well earned. His hands flew across the set, often so fast that they appeared blurred. When lead singer Greep wasn’t gracing the crowd with his unique croon, he was directing the band using his arms, to indicate where the dynamics of the music should go next – arms up for louder and arms down for quieter. 

Lead guitarist Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin resembled a young Jonny Greenwood as he bent over his guitar and shredded the ear-drums of the audience with his fast and powerful strums.

Black Midi took the crowd through the better part of Schlagenheim, filling the rest of the set with instrumentals and their 2019 single “Talking Heads.” It would appear that Fat Tony’s energy cleansing technique did its job. The energy was just right, and Black Midi performed as well as expected, leaving the crowd chanting for more.

 

Photos by Cecilia Piga

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Quickspins

QUICKSPINS: Earl Sweatshirt – FEET OF CLAY

Earl Sweatshirt - Feet of Clay

The former Odd Future member delves deeper into the abstract sounds explored on 2018’s Some Rap Songs

At this point in his career, Earl Sweatshirt has fully exceeded any expectations that were set during his early career with Odd Future. The 25-year-old rapper has been turning heads for nearly a decade, continually growing as a lyricist and an artist. With FEET OF CLAY, Earl continues to raise the bar, delivering his second masterful collection of abstract hip-hop tracks in under a year.

While sonically this isn’t too far from the raw, lo-fi sound of his fantastic 2018 LP Some Rap Songs, it still feels fresh. Most of the songs here barely eclipse the two-minute-mark, and don’t have a semblance of traditional song structure. In fact, most are just a single verse, with the occasional outro, feature or chorus throughout. Earl is marching to the beat of his own off-kilter drums and warped horn samples, creating a musical identity that is uniquely his.

Handling most of the album’s production, he has built the backdrop for what feels like the stream of consciousness of an emotionally wounded young man. Throughout the album he opens up about his alcoholism and his depression in the wake of losing his father and grandmother. This is a poetic portrait of grief wrapped in warm but ominous, distorted, sample-based instrumentals.

Serving as the perfect companion piece to Some Rap Songs, FEET OF CLAY showcases a man looking back and trying to come to terms with loss, heartbreak and addiction. Earl’s growth as both a man and an artist are apparent, and this is another great entry into his already phenomenal catalogue.

8.8/10

Trial Track: “MTOMB”

Star Bar:

“Sellin’ kids culture with death, circlin’ like carrion

The more the merrier, phone got you livin’ vicarious

Ice melting ‘cause it’s so hot

The veil lifts, the pain salient” (Earl Sweatshirt on “74”)

Categories
Quickspins

QUICKSPINS: FKA twigs – MAGDALENE

FKA twigs - Magdalene

FKA twigs creates world-class pop music on MAGDALENE

MAGDALENE comes four years since twigs’ first full-length release, LP1. While LP1 introduced twigs as an innovative artist to follow, MAGDALENE cements her as one of the most creative voices of modern pop music.

As is evident from the record’s title, MAGDALENE is steeped in Christian references. The juxtaposition of religious symbolism and sexuality can often be used as a cheap ploy for subversiveness in pop songwriting. Yet, because twigs brings the Christian elements both into the lyrics (as on “Mary Magdalene”) and into the orchestration (as with the choral singing on “Thousand Eyes”), this combination makes complete sense.

Despite the R&B sensuality that flows through this record, it is also deeply pained. To say MAGDALENE is a breakup album might be a bit reductive. Yet, many of the tracks deal with twigs coming to terms with who she could be outside of a broken relationship.

MAGDALENE is a tortured, spiritual manifesto for pop music’s future, and you can expect to hear its influence in countless albums to come.

9.5/10 

Trial Track: “Home With You”

Star Bar:
“I’m a fallen alien
I never thought that you would be the one to tie me down
But you did
In this age of Satan
I’m searching for a light to take me home and guide me out” (Twigs on “Fallen Alien”)

Categories
Music

Minoe’s journey in the music world

Photo by Britanny Clarke

Montreal artist Minoe explains her path and goals

Minoe, a 20-year-old R&B singer, started performing in musicals when she was around eight years old, as well as singing national anthems and in honour choirs. She joined her first band at 16. She now sings solo and sometimes plays guitar, opting for more creative, solo-driven artistry.

“I needed a stage name because I didn’t have one for a long time and I had a show coming up, so I was in a rush,” she said. “I went to my roommate and I wanted something to do with the ocean because I’m from Nova Scotia (Halifax), so she said ‘whale’ as a joke. Then, she said ‘minnow,’ and I liked it. I realized I spelled it wrong, but I liked it that way, and it ended up working well.”

Minoe came to Montreal three years ago to continue working on her music and start studying at Concordia University. She is doing a double major in art history and studio art.

Minoe’s latest song “Cellphone” is about an ex-boyfriend who would never put his phone down, but she said it can apply to anyone. She added that her previous song, “Best for You,” is about getting out of an unstable relationship, putting her needs first and doing what’s best for her.

“There are a lot of songs that I really relate to, and I want to be that for somebody else if that’s a possibility. It would be amazing,” Minoe said.

She is now focusing on shows and PR work. Her team consists of her manager Dany, also known by his producer name Fairchylde, and her stylist Julia, owner of Explicit Mess Boutique.

Because Minoe finds inspiration everywhere – from Destiny’s Child to Louis Armstrong – she is not afraid of trying different genres.

The next step in the musician’s career is to start travelling. She said she would like to perform in Toronto.

“I really want to experience as much as I can and perform wherever people will come and see me perform. I’m grateful for any opportunity,” Minoe said, adding that one of her goals is to release either an EP or an album next year.

She also said she’d love to start collaborating with more artists, such as Kaytranada, a Haitian-Canadian DJ and record producer, and to perform in big festivals, like Osheaga and Coachella.

“It’s so important to surround yourself with friends who support you,” Minoe said. “I have that and I’m grateful. They always help me with my music. My best friends Ellis and Mia have been so instrumental and important in me believing in myself and doing what I want to do. I couldn’t ask for more incredible people in my life.”

Minoe emphasized that people shouldn’t give up because of what others say. With absolute certainty, she said: “I don’t believe in luck. If you want to succeed you have to work hard and keep going.”

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