Victoria Staff writes music for the same reasons she runs and bakes and hangs out with friends and family – it makes her feel better. Like many people, she struggles with her mental health. Writing music has always supported that because it gave her a way to process complex emotions at a really young age.
Some relationships are just inherently toxic and messy, but that’s the fun of them. There’s no logical reason for those two people to be together but you find yourself caught in a merry-go-round of stupid, repeating your same mistakes until you’re not even sure how you got there. That is what Victoria’s song “Here We Go Again” is all about.
The five songs on the Records & Honesty EP were produced by Dan Hosh. It’s right there in the title – Victoria invites listeners to get to know her and hear about her honest life experiences over the past few years.
Following up on the release of “Winnebago Dreams,” Dan Pallotta’s escapist reflection on carefree summer road tripping, the artist is sharing his new single, “TheMan That Fortune Forgot.”
Empathetic and humorous, the storytelling at the heart of this folk song reflects on the feelings of self-pity and victimhood that we all experience at one time or another. The song comes from his forthcoming album, Winnebago Dreams, out November 17th.
“I’m really careful about NEVER saying, “just my luck,” when something bad or annoying happens, because that shit becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy,” says Pallotta. “But you can’t help feeling it sometimes, even if you’re good about not verbalizing it.”
“The Man That Fortune Forgot” marks Pallotta’s second collaboration with Soozie Tyrell of E Street Band fame on fiddle and bassist Tony Garnier, music director for Bob Dylan.
Reflecting on the character at the centre of this song, Pallotta explains that “we all feel like we’re ‘the’ person — the only person that is forgotten — sometimes. And he feels trapped. He’s not committed to life being this way and he even tries the path of gratitude, but even that doesn’t work out for him.
So you end up having a lot of empathy for the poor bastard, which, of course, leads you to have a lot of empathy for yourself—that part of yourself that’s like him sometimes.”
Kalila Badali is an alternative folk/pop artist and registered psychotherapist based in Toronto, Canada. Kalila’s music invites her audience into an ethereal, yet groovy space with an intricate guitar picking style and vocal loops to explore the intersecting themes of mental illness, ecology, and feminism.
Her song “Potato” deals with questions and anxieties around dying and spending time with loved ones before they die, but also wanting to hide and avoid the pain that comes with confronting loss.
While the song name seems a bit silly at first, this upbeat banger is actually quite devastatingly sad. It’s a comfort food for Kalila, but also a bit of a symbol of pain and loss. It’s actually quite personal to her relationship with her family.
“Potato” and four other songs including “Dotty Mae” and “No Eye Contact” are from her new EP, Panacea, produced by James Atin-Godden. For Kalila, the EP came together thematically by accident. She wanted to make something that captures the experience of being stuck and not knowing what to do to change circumstances and getting lost in the number of options that can “help.”
Always pushing himself creatively, Odario recently collaborated with Edmonton jazz group Good Information on “Do Nada,” a song about doing nothing. With the post-pandemic era seemingly ramped back up to speed, maybe even at a faster pace, “Do Nada” goes out to all the hopeless romantics in search of a simpler, uncomplicated lifestyle. It’s about taking a moment to reflect on a rapidly spinning world. In a society so caught up with overachieving, Odario has written an anthem for the beloved underachievers. Fuelled by summertime vibes and danceable flavour, the new Chaix remix incorporates even more dancefloor ready momentum.
“I wanted to inject new sonic energy into my single Do Nada, which is a song about doing nothing. Do Nada (Chaix Remix) is an apathetic dance track I made with Chaix, a multi-genre artist and beat maker from Toronto. Chaix’s sound sits comfortably between hip-hop, house, and experimental electronic. Chaix didn’t want his reimagination of Do Nada to feel laidback & chill… but alive & infectious. This song is crafted specifically for your solo apartment party, your night drive along the lonely highway or your day off spent next to the pool with a pair of headphones and an open schedule.”
Onstage, Clare Siobhan is a natural-born performer, and connects with her audience easily. She is eager to make every stage feel like a late-night, living-room, private concert.
The CBC recognized, award-winning singer-songwriter from Truro, Nova Scotia is now making a home for herself both in Montreal, Quebec, and in that cozy little intersection of folk, pop, and soul. Her layered harmonies paired with bright piano and ukulele lay the foundation for warm vocals that touch on connection, relationships, worry, and that age-old search for meaning and belonging that we feel as we grow.
Clare was inspired to join her poet friend who was participating in a prompt-based creative exercise to craft a song with the word of “misfit,” which became her new single “3/2 (Loves Me)”. “I was thinking about it and didn’t really want to write a misfit-themed song in the original sense of the word, so I decided to start writing something I knew: I was falling in love at the time, and it was exciting and scary and all I could think about,” she explains.
“3/2” is the constant thrumming question of new love: what if I don’t measure up to who they think I am? what if they get to know me and don’t like me anymore? And what if it doesn’t work out? 3/2 holds all these questions within it, and answers them with another question: what if it does?
After headlining Drake’s OVO homecoming kick-off July ‘22, Canadian icon Shawn Desman marked an unprecedented return to the limelight for one of Canada’s biggest success stories. A top charting, multi-platinum selling, award-winning artist created some of the most recognized songs of the past 2 decades. With fans across the country, undeniable talent, & music that just sticks, Shawn Desman made his mark on an entire generation of Canadians w/ his signature sound & style.
In partnership with revolutionary global brand KNIX, Canadian icon Shawn Desman will inspire millions to embrace their body just the way it is – with the lights on! Upon release of the single, this global campaign launches with the help of influencers such as The Birds Papaya (2.3M), Alicia McCarvell (1M) and Cat & Nat (1M) pushing directly to the song and speaking to the personal meaning behind their involvement in the music video and campaign. Behind this perfectly sticky pop-anthem from Canada’s homegrown hero, comes a powerful personal message that was inspired by a life-altering emergency surgery that his wife Chantel went through earlier this year. A love letter to his wife, “Love Me With The Lights On” was his reminder to her that she is beautiful and sexy, just the way she is. This message is a universal reminder that sometimes what we see as a flaw, is exactly what makes us special.
“When I sat down to write ‘Love Me With The Lights On,’ I wanted to write something empowering; that reminds people that they’re perfect as they are. No matter what you look
like, whatever colour your skin is—you are perfect!” I want to send this empowering message to
everyone, but at the heart of it, this song is a dedication to my wife. I want her to know that I
want to see all of what she considers her imperfections, because to me, they are what
makes her beautiful! In 2017, my wife Chantelle was diagnosed with severe ulcerative colitis–a disease that in most cases, cripples a person’s quality of life. After five years of battling this disease, she underwent emergency ileostomy surgery. I remember feeling so heartbroken when she expressed feelings of insecurity about the physical changes she was about to go through.
This person who I love so much; who’s been through so much—was worried about how I’d
feel about her, and not celebrating how this would improve her quality of life. I looked at her
and said “Babe, you have nothing to be scared about. What I want is for you to be better. You
will always be the sexiest person in the room to me.” So this song is dedicated to everyone and
everyone else who may have at one time felt the way Chantelle felt.”
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