Taylor Janzen

Back in January I had been introduced to singer, songwriter, Taylor Janzen. She had graced the stage right before Half Moon Run with her gentle songs and powerful voice, both as a full band and in moments on the stage alone. Since then, she has been slowly releasing a series of songs starting with, “I Feel A Darkness,” a track that stuck out to me in her live performance. Now with both “What I Do” and “Devotion” out, we were able to take the time to talk about these new tracks, as well as the story of Janzen that has lead them on their path as a musician.

“I am a nerd with how much I love Winnipeg. The music scene here is really easy to get into and so full of talent,” Taylor Janzen started off, gushing over the vibrant music scene in Winnipeg.

It’s a city full of talent and prominent artists of all different genres. For Janzen specifically, she was able to get involved shortly after High School via a program associated with the Winnipeg Folk Fest. This program is step up to let you get into groups of local song writers and get you set up to perform at the city’s Folk Fest, acting as an agent to help people meet other artists and get a foot in the door to the music scene. Janzen even went on to say that, “I think Winnipeg is the most underrated Canadian Music Scene. The music that comes out of this city is so phenomenal ... Begonia is probably one of the best live voices I have ever head in my life.”

Through the local scene, Janzen was able to meet the rest of her band and fill out the sound that she had been hoping to with her music. They set off on their first full-band tour on the Half Moon Run that I had been introduced to her. She commented on the experience that, “Having a band with you is a different experience, and I am very extraverted and I appreciated it a lot.”

But having a band backing her was not necessarily unplanned. At the time that she first started getting involved with the music community and released Interpersonal she had been limited to using herself and an acoustic guitar. She had always envisioned playing in a full band, “When I was eventually able to do that it was a dream come true. It sounds cheesy, but it was.”

Now with two EP’s released it’s time to focus on the new music and with three new tracks out and available, it’s easy to see this great progression in Janzen now that she has even more resources than before. In a short two years of releasing music, she has a reasonable amount of dedicated fans. When she was around the ages of nine years old she started writing songs, noting that they were not particularly good but that they were still her form of expression, “They were my own world. As I grew up I always knew that I wanted to be song writer and be in music ... I went through more things and the songs got more darker.”

There were moments of back and forth where she was not sure if she could continue on the path of music as much as she wanted it, especially in those darker moments, but as we now know after High School she pushed herself to ensure that the tracks were out there. They no longer for just herself and the small few of people that she would send them to, “Eventually released Interpersonal and I was really scared of that one. And then I released Shouting Matches and I was even more scared of that one and now I am releasing songs that I am even more scared of. I think I am consistently being scared of honesty but having to just do it anyways because I feel better after.” It’s something that Janzen thinks about from time to time, questioning why even now she is still scared of releasing her music and allowing herself to feel justified in that vulnerability, “Why am I still so scared to release these songs?” It’s a question that she has even asked her therapist as a way to move forward. She continues on, “I feel feel like I can’t talk about my feelings properly, and that I am not allowed to express myself. I still feel like the same silenced person, somewhat, even though I am not and I can say what I want. It’s weird how things are ingrained in your brain. I think that’s something I will struggle with forever, but it’s fine as long as I keep pushing.”

It is the genuine and vulnerable place that Taylor Janzen comes from that makes her music so easy to gravitate towards. Janzen starts talking about the relationship between the three newest tracks and how “What I Do” revolves around the relationship with another and “I Feel A Darkness” explores the relationship just with herself. With “Devotion” the track lands somewhere in between. She self assessed a habit of her own where, “I was devoting myself to people and other things where I could not remember who I was without it. It’s very unhealthy.” She couldn’t help but laugh acknowledging that. But it’s a reality that many people live through and can read in themselves while listening to her music.

When it comes to the visuals for Janzen, everything is crisp and consistent as she continues to go with the same people for videos. She notes that while she is not much of a visual artist, she has a great appreciation for it and can be really picky about what goes along with her music. “I explain the meaning of the song in really great depth,” she explains also noting that she doesn’t decide on the treatment of the visuals over all. With “What I Do” and “Shouting Matches” the songs didn’t have any direct reflection of what the song is about but still explore the themes parallel. Where with songs such as “I Feel A Darkness,” there was an ability to have it be very literal to the concept of the song. And all of the videos associated with Taylor Janzen have these same hints of vulnerability in her music while also, at times, poking fun at different things that she is selfaware of. They are further proof for the mantra, “Sad Songs For Everyone.”

With the current state of the world, it’s hard to avoid the different thoughts or strings that our brain chooses to follow. Right now for Taylor Janzen, she has found out that she can can bake, that she is genuinely good at it. Like many, it’s been something that has been occupying a good amount of her time. “I’ve found so many different things in my brain,” she comments but also notes that it’s a good time to deal with the craziness of her dog, a Border Collie Blue Heeler who is full of energy. “I’ve been trying not to think too hard about what I am going to do when it’s okay. I don’t know when that is and it frustrates me,” She says, mirroring thoughts of many other frustrated musicians, “I don’t want to get too antsy, because it turns into a lot of other emotions I don’t like entertaining. There’s a part of my brain that does, but for the most part I am thinking about what’s in front of me and what I can do.”

At this time, she’s trying her best to adapt, something that she has a hard time with, but still finding focus into other things such as figuring out how to release music without coupling it with a live show or a tour. Anything that can make it easier. “I’ve been doing a few live streams [but] I don’t do a whole lot of them,” Noting that she is an extraverted person who enjoys talking to a bunch of people at once, but being new to the live stream game it’s taking some time to figure out.

When asked about the status of any more new music that could be coming along with the three tracks that she has already put out she let out a small laugh and cryptically said, “They live in the same world. There are more songs that live in the same world.” We are left with the promise that for anyone who is keeping an eye on Taylor Janzen, that there is still a lot to look forward to.