MADE IN CANADA• 12|2020
FOR
FREE ALL
ISSUE 01
Menno Versteeg: Life after Hollerado
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The music of Cyberpunk 2077 Savannah RĂŠ Essential events in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver Grown up time-wasters in the Funnies 30-second album reviews Plus! Megan Thee Stallion and Miley Cyrus
Haviah Mighty Canadian rapper has all the rhymes and swagger of a hip hop superstar
The Magazine That Plays Music
Apple Music
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Use your phone to scan these codes throughout NEXT Magazine to instantly play an artist’s music on your favourite streaming service.
The Future is NEXT 2 DECEMBER 2020 NEXT
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Contents
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THE SHORT LIST The 10 best things to do in Canada this month
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MUSIC Boy wonder Shawn Mendes, Indigenous DJ David Strickland and rising star Savannah Ré, plus the best merch of the month
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FEATURE Menno Versteeg’s unlikely transformation from reckless rocker to mental health hero
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COVER STORY Armed with beats and bravado, Haviah Mighty is on a mission to make hip hop history
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ALBUM REVIEWS New records from Miley Cyrus, Megan Thee Stallion, BTS and many more, plus the NEXT staff’s favourite picks
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THE LOCAL PAGES Best bets for watching, seeing and doing in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver
COVER PHOTO:
Haviah Mighty photographed by Yung Yemi
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THE FUNNIES Colour in The Weeknd, give Post Malone new face tattoos and help Taylor Swift get to the Grammies
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10 FOOD The dessert that’s blowing up on TikTok 12 DRINKS No bars, no problem. A DIY cocktail kit guide 14 CANNABIS How to smoke in style 16 FASHION A sustainable sneaker round-up 18 GAMING The musical genius of Cyberpunk 2077 20 TV/MOVIES A magical, monumental teen drama
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DECEMBER 2020
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ShortList THE
NEXT’S PICKS FOR THE TOP 10 THINGS TO DO IN CANADA THIS MONTH
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MOVIES
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WONDER WOMAN 1984 FRIDAY, DEC. 25 OPENS ACROSS CANADA
Just like everyone else, Wonder Woman has had enough—and she’s kicking ass in her latest action-packed flick that delivers a much-needed dose of optimism at the end of a screwed up year. Unlike the first instalment’s bright-eyed coming-of-age story, in 1984, Cold War-era Diana Prince is a fullfledged, bad guy-tossing superhero. Gal Gadot is back in the titular role, crusading against comedic queen Kristen Wiig—no longer laughing in the role of the nefarious DC supervillain Cheetah. With German maestro Hans Zimmer in charge of the score, spines are guaranteed to get serious chills. The film will premiere in theatres—the ones still open—on Christmas Day before hitting Crave in the New Year.
iHEART RADIO JINGLE BALL THURSDAY, DEC. 10 VIRTUAL EVENT
MUSIC
Billie Eilish
Doja Cat
The year’s most power-packed concert is also a sneak peek into the living rooms—and bedrooms—of the stars. Couch surfing replaces crowd surfing as every chart topper on the Jingle Ball bill performs Top 40 hits and Christmas covers from home. Get a glimpse into the childhood home where Billie Eilish recorded Bad Guy, a chance to see if Sam Smith’s digs are as classy as his tunes, and maybe get a peek at the feline behind Doja Cat’s stage name. Heads will turn sideways to read book titles on the shelves of Harry Styles and Dua Lipa, and fans will finally see where Shawn Mendes kicks it with Camila Cabello and where The Weeknd spends the week. Free. cwtv.com.
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BTS: NEW YEAR’S EVE LIVE THURSDAY, DEC. 31 VIRTUAL EVENT
Dua Lipa
BTS’ New Year’s Eve spectacular will make their record-setting summer livestream, which brought in 750,000 viewers and $20 million, look like a humble college open mic. In addition to the biggest boy band in the world, this year-end bash from South Korea’s Big Hit Entertainment enlists several more K-pop sensations—including TXT, GFRIEND and ENHYPEN—for a marathon of seductive choreography, elaborate light shows and breathless gang vocals. Prices TBA. weverse.io. NEXT
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The ShortList
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GORILLAZ SONG MACHINE LIVE SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, DEC. 12 AND 13 VIRTUAL EVENT
This is the show Gorillaz has been unknowingly gearing up for since 1998. The fictional crew of virtual rappers and melancholy mumble-singers exists solely onscreen, making them the perfect band for a lockdown livestream. Damon Albarn’s cartoonish cyber posse joins a dream team of flesh-and-bone stars, including Elton John, St. Vincent, Beck and dozens of others. When the guest features are animated, there’s no limit to who might show up. From $20. gorillazlivenow.com.
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YOKO ONO: GROWING FREEDOM
ART
MAGIC
TO JAN. 31 CONTEMPORARY CALGARY, CALGARY
The princess of peace delivers a sprawling, career-spanning show of participatory art. The pieces are stark but stirring, like a photo series that pairs pics of women’s eyes with stories of misogyny they’ve faced. And Beatles fans will love all the art and artifacts from Ono’s bed-in with John Lennon. $10. contemporarycalgary.com. See page 57 for more details.
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ILLUSIONARIUM MONDAY, DEC. 21 TO MONDAY, FEB. 15 1 YONGE STREET, TORONTO
At this magical walk-through maze, the most magnificent illusion is an eerily lifelike hologram of Houdini performing his most famous stunts nearly a century after his death. The marvel is just one trick up the sleeve of so-called iMagician Jamie Allan, whose sorcerous event guides visitors through the history of magic in four cavernous chambers, starting with ancient Egypt and ending in a funhouse of lasers, 3D projections and iPad illusions. From $100 for two tickets. illusionarium.ca. 6 DECEMBER 2020 NEXT
Just Add Vinyl. NEXT Magazine Editor/Publisher Michael Hollett Creative Director Troy Beyer Managing Editor Luc Rinaldi Associate Editors Laura Robinson (Calgary) Rayne Fisher-Quann (Vancouver) Contributors Stephan Boissonneault, Samantha Edwards, Nadia Elkharadly, Katrin Emery, Zack Kotzer, Laura Stanley, Rebecca Tucker, Andrea Yu Advice Columnist Amy Millan askamy@nextmag.ca Sales and Marketing Manager, Sales and Partnerships Barbara Hefler Media Sales and Partnerships Gary Olesinski Advertising Inquiries: sales@nextmag.ca OPERATIONS Engagement Manager Jen Fox Distribution Sarah Keith, Tai Notar, Hannah Neal, David Dearness Administrative Coordinator Alicia Doane Published by NEXT Magazine Enterprises Inc. NEXT Magazine Enterprises Inc. Board of Directors Michael Cohl, Michael Hollett, Gary Slaight
Vinyl Select
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Distribution NEXT Magazine is distributed in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto For Distributor info: distro@nextmag.ca Contact Us 115 Danforth, Suite 302 • Toronto • ON • M4K 1N2 T. 416.519.5004 e-mail: info@nextmag.ca All content property of NEXT Magazine Enterprises Inc. ©2020
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baybloorradio.com Order for free shipping across Canada or curbside pickup in Toronto. NEXT
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MUSIC
YOU CAN’T SPELL DWAYNE WITHOUT NYE–NEW YEARS EVE 2021 LIVE STREAM THURSDAY, DEC. 31 VIRTUAL EVENT Canada’s favourite party band, Dwayne Gretzky, won’t let COVID cramp their New Year’s fun. You won’t miss their hard to get into, legendary confetti-littered NYE shows - this year the show won’t sellout, its free and online. See the band do their classic New Years show live on YouTube from their west end Toronto rehearsal space and celebrate NYE in all time zones as the band plays all night. Preview the show with a just released, new live album from last year’s gig, Dwayne Gretzky New Year’s Eve Live at Danforth Music Hall. 10 pm – 3 am EST dwaynegretzkyband.com
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OUTDOORS
CANADA’S BEST WINTRY LIGHT SHOWS
Charli XCX
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THURSDAY, DEC. 17
VIRTUAL EVENT
CLUB QUARANTINE Lady Gaga, Charli XCX and Laverne Cox have all headlined Canada’s Club Quarantine, “the original queer online dance party” that has become the COVID era’s hottest ticket. Founded by four Toronto artists, CQ quickly grew from pandemic project to international internet sensation. It all takes place in a high-capacity Zoom room where the chances of spotting a celebrity are exponentially higher than at any actual nightclub. Follow @clubquarantine on Instagram for details on their weekly shows. 8 DECEMBER 2020 NEXT
MUSIC
CANADA IN UNISON
MUSIC
MULTIPLE DATES ACROSS CANADA
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VANCOUVER CANYON LIGHTS To Sunday, Jan. 3 Capilano Suspension Bridge Park It’s Tinkerbell time. Tucked away in the wintry woods, the forest sparkles with fairy lights twinkling from trunk to top on eight of the world’s tallest trees. And they light up the bridge! A Vancouver tradition that COVID can’t stop. $54.95. Students $41.95. capbridge.com.
CALGARY ZOOLIGHTS To Sunday, Jan. 3 Calgary Zoo
TORONTO POLAR To Sunday, Jan. 3 Pearson Airport
This time, the animals are upstaged at the Calgary Zoo by two million glistening lights illuminating ethereal acres including skating paths and axe-throwing stations—note, those activities not offered concurrently. $19.95. calgaryzoo.com.
For once, you won’t feel trapped in the airport parking garage, as six levels of the lot are repurposed into fantastical tunnels and glittering holiday habitats. It’s all part of this COVID-compatible drivethrough experience. From
This virtual concert is a stocking stuffed with hearty homegrown talent: CanRock kings Jim Cuddy and Sam Roberts, beloved indie outfits July Talk and Mother Mother, as well as a collaboration from two Indigenous powerhouses, veteran roots rocker Tom Wilson and rising alternative force Iskwē. The show will raise much-needed moula for the Unison Benevolent Fund, a lifeline for Canadian artists in need and the industry staff who support them. $30. unisonfund.ca.
$55. polar-drive.com.
July Talk
Design
Explore what’s NEXT at the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design
Theatre
Visual Art & Art History
Digital Media Dance
Photos by: David-Hou, Jeremy Mimnagh and York U
Cinema & Media Arts
Scan to learn more
Music ampd.yorku.ca
FOOD
BOMBS AWAY! Hot chocolate bombs are blowing up on TikTok. These ballistic treats melt in a mug of hot milk, dramatically exploding into cocoa powder, marshmallows and sprinkles. Christinn Hua from Toronto’s Millie Desserts reveals her secrets for making the explosive hit of this holiday By ANDREA YU season.
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WHERE TO GET ’EM IN YOUR TOWN TORONTO MILLIE DESSERTS 12 Oxley St., #101, milliedesserts.com. STUBBE CHOCOLATES 653 Dupont St., stubbechocolates.com. COCO XO No retail address, cocoxo.ca.
CALGARY
8 CAKES 3411 20 Street St., #109, 8cakes.com. FOR SWEET SAKES No retail address, forsweetsakes.com. SWEETS OF PARADISE No retail address, sweetsofparadise.com.
VANCOUVER MELT CONFECTIONARY 3382 Cambie St., melt-confections.com.
RECIPE
get any water in the chocolate while tempering. If you overheat the chocolate and it becomes grainy, add a few unmelted chunks or chips and stir to cool the chocolate until it’s smooth and glossy again.
mix, as many marshmallows as you can fit in and decorations such as coloured sugar or sprinkles. Avoid handling the bowl too much to avoid leaving fingerprints or melting the chocolate. STEP 4 Using the back of a spoon or a food paintbrush, apply melted chocolate to the top edge of the filled chocolate bowl and another empty bowl. Then seal the two pieces together to make the bomb. Use the back of a spoon to
HOW TO MAKE IT
STEP 2 Using the back of a spoon, coat the sphere moulds in a thin layer of chocolate. Pop the mould into the fridge for 10 minutes. Remove from the fridge, then add a second layer of chocolate. Two layers create a stronger shell and ensure there are no holes. Put the mould back into the fridge for 15 minutes or until set. While the chocolate is cooling, mix the cocoa powder, milk powder and icing sugar together in a bowl.
STEP 1 Temper the chocolate by melting it in the microwave in 10-second increments, stirring in between. Heat the chocolate until it’s 90 per cent melted and looks smooth and glossy. Keep stirring the chocolate, using residual heat to melt the rest of the chocolate. If you have a food thermometer, aim for a temperature of 86 to 90 degrees F. Be careful not to
STEP 3 Remove the chocolate from the moulds. They should fall out easily. If they don’t, they might not be set, so put them back in the fridge for a few more minutes. If the edges of the chocolates aren’t even, use a heated spoon to create a smooth, even edge. Use your upturned moulds as a stand to place the chocolate bowls. Add two tablespoons of the hot cocoa powder
clean up the seam if needed, or use sprinkles to cover up the seam. The bomb will set after a few minutes at room temperature.
Makes: 4 servings Prep time: 40 minutes Difficulty level: Ingredients: 250g chocolate or chocolate chips 8 tbsp Dutch-processed cocoa powder 8 tbsp milk powder 4 tbsp icing sugar Mini marshmallows, coloured sugar and sprinkles Tools: Silicone sphere moulds, like a tiny rubber muffin pan Food paintbrush, though a spoon will do Food thermometer, optional
STEP 5 To serve, place the bomb in a mug and pour one cup of piping hot milk until it explodes. Be sure to use very hot milk, otherwise the chocolate won’t melt properly and your TikTok will be ruined.
DA BOMB GOODIES No retail address, dabombgoodies.com. VAN ISLE COCOA BOMBS No retail address, vanislecocoabombs.ca.
CHEF’S SECRET
Hua drops high-quality couverture chocolate—made with cocoa butter for a richer, better flavour—into her bombs. But since cocoa butter has a lower melting point, it can be tricky to work with for those new to the bombastic arts—it’s easy to melt fingerprints onto finished surfaces. The safer way to go is chocolate chips, usually made with vegetable oil, so they won’t melt so easily. Hua says to buy more ingredients than you need, because there will be trial-and-error breakage. But it will be worth it—think of the likes! And you can eat the wreckage. Don’t leave the finished bombs too close to the edge of your countertop. They will roll.
D R I N KS
WHERE TO GET THEM IN YOUR TOWN TORONTO
Juke Fried Chicken Ordering cocktails from Juke is a choose-your-own adventure: the restaurant sells its mixes—including Purple Rain, with black currant syrup, almond orgeat and lime juice—in three-ounce bottles along with single-serving-size liquors. How you mix them is up to you. $99. thechickadeeroom.com.
The Bar Cart Launched in direct response to the pandemic, The Bar Cart specializes in DIY drinks like the Spiced Pumpkin Sour—a wintry concoction that comes with a vegan foamer—and A Word to the Wise, a scotch cocktail kit that includes candied ginger and an atomizer spritz bottle.
Stay Home Cocktail Club
Veteran bartender Evelyn Chick’s delivery service offers 10 DIY drink kits, including classic cocktails like Manhattans and martinis, as well as packages tailored to specific spirits: the tequila kit includes 1800 Silver Tequila, ginger beer, margarita salt and dehydrated lime. $45 to $80. evelynchickprojects.com.
QUARANTINIS DELIVERED At-home cocktail kits have arrived just in time for the most wasted… er, wonderful time of the year
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ith most bars closed, many people will be drinking alone—or, with any luck, with their bubbles—during the happiest season of all. Luckily, plenty of local haunts are delivering DIY kits to take the guesswork out of crafting the perfect cocktail. Skeptics with well-stocked home bars may wonder: why bother? But it’s the kits’ special touches— chocolate bitters, candied ginger, even festive ornaments—that separate them from just another lockdown libation. Here, a trusty collection of award-winning independent taprooms that offer a little bit of everything, from spirit-specific kits and mix-and-match sets to pre-mixed bottles and holiday packages. By REBECCA TUCKER
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Marben This farm-to-table King West restaurant delivers both premixed cocktails, such as a dirty margarita or alto y claro (a rye and mezcal cocktail with chocolate bitters), as well as at-home mixing sets that lean toward the classics: Manhattans, French 75s and Dark and Stormies.
$37 to $116. barcart.ca.
CALGARY Market Downtown’s award-winning locavore restaurant sells three drink kits that make three cocktails apiece: vodka black lemonade, which features agave and activated charcoal; tequila mule, which is delivered with house-made cardamom syrup; or a classic rum piña colada. $29 to $39. marketcalgary.ca.
$18 to $189. marben.ca.
Project Gigglewater This West End bar lives up to its name with an inventive list of nine cheekily named choices. The tropical 2020 Sabbatical pairs rum Appleton rum with coconut water and lime, while the Cran Me a River is a tricked-out vodka cran with cinnamon, grenadine and orange bitters. $65 to $67.50. projectgigglewater.com.
VANCOUVER Di Beppe The Gastown Italian joint offers a single option from quarantined cocktail artists: a make-it-yourself Aperol Spritz box. Anyone looking to skip the mixing altogether can order one of two pre-made Campari cocktails: the Aperitivo Americano (with sweet vermouth and soda) or the Bicicletta (with white wine and soda). $12 to $80. dibeppe.com.
Proof One of Canada’s best bars is offering locked down Calgarians a crack at the bottles on their majestic booze wall. Classic kit options include an old fashioned, negroni and martini, while the newest additions are playfully festive—the Jolly Koala set comes with four marsupial Christmas tree ornaments. $85 to $140. proofyyc.com.
Native Tongues It’s never too cold for a margarita. Go-to Mexican kitchen Native Tongues offers everything you need to make a tart tipple for two: mini bottles of both Don Julio Blanco and Grand Marnier, plus garnish and lime wedges. $26. nativetongues.ca.
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CANNABIS
HIGH ART
No need to stash that hash. Today’s stoner accessories are pretty enough to be put on display. Not so long ago, stoner culture meant giant glass pipes, murky bong water and dingy basements. But since the leaf became legal, weed—and the stuff to smoke it with—has received a much-needed makeover. Head shops now stock hand-sculpted bongs and pastel-hued ashtrays that could be mistaken for home decor. Here are the keys to a stylish stone. By RAYNE FISHER-QUANN
THE GUCCI GRINDER Compact, pleasant and pastelhued, this grinder from Canna Luxe could be mistaken for a Google Home Mini. $43. simplysmokin.com
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LAUREN PUSATERI, STYLING - SHELBY PAGE, RETOUCH - HIGH HEART CREATIVE
THE CITRUS SMOKER This adorably kitschy accessory from Wandering Bud looks just as good on a coffee table as it does in hand. Just don’t try to eat it. $102. wanderingbud.com
THE TWISTY TOKER
Ceramicist Debbie Carlos’ Knot pipe looks more like modern art than smokeware, but it functions as both. $98. store.debbiecarlos.com
THE PITTED PIPE Kush Groove’s vibrant glass pipe looks like an avocado on acid—but doesn’t spread well on toast. $91. kushgroove.com
THE GOOD VIBRATION Simply Smokin’s gorgeous crystal pipes are said to reduce anger, jealousy and stress. (Or maybe it’s the pot.) $42. simplysmokin.com
THE FLOWER TOWER This minimalist pipe was designed to double as a vase when not in use, so a flower is all it takes to fool judgmental houseguests. $195. alcove.shop
THE BLING RING Weed fingers are a thing of the past with Canna Luxe’s one-ofa-kind blunt-holding ring, which allows for stylish, hands-free smoking. $33. cannaluxe.co
THE ANGELIC ACCESSORIES The Cherub set from indie-darling clothing brand Valfré includes six pastel-perfect pieces. This must be how princesses smoke weed. $124. valfresmokeshop.com NEXT
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ST Y L E
SHOE RENEW
In a former life, these cool new kicks were shirts, scraps and water bottles By LAURA ROBINSON
Nike Space Hippie Made from: Recycled plastic water bottles, T-shirts, yarn and a blend of manufacturing scrap and end-of-life footwear. Available in men’s and women’s. $170. nike.com.
Converse Chuck Taylor All Star Crater Made from: Recycled polyester, repurposed rubber, postindustrial waste scraps and end-of-life footwear. Available in men’s and women’s. $93.50. converse.ca.
Good News Juice Hi Made from: Recycled rubber soles. Available in women’s. $210. gravitypope.com.
Asics Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66 Recycled Made from: Recycled leather. Available in men’s and women’s. $130. gravitypope.com.
Veja SDU Made from: Recycled plastic bottles and polyester. Available in women’s. $160. gravitypope.com. 16 DECEMBER 2020 NEXT
BOLLÉ BLENDS THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS – ULTIMATE PROTECTION AND COMFORT.
Photo: Fabian Bodet
SEE LIKE A CHAMPION TRY OUT OUR INSTAGRAM AUGMENTED REALITY FILTER
Scan to try on the Nevada goggle paired with the Ryft helmet and try out the Phantom lens technology.
bolle.com NEXT
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GAMING
(CYBER) PUNK’S NOT DEAD The hottest title of the year throws gamers into a gritty, gory and totally original musical universe
By ZACK KOTZER
18 DECEMBER 2020 NEXT
CYBERPUNK’S FIVE SWEETEST SOUNDTRACK FEATURES Rap demigod duo Run the Jewels, appearing as Yankee and the Brave, come in with No Save Point, a dirty thumper for street samurai lurking Night City’s alleys.
L.A. noise outfit HEALTH are no strangers to game soundtracks, having scored Rockstar Games titles like Max Payne 3. They plug into the 2077 universe as Window Weather with a speaker-blowing song called Major Crimes.
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ötley Crüe premiered a song on Rock Band. Travis Scott played a show in Fortnite. But no video game has ever created a musical world quite as rich as Cyberpunk 2077. The sci-fi shoot-em-up—which arrives on December 10 via CD Projekt Red, the studio behind The Witcher—drops players into Night City, a towering urban inferno where drug lords, corporate moguls and various road warriors vie for power. Music is part of the city’s lifeblood. Its walls are splattered with graffiti asking, “Where’s Johnny?”—a reference to the long-lost Johnny Silverhand, a heroic rockerboy (played by Keanu Reeves) who once performed a show so rowdy it started a rebellion—the beer was free. Unsurprisingly, Cyberpunk packs a stacked soundtrack. As gamers design ultra-customizable characters (you can even pick your junk) and hack their way through Night City’s hazardous streets, they can tune into radio stations spinning new tracks created specifically for the game by more than 20 real-life artists, each of whom assumes an in-game avatar that stitches seamlessly into the game’s lore.
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Even in real life, rave renegade Grimes’ hyperactive music videos are steeped in a video game-inspired aesthetic. She appears as Lizzy Wizzy, a metallic pink-haired pixie, with the track Delicate Weapon.
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Shapeshifting singers Shygirl and SOPHIE, for whom transhumanism has been a consistent theme, tag-team as Clockwork Venus for a song titled BM, which we assume stands for body mod (though there are funnier options).
Toronto’s own Tomb Mold, a death metal outfit whose name and music are inspired by the Dark Souls and Bloodborne games, rain down on Night City as Bacillus with the thrasher Adaptive Manipulator.
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T V / MOVI ES / STRE AM ING
3?s THREE QUESTIONS
TRICKSTER’S CRYSTLE LIGHTNING
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How did you get the part of Maggie?
I auditioned four months pregnant, actually. Five months later, right after I’d given birth, I got a phone call in the hospital. My agent said, “The director is flying to Edmonton and wants to meet you!” I had no clothes! My water had broken while I was DJing at the casino, so all I had were sparkly jerseys, which Maggie would never wear. I went to Value Village and got myself an outfit and then met the director, with the hospital tags still on my wrist.
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Maggie is a complex mother and woman. How did you prepare for the role? I had to go to some really dark places to pull the emotions she experiences. I spent time studying people with PTSD and the effects of intergenerational trauma. There are so many people in our communities like Maggie, who haven’t had healing. During the whole time on set, I lived within the realm of the character. It was difficult at times—you can’t just turn it off when you leave. I wanted the audience to have compassion for Maggie, feel empathy for her and to know that she’s a product of her environment and a survivor. Above all, I wanted people to see her love for Jared.
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Trickster portrays Indigenous culture proudly. How did it feel to work on a show like that as an Indigenous artist? It was a dream come true. When you walk on set and see people both in front of the camera and behind the camera who are Indigenous, wow—I just felt so proud to be part of what is really a game changer. We’re finally represented on mainstream TV. People took a chance on Trickster, an Indigenous show about an Indigenous family who have problems just like everybody else. It was such a risk for them, but to see the reaction it’s getting, I’m sure they’re happy with their choice.
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WHAT TO WATCH THIS MONTH
STREAMING NOW The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special
STREAMING NOW Big Mouth: Season 4
Disney+
Nick Kroll’s animated, hilarious, hormonal guide to growing up adds Seth Rogen and Zach Galifianakis, plus a new monster: Tito the Anxiety Mosquito. A fitting choice for 2020.
STREAMING NOW Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
STREAMING NOW Selena: The Series
Netflix
Disney resurrects—and corrects—the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special, one of the cringiest TV specials of all time, with a time-travelling tale that’s lighthearted and cleverly comical.
Trickster is a watershed moment for Indigenous TV Magic and mayhem at the heart of a new teen drama that is breaking big in the U.S. By RAYNE FISHER-QUANN CBC’s fantastical new series Trickster looks like a hit featuring impeccable writing, beautiful scenery and a phenomenal cast. But what makes the show truly extraordinary is that it’s proudly steeped in Indigenous culture. A coming-of-age story about a teenage boy in rural British Columbia, Trickster was adapted from Eden Robinson’s Son of a Trickster, and director Michelle Latimer made the series’ Indigeneity a priority at every level of production. Latimer ensured there were at least three Indigenous crew members in each department: directors, producers, hair, makeup, grips, wardrobe, art. Groundbreaking for an industry that—like most—lacks representation. It was also the recipe for a smashing success. Trickster premiered on CBC in October and has already been optioned to air on U.S. network The CW, the home of some of the planet’s most popular teen dramas. Meanwhile, a second season is in the works.
The series so far tells an enthralling story about intergenerational trauma, addiction, healing and magic. Equal parts gritty and grounded, it features a complex cast of characters, including protagonist Jared and his wild-card mother, Maggie, played by actor (and accomplished house DJ) Crystle Lightning.
Netflix
Netflix
In director George C. Wolfe’s rollicking flick, Chadwick Boseman delivers an Oscar-worthy final performance as a trumpeter who tussles with the titular Mother of Blues, played by a diva-esque Viola Davis.
An intimate and beautifully produced nine-episode account of the glamorous life and heartbreaking death of Tejano icon Selena Quintanilla, played by The Walking Dead’s Christian Serratos.
DECEMBER 25 Soul
DECEMBER 25 Letterkenny: Season 9
Disney+
On his way to the gig of a lifetime, a middle-school music teacher slips into a fantastical pre-life purgatory. It’s an uplifting Disney-Pixar pic, so tears are pretty much guaranteed.
Crave
Quippy and deadpan as ever, the hosers in the quintessentially Canadian town of Letterkenny get a lesson in Judaism and witness the opening of a “breastaurant”—whatever that is.
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HOLIDAY SURVIVAL GUIDE iHeart The Holidays Playlist
iHate The Holidays Playlist
All I Want For Christmas is you
Fairy Tale Of New York
– Mariah Carey
– The Pogues
Christmas Rappin’
Another Lonely Christmas
– Kurtis Blow
– Prince
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Daddy Drank All Our Xmas Money
– Darlene Love
– TVTV$
Christmas in Harlem
Christmas in Hollis
– Kanye West featuring Cam’ron, Jim Jones, Vado, Cyhi Da Prynce & Pusha T
– RUN DMC
Santa Baby
Backdoor Santa – Clarence Thomas
– Eartha Kitt
This is a holiday season unlike any other. Keeping that in mind, iHeartRadio is giving you many ways to engage – or disengage from the holidays. For Christmas music lovers, tune in to 24/7 Christmas streams like iHeart The Holidays, Noël c’est Rouge, iHeart Christmas Country. From soul, rock to Hip Hop – we have a holiday stream for your un-gathering! We hope you can join us Thursday, December 10th for the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball. Stream it on the iHeartRadioCA YouTube channel – and listen live on Virgin Radio.
PERFORMING
THE WEEKND • BILLIE EILISH • DOJA CAT DUA LIPA • HARRY STYLES • LEWIS CAPALDI SAM SMITH • SHAWN MENDES
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10 9PM ET | WATCH ON 9PM LOCAL | LISTEN ON
#IHEARTJINGLEBALL
GIVE YOURSELF THE GIFT OF SELF CARE Holidays are about being grateful for the ones we love, but it is critical to take care of yourself this holiday season. This is a time for celebration but also a time to unwind and de-stress. For those that need an escape, check out inspirational stories and support resources available through podcasts like Red Table Talk, On Purpose with Jay Shetty, The Michelle Obama Podcast and the Happiness Lab. As we head into 2021, we wish you health, happiness and peace. If you or anyone you love needs support, please contact the resource below. CAMH | www.camh.ca | 1.833.456.4566
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PODCASTS Coping Through COVID Ken Shaw leads a conversation about looking after your mental health during the pandemic. The BarDown Podcast A hockey podcast that doesn’t talk about last night’s scores.
A VERY BIG YEAR FOR SHAWN MENDES
S
hawn Mendes grew up in Justin Bieber’s shadow, always the other cute Canadian kid who struck gold posting charming Top 40 covers online. But Monster, the pair’s first single and music video together, marks the moment Mendes levels the playing field. Against sparse percussion that crescendos to a rapturous radio-pop refrain, the velvet-voiced hunks stand back to back as equals, trading fame-wary verses that ask whether they’re flying too close to the sun. By all measures, Mendes has got miles to rise yet. Still surfing on the success of November’s In Wonder, an endearing Shawn’s-eye-view Netflix documentary, he drops Wonder, a sparkling set of earworms that’s bound to get more airplay than even Mariah this holiday season. The tunes prove, once again, that he can write a hit like Ed Sheeran and work a guitar like John Mayer. Like the movie, they’re also vulnerable and introspective, revealing the depths of the Pickering, Ont., pop star’s love for—and anxieties about—his beau, fellow chart-topper Camila Cabello. Monster may steal the show, but it’s the wide-eyed title track that best captures Mendes’ current mood. Choirs call out, horns blare and a symphony of synths and strings rises as Mendes gets swept away in grandiose visions of an all-consuming admiration. He sounds assured, as if he’s on the cusp of something great. And, as we all know by now, there’s nothing holding him back. By LUC RINALDI
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My Dream Team
VIOLENT GROUND
Sibling rap duo from the Naskapi Nation of Kawawachikamach “I was in their area, a subarctic fly-in community in the middle of nowhere. In their minds, I had no business being there—some guy showing up and saying, ‘Hey, I work with Drake’? We wrote a song that night called Rez Life. That kind of got the ball rolling for the album.”
ERNIE PANICCIOLI
DAVID STRICKLAND The Toronto-based Mi’kmaw and Northern Cree producer helped engineer Drake’s Thank Me Later. Now he’s trying to elevate a bevy of under-appreciated Indigenous hip hoppers to Drizzy-level fame. We asked Strickland to tell us about some of the hidden-gem emcees on Spirit of Hip Hop, his revolutionary record that featured old school beats and lightning-fast verses from more than 30 Indigenous acts. By STEPHAN BOISSONNEAULT
LEONARD SUMNER Anishinaabe singer-songwriter “He’s so laid back. When I met the guy in the studio, he had his guitar and he banged out two choruses like he was putting on a pair of socks. He can rap too, but he hides that. He is such a cool guy.”
DREZUS
Cree Native American hip hop photographer and activist
Calgary-based rapper and activist
“I didn’t imagine putting him on the album, but I had him in the studio and told him, ‘Just start talking.’ I used what he delivered as the spoken word introduction to the album. It sets the tone. It inspired a tattoo on my arm.”
“He and I were in the VICE documentary First Out Here together. His spirit is so big, I thought, ‘Man, this guy needs to be heard.’ We had that natural chemistry, so he’s on three songs.”
QUE ROCK
Anishinaabe rapper, b-boy and graffiti artist “Que Rock is legit on the dance floor. When I started checking out his craft, I knew this guy was on the same wave as me. He’s on the most songs on the album. I have a secret joke with him: I call the album Que Rock and Friends.”
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SNOTTY NOSE REZ KIDS Haisla Nation rap duo
“These guys were on fire already when I decided I had to have them on the album. I linked up with them and they were on the same page, so I set them up to record with DJ Kemo from the Rascalz in Vancouver.”
Q CHARMAINE A AND
How did it go at first? One thing I struggled with before I signed my deal with Warner was that there weren’t many people willing to take a chance on female artists and give us the opportunity to prove that we are capable. Every person I reached out to for a studio session or a collaboration kind of looked me over. I wish more people would invest in us because the return is so much greater than what you put in.
Charmaine couldn’t have picked a more explosive way to barge into the hip hop scene. In her debut music video, BOLD, the 25-year-old R&B dynamo is unabashed and unapologetic, counting cash and strutting through the city. She comes by that swagger honestly: her family immigrated to Canada from Zimbabwe, and music was her way to lift them out of poverty—she delivers fierce bars like she has nothing to lose. We talked with Charmaine about her musical genesis, her upcoming album (out in 2021) and how she accidentally became a rapper.
On your new single, BOLD, you are definitely doing what you want. How did that song come about? Super randomly, actually. I was in the studio, and when we finished the last track, we said, “What else can we do?” Somehow, we were like, “Fuck it, let’s rap.” For the longest time, I rejected it: “I’m not a rapper, I’m a singer.” But I did it, and when the producer played it back, I was like, “Is that me? Maybe I am a rapper, because this sounds pretty good!” I was so happy. I had to have at least one bad bitch anthem!
By NADIA ELKHARADLY
What’s one of your wildest dreams as an artist? I want to have my own record label. I’ll make sure that 90 to 95 per cent of my artists are women. Men are not the only people who make music. Women make better music. No apologies. I said what I said. I want to be the person that gives other people like myself opportunities to blossom and prosper and elevate.
How did you start making music? I had a really rough upbringing. At one point, my dad lost his job and then we lost our house, so my family of six ended up in a shelter—actually, not even a shelter, but a really dirty motel. I was just like, “Okay, nah. I really have to do something now to get myself and my family out of this.” So songwriting was an escape? Songwriting was my only sense of peace amidst all the turmoil. I loved the feeling of creating music, so I embraced it. I thought, “This is what makes me the happiest, so why not make a living, a life out of this?” But you didn’t jump into music right away. What caused that hesitation? I didn’t feel like I fit within society’s standard of beauty. I didn’t fit what the industry perceived to be a star. I think I just needed to take a break and explore myself. When I got to a point where I was comfortable with myself and loved myself, then I dove into music.
And when you make it there, who are you inviting onto your yacht? Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion and Mulatto. It’ll be an all-star bad bitch yacht party!
Watch the YouTube video for more Q&As with Charmaine
Watch the official BOLD video
M E N N O VERSTEEG
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the last name of a friend he’d lost to suicide. To record his first album, Versteeg drove to Reno and checked into a $38-a-night hotel with little more than a beat-up classical guitar and a four-track tape recorder, the same tools he’d used to record the first songs he ever wrote. He spent nine days there recording Reno Tapes, a scrappy lo-fi folk album about his absurd surroundings: weekend dads egging their kids on at the slot machines, drunk Santas-for-hire brawling over a slice of pizza on Christmas Day. If Reno Tapes was a distraction from Versteeg’s turbulent past, Strangers Like Us, Mav Karlo’s just-released record, is a brutally honest reckoning with it. The songs are pleasant indie-pop gems, dappled with elegantly simple melodies and tasteful kisses of synth, but their lyrics reveal a dark inner monologue. Album opener Elevator is a melancholy plea for stability, tired of extreme highs and lows. On Detonator, he is uncomfortably candid about doing lines in hotel lobby washrooms and waking up late in the afternoon embarrassed by whatever he’d done the night before. Versteeg slowly moves from shame to personal reconciliation in the course of the new album. “It was a therapy session for me,” he says. Therapy shaped not only Versteeg’s music, but his approach to running Royal Mountain Records, the label
he founded in 2009 to release Hollerado’s first album, and which has since launched the careers of homegrown favourites like Orville Peck, Alvvays and PUP. In 2019, Versteeg introduced a mental health fund for each of the 34 artists on the label: $1,500 for therapy, medication and the like. The artists don’t need to pay the label back or explain how they use the money, but many have called Versteeg to personally thank him—one told him, “Thank you for helping me save my own life.” The fund was the first of its kind offered by a record label, and it turned Versteeg into a minor industry celebrity. International labels flew him to speak on panels overseas. “There was tons of back-patting and ‘way to go,’” he says, but little action. He bristled at the fact that successful multinational labels were celebrating him without following his example. “Everyone was like, ‘You’re doing the right thing,’ and I was like, ‘You should, too!’” The Royal Mountain fund arrived at the perfect time, just before the coronavirus wiped out touring musicians’ most reliable revenue stream and cast a cloud of uncertainty over their livelihoods—the sort of thing that can exacerbate mental health issues. Mercifully, the pandemic has been relatively kind to Versteeg. It gave him an excuse to slow down after the hectic Hollerado years. He’s healthy, writing new music and, believe or not, touring. Last month, after sitting out a 14-day quarantine out east, Versteeg debuted the Mav Karlo catalogue in a handful of dates across the Atlantic provinces, where virus cases remain low. Backed up by that four-track recorder, Versteeg strummed his nylon guitar and sang for a series of sold-out crowds—that is, somewhere between 25 and 65 people, sitting in socially distanced clusters. It wasn’t exactly a multi-night stint at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto, where thousands of frenzied fans said goodbye to his old band. But, in a sense, it was perfect. Versteeg didn’t want people to jump onstage or dance in puddles of confetti. He just wanted them to listen. In Fredericton, Versteeg played a dark bar where the crowd had been cordoned into reflective Plexiglas booths. Beyond the glare of the stage lights, the audience was invisible. As he sang a powerful verse about finally being able to look at himself in the mirror, he couldn’t see anything but his own reflection: a dozen Menno Versteegs staring right back at him.
LEFT: ANNIE MURPHY RIGHT: CALM ELLIOTT-ARMSTRONG
Menno Versteeg was a tireless source of good-natured mischief: blasting crowds with confetti cannons, inviting audience members onstage to play his guitar, partying with fans on the band’s tour bus. In his orbit, everyone seemed to have a good time. Everyone, it turns out, except Versteeg. Beneath his moppy hairdo and easy grin, he was grappling with depression and bipolar disorder, neither of them properly diagnosed or treated until 2019, the year Hollerado amicably disbanded. By then, the rockstar routine—getting drunk, getting high, getting in trouble—had lost its charm, and Versteeg’s devil-may-care persona felt increasingly contrived. “I spent a lot of time trying to be something I’m not,” he says now. “A lot of Hollerado was me trying to be this optimistic, positive guy. I hid my dark sides. I really felt like I’d let a lot of people down if I let those parts of me shine through.” Ultimately, it was comedy that gave Versteeg the freedom to explore and understand his dark side. His wife, the actor Annie Murphy, was a rising star on CBC’s smash series Schitt’s Creek, and her windfall gave him the cash and security to spend time and money on therapy. Those sessions helped Versteeg retire his always-sunny alter ego and, in its place, create a solo project called Mav Karlo—a combination of his initials and
HEATHER GILDROY
AS THE FRESHFACED FRONTMAN OF THE UNFAILINGLY FUN INDIE-ROCK BAND HOLLERADO FOR 13 YEARS,
MENNO VERSTEEG
As he sang a powerful verse about finally being able to look at himself in the mirror, he couldn’t see anything but his own reflection: a dozen Menno Versteegs staring right back at him. NEXT
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THE MERCH TABLE SUPPORT THE ARTISTS YOU LOVE AND BUY THEIR STUFF.
OVO ASHTRAY
Ceramic with gold foil print. $38.
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SOCCER MOMMY MOOD RING
Color Theory printed in bubble letters. $7. soccermommy. myshopify.com
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BARENAKED LADIES RUBIK’S CUBE
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If you had $1 million, you could buy a lot of these. $33.
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HARRY STYLES WATER BOTTLE
32 fluid ounces of fun. $39.
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A sew-it-yourself stuffy. $25.
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HAYDEN’S DREAM SERENADE TOQUE All proceeds go to charity. $35.
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US GIRLS BUTTON “In case of an emergency, call Meg.” $3. indiemerch.com/ usgirls
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It was only a matter of time. $104. dcshoes.com
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ARKELLS FACES FACE MASK
WANT YOUR BAND FEATURED? SEND US A PIC OF YOUR COOL COLLECTIBLE AND YOU MIGHT MAKE IT TO THE TABLE.
Reusable and 100% cotton. $18. arkells.store-08.com
POST MALONE HARD HAT
Marking his Billboard Awards performance. $52.
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PHOEBE BRIDGERS SWEATPANTS Cotton-polyester blend, available in six sizes. $52. store.phoebefuckingbridgers.com
DUA LIPA PHONE CASE
Fits the iPhone 11. $34.
HANNAH GEORGAS ALL THAT EMOTION T-SHIRT
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Includes her new album on vinyl or CD. $50. shop.arts-crafts.ca
CHILLY GONZALES XMAS SOCKS
100% cotton, 100% cozy. $23. chillygonzales. store-08.com
MANILA GREY BASEBALL CAP
One-size-fits-all snapback hat. $35. manilagrey.com
PUP KIDS’ BOOK
Rupert Reaper by singer Stefan Babcock. $15. littledipperart.com
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TOP 20 CANADIAN AL Broken Perfection EP Anna Sofia
Campfire Chords Arkells
Dream Awake Black Atlass
Synthetic Soul EP Chiiild
Crown Lands Crown Lands
17-year-old singer-songwriter Anna Sofia released her second EP of 2020 when she dropped Broken Perfection this July. Singing directly from the heart of the Gen Z experience, Anna lays herself bare on stellar indie-pop bangers free of pretense and bullshit.
Amidst the uncertain backdrop of 2020, JUNO Award winners Arkells went back to their roots and rediscovered their trademark singer-songwriter spirit. Filled with songs about love, friendship, community, and optimism, Campfire Chords will feel like an old friend, here to keep you company.
Dream Awake is the sophomore album from XO artist Black Atlass. Grammy Award-winning producer DannyBoyStyles (The Weeknd) serves as Executive Producer on this hazy, downtempo journey of love that Black Atlass describes as a metaphor for the feeling of lust.
Chiiild (Montréal producer-duo Yoni “xSDTRK” Ayal & Pierre-Luc Rioux) released their debut project Synthetic Soul in February. The EP strikes a delicate balance of smooth soul, psychedelia, and groovy R&B while still embodying their own “synthetic” soulful sound complete with ambient synth and reverb-heavy vocals.
Recorded in the iconic RCA Studio A and produced by six-time Grammy winner Dave Cobb, Crown Lands, the debut album from Kevin Comeau and Cody Bowles, combines the duo’s influences of folk, blues, psychedelic and prog rock to create something startlingly fresh.
Good Intentions NAV
teenage angst EP renforshort
Ryland James EP Ryland James
Opia EP Savannah Ré
Wonder Shawn Mendes
Good Intentions expresses the progression of NAV’s mindset and musicality with its introspective lyrics and incorporation of his piano and music theory studies. The album was Executive Produced by Nav, The Weeknd, and Amir “Cash” Esmailian and debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 chart.
18-year-old grunge-pop singer-songwriter renforshort released her debut EP teenage angst in March. A collection of seven soul-baring, coming-of-age songs about anxiety, self-image and young love, her debut was praised by TIME Magazine as, “intimate, catchy bedroom pop with a punk edge.”
21-year-old rising artist Ryland James released his debut self-titled EP this August. The seven track EP spotlights James’s poetic songcraft, expansive vocal range and signature fusion of gospel roots, gritty soul, and anthemic pop that landed him the opening slot on Alessia Cara’s 2019 tour.
Breakout Toronto R&B artist Savannah Ré’s highly anticipated debut EP Opia is an evocative collection of nine songs the prodigious songwriter nurtured and perfected over the past three years. Opia was Executively Produced by her mentor Grammy Award-winning producer Boi-1da and YogiTheProducer.
Grammy nominated global superstar Shawn Mendes brought some light into the end of 2020 with the December release of his highly anticipated album Wonder. Thrilling fans around the globe ahead of its release, Mendes partnered with fellow Canadian megastar Justin Bieber for the album’s second single “Monster”.
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LBUMS OF 2020
In a year of isolation, these Canadian artists connected the entire world with works of art that contributed to the culture and brought us together.
Session 2: Transformation EP Emanuel
Before Love Came To Kill Us Jessie Reyez
In a time Emanuel describes as a “renaissance of beautiful black art in the world”, the Toronto R&B singer-songwriter made his artistic debut in 2020 with the release of two moving EPs. The latter, Session 2: Transformation was released in December and features the stirring lead single “Black Woman”.
The 14 songs on Before Love Came To Kill Us sees Jessie Reyez reaffirm her narrative of authenticity, empowerment and conscientiousness. Featuring collabs with Eminem and 6lack, the album earned the title of top female debut album and top R&B debut album of 2020.
Hidden Gems EP Tasha Angela
Sophomore Slump The Reklaws
After Hours The Weeknd
Toronto songstress and composer Tasha Angela released her fivesong debut EP Hidden Gems in February. Honest and soulful, Hidden Gems offers a glimpse into Tasha’s creative sphere where music serves as an outlet for healing, self-improvement and expression that undoubtedly resonates with fans.
Recorded after the pandemic struck, Sophomore Slump is the second album from CCMA winners and JUNO Award nominees The Reklaws (Stuart and Jenna Walker). An album of anthems about the transformative, coming-of-age college years, Sophomore Slump includes the Gold-certified hit single “Where I’m From.”
Crowned one of the year’s biggest releases with over 2 billion global streams, The Weeknd’s fourth album After Hours has become the #1 R&B streaming album of all time. Noted as a stylistic reinvention with new wave and pop influences, After Hours explores promiscuity, overindulgence, and self-loathing.
Dark Lane Demo Tapes Drake Global superstar Drake dropped the surprise 14-track mixtape Dark Lane Demo Tapes this May. Consisting of previously leaked tracks, SoundCloud releases and “new vibes”, the mixtape also includes features from Giveon, Chris Brown, Young Thug, and Playboi Carti.
It’s Never Really Over EP Johnny Orlando
CHANGES Justin Bieber
This October, rising pop superstar Johnny Orlando shared his sophomore EP It’s Never Really Over with his 25 million+ fans around the world. Influenced by today’s pop icons like Dua Lipa, Drake and Billie Eilish, the EP represents the growth Orlando has made over the last year.
CHANGES, the first new album from global superstar Justin Bieber in five years, arrived on Valentine’s Day as a special gift to his fans. The R&B infused album debuted at #1 on the Billboard R&B Albums chart and features Post Malone, Summer Walker, Kehlani, Travis Scott and more.
sucks to see you doing better EP VALLEY
Spectrum EP Zach Zoya
JUNO nominated indie-pop band VALLEY’s six-song EP sucks to see you doing better contrasts sparkling hooks with profound, emotional lyrics that linger in mental health trouble spots. Rejecting apathy, VALLEY uses their music to construct a platform of positivity to help transition through the complexities of young adulthood.
22-year-old Montréal rapper, singer, songwriter Zach Zoya released his debut EP Spectrum this October. Featuring production by Grammy Award-winning producer Boi-1da, Spectrum is a collection of energetic hip-hop, intricate rap, and emotive R&B songs that showcase the versatility of Zoya’s artistry.
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G oD THE TWO-FISTED POWER OF HAVIAH MIGHTY’S SOULFUL SINGING AND SUPERIOR RHYMES SHOULD PROPEL THIS RISING CANADIAN RAPPER TO WORLDWIDE WONDERS By MICHAEL HOLLETT
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Photographed By YUNG YEMI
H AV I A H M I G H T Y
20 20 was supposed to be Haviah Mighty’s year.
The Canadian rap superstar-in-waiting seemingly came out of nowhere—Brampton, Ont., actually—and became a performer that many, including Mighty herself, expect big things from. Still in her mid-20s, she’s already won growing audiences and the prestigious Polaris Prize, a critics’ poll that crowns the best Canadian album of the year, with searing rhymes and smooth,
“
confident vocals. Her energized sound combines upbeat party tracks with challenging raps propelled by powerful beats. Despite, or perhaps because of, the sometimes-weighty issues raised on her songs—racism, misogyny, class—a Mighty show leaves an audience both exhausted and energized, in awe of a performer who never stops moving. Mighty doesn’t just walk onto a stage, she seizes it. In front of a sold-out crowd or an empty room, Mighty grips the mic and an audience’s attention, prowling the stage, slightly crouched, ready for trouble but definitely not looking for it. With her elegant and essential best friend DJ Demone on the decks and guest appearances by stylish sister Omega, Mighty’s shows are an ampedup playground of passion and power. Mighty and her team were eager to unleash their talent on the world this spring. But in mid-March, as she readied to take a stage in Oakland—part of a tour that was supposed to introduce her to the U.S.—a text from a friend lit up her phone in the darkened club. The lights were slowly beginning to go out around the world. “When I heard South by Southwest was cancelled, that’s when I knew it was over,” says Mighty, who was pumped to play her first gigs—four of them—at the legendary festival in Austin, Texas. “I was pretty certain if something that big was cancelled, everything was cancelled.” Instead of wowing the States, Mighty holed up in her Brampton home when the virus hit, thinking, “If things fall apart, how will I sustain?” She had only committed to music full-time in 2019, after her Polaris win. For a
IT’S EASIER TO TELL YOURSELF TO ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES WHEN IT’S HAPPENING TO THE ENTIRE WORLD AS WELL.
few weeks, she went to a dark place. She wondered if she’d have to go back to a “regular” job to pay the bills— she used to be a clerk at Long and McQuade, where she taught herself how to DJ. “I started to feel a little down in the rut.” But Mighty is remarkably upbeat about her lockdown time now. “It’s easier to tell yourself to roll with the punches when it’s happening to the entire world as well,” she says. “When I was condemned to the house, it allowed me to start making music. I had been starting to worry about how I’d write with all the touring planned.” Mighty went deeply DIY, mastering Instagram Stories and learning the finer points of livestreaming from her house. She’s been more active than most online: in addition to her stepped-up social, she’s done more than 10 virtual shows, including, most recently, a sleekly produced stream for the Supercrawl Festival in Hamilton, Ont., where she previewed some new tracks. Mighty’s productive homesteading has translated into two fresh singles: the powerful Atlantic, which evokes enslaved people’s ocean passage, followed by the more upbeat Occasion, slated for release in mid-December. Mighty is coy about the specifics of her new release, but as she prepares to follow up her hugely successful debut album, 13th Floor, it’s clear this forced “downtime” has been anything but. The two tracks ably showcase the performer’s strengths. Atlantic delivers searing commentary and evocative images pushed by powerful beats and scorching rhymes, while the newer track showcases Mighty’s singing skills, ones that she is quick to diminish. “I’ve always considered myself a rapper who also sings,” she says. “People told me, ‘Your rapping is what’s going to get you somewhere, your singing won’t get you anywhere.’” But those smooth, rich, low-register tones between Mighty’s rhymes are just one of the many things that help set her apart from wannabe mic masters.
. . . . . Mighty has a ferocious work ethic,
something she learned from childhood music lessons. Her parents and older sisters made sure she practised for classes they could barely afford. Eventually, the music school cut the Mighty family off from scholarships because they just kept winning them. “I remember thinking, it’s not a choice, it’s what we do,” Mighty says of those lessons. In addition to learning discipline, Mighty discovered how to breathe. “Unlike rappers who’ve never been taught to sing, I had a predisposition of understanding how to use my air, my diaphragm,” she says. As a result, she can drop more lyrics in one breath than other rappers who don’t know how to marshal the additional air. “The only thing missing musically for me as a kid was church,” she says, laughing. Mighty also learned the sting of racism at an early age. She grew up in east Toronto in a neighbourhood
H AV I A H M I G H T Y
“
HUMANS CAN BE A COMMUNITY FOR EACH OTHER, BUT IF WE DON’T KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON IN EACH OTHER’S LIVES, WE CAN’T SUPPORT EACH OTHER.
“ ” I FELT LIKE I WAS ABLE TO BE A KID FOR THE FIRST TIME IN EIGHT YEARS.
of struggling working-class white families—as she puts it, “people who were deemed lower class who looked at a Black family and went, ‘Well, at least we’re better than them.’” Her worried parents wouldn’t let their children out of the house, afraid for their safety. “We were the only Black family; we were targeted a lot,” says Mighty. “We had a brick thrown through our window, cops were called because our piano was too loud. Ridiculous stuff. When I lived in Toronto, what I looked like and the fact that I was Black said so much about me before I could say anything about myself.” The close-knit and determined family wanted a way out. But when they began looking for a new home, real estate agents could not look beyond their race. “They kept trying to push us into racialized communities in Scarborough,” Mighty remembers. “My mom said, ‘Absolutely not, because I know this is where you put Black people who don’t have a lot of money.’”
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The family eventually found agents who helped them get what they wanted, a new home in the diverse community of Brampton. “That changed all of our stories and all of our lives,” says Mighty. She would eventually name-check Brampton on her 2017 project, Flower City. Before the move, Mighty was dubbed a “problem child” with “anger management” issues. She’s pretty sure that living under the grinding yoke of racism in Toronto had something to do with perceived attitude issues. When the family moved to Brampton, Mighty immediately excelled in school. She was quickly deemed a gifted student, a status she would hold through Grade 12. “I felt like I was able to be a kid for the first time in eight years,” she says. “I didn’t feel so different anymore.” When Mighty was 11, housing costs ate into the cash that paid for her music lessons, so she turned to rap to fill the musical gap in her life. She would race home from school, park herself at her computer and search for battle-rap opportunities online. She taught herself the craft by trading text and audio verses with American men two and three times her age on letsbeef.com. “I got my flow that way,” she says. “I was regularly in the Top 10 on the site—and I was the only woman.” Mighty eventually graduated from online battle rapping to cypher events, where circles of rappers took turns freestyling over a never-ending beat. In 2016, Mighty participated in a Facebook Live cypher for women rappers and found her first bandmates, a quartet who would eventually be known as The Sorority. The group lasted almost three years before its members split up to pursue solo careers in 2019. But during their run, the comparatively tiny Mighty regularly towered over her taller bandmates. It seemed clear at their shows that four MCs were a few too many for one centre-stage mic.
. . . . . As Mighty built her battle rap bonafides,
her older sister called her out, claiming she was all style and no substance. She was admittedly adept at rhyming, but whose story was she telling? “My sister said to me, ‘You’re really good—but I don’t believe you.’” Mighty became determined to develop her writing voice and drew on her life experiences, especially the pain of the early years, to find the stories she needed to tell. “I focused on becoming an authentic rapper, talking about things that resonated with me,” she says. “My ability to rap about race the way I do is because I am able to look at it from a reflective standpoint. This is
how people I know and people who look like me feel. My ability to make the music I make comes out of escaping an environment but still identifying with the pain of that environment.” Mighty writes with an intention to teach, educate and incite a dialogue, not to point fingers. “As long as conversations are happening, it’s a positive thing,” she says. “Humans can be a community for each other, but if we don’t know what’s going on in each other’s lives, we can’t support each other.” Compact and powerful—and perhaps pugnacious— Mighty is now determined to be heard and seen in part because she felt invisible for much of her life. “When I was a kid, society’s message was that there were certain things that weren’t available for people like me. I didn’t fully believe I was worth the space I was taking up. That’s what I had to overcome with time, learning and realizing that people can see me.” On a mild summer night in Toronto, months before the Polaris Prize win would change her life and COVID would change the world, Mighty is set to play an NXNE showcase of rap’s “future stars” that is unfortunately programmed against a Raptors game. A laptop and a pair of turntables sit on a stand in front of a quiet, sparsely filled room, the only buzz coming from TVs with the sound turned down. The few faces in the room are pointed at the screens, watching basketball. Eventually, DJ DemOne emerges, sharply dressed as if for a dinner party or awards show. Still no heads turn to engage. Demone turns on the beats and Mighty bursts on stage in a vintage Raptors Dino T. Among the handful of people in the club, a few muster a show-me attitude, while the rest pay no attention at all. Unfazed, Mighty paces the tiny stage, eyes darting, beats building, making a plan, looking hungrily for eye contact—or an exit? By the second track, Mighty leaps off the stage and into the scattered crowd. She bobs and weaves her way through the distracted and now-startled talkers like a flesh-and-blood pinball. She stops in front of one, then another, belting into a live mic millimetres away from them, not aggressively but needing to be heard. One after another, the audience members fall under the spell of this direct artistic intervention, peeling away from the game to crowd around the stage that Mighty commands for the rest of her short set. “Listen to me, now,” she seems to say. “I guarantee it will be worth it.”
H AV I A H M I G H T Y
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WHEN I LIVED IN TORONTO, WHAT I LOOKED LIKE AND THE FACT THAT I WAS BLACK SAID SO MUCH ABOUT ME BEFORE I COULD SAY ANYTHING ABOUT MYSELF. NEXT
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SAVANNAH RÉ THE TORONTO SOULSTRESS HONED HER SOUND IN THE COMPANY OF CANADIAN R&B ROYALTY. NOW SHE’S COMING FOR THE CROWN. By SAMANTHA EDWARDS
NEXT BIG THING
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or years, Savannah Ré has been a rising star in Toronto’s R&B scene, writing songs with local homegrown talents like Daniel Caesar and WondaGurl, touring with Jessie Reyez, and counting OVO Sound’s in-house producer Boi-1da as a mentor and collaborator. But now Ré is poised to finally break out big on her own—and the timing couldn’t be better. Ré’s debut EP, Opia, is like a much-needed balm as we bid adieu to 2020. Opia’s soulful sound is inspired by the R&B icons that Ré’s sister introduced her to: Aaliyah, TLC, Lauryn Hill, SWV. It’s concise yet diverse, melding 90s R&B, chill pop and spoken word. Ré’s versatile voice, which jumps from coy and sultry to triumphant and anthemic, anchors each of the nine tracks. She digs deep into her own feelings, reflecting on the messy realities of dating, long-distance relationships, self-love, marriage and all the emotions in between. “Writing these songs was like showing my diaries to strangers,” she says. Ré credits her producers Boi-1da and YogiTheProducer, who happens to be her husband, with helping her find her most authentic voice. Although the album is deeply personal, Ré’s intention was to write about universal experiences. “People might think, ‘Oh, she’s married and happy now, what does she know?’ But there’s so much to life before and within marriage,” says Ré. “Opia follows my journey, but I wanted it to be an open book for people to listen and be like, ‘Wait, I hear myself in these songs. I’ve experienced that.’”
Reviews
ALBUMS/TRACKS/VIDEOS/LIVE
MILEY CYRUS Plastic Hearts
Genre: Powerhouse pop Sound: Bold and brassy, packed with power chords and occasional 80s-synth beats. If You Like: Guns N’ Roses, Demi Lovato, Dua Lipa
She pushes the take-me-as-Iam trope to compelling, convincing places with gasp-worthy honesty, warning friends and lovers to watch out. Not giving a shit has never sounded so fresh and fantastic. There are more anthems here than at an afternoon at the Olympics. The blasttastic barrage of pop rock is driven by Cyrus’ catch-me-ifyou-can vocals and pristine production that still allows her to sound intimate and raw. It feels like she’s showing off, but she’s allowed to—the album is packed with hits. Cyrus enlists an A Team guest list—including Dua Lipa, Billy Idol and Joan Jett—for classic collabs before dropping killer covers of Blondie’s Heart of Glass and The Cranberries’ Zombie, along with a remix of Fleetwood Mac’s Midnight Sky featuring Stevie Nicks herself. With Plastic Hearts, Cyrus can confidently claim her place among a growing list of goodie-two-shoes-gone-bad adolescent acts whose best music is still ahead. Sure, at the end of the night, call her a cab and check the ashtrays for burning smokes, but definitely invite her back for more.
By MICHAEL HOLLETT
Best Track: WTF Do I Know
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iley Cyrus is like that beloved friend who’s always getting into trouble. You can see it coming, but her chaotic life is so thrilling to witness that you can’t look away. Sure, when she comes over, she’ll probably spill a drink or knock something off the wall, but the loud laughs and the barely believable stories are worth it. Her powerhouse new album, Plastic Hearts, is an unapologetic salute to no apologies. NEXT
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REVIEWS
MEGAN THEE STALLION’S GOOD NEWS IS THE RALLYING CRY WE ALL NEED
Genre: Rap/Hip Hop Sound: A whip-tongued delivery of scathing and sexed-up bars, healthy doses of bone-rattling bass and strategically placed samples from old school rap legends If you like: City Girls, Aminé, Kash Doll Best track: Circles
M
egan Thee Stallion rode front seat on the rollercoaster of 2020. Her sizzling single WAP was the most talked-about track of the year and, even after being shot in the foot, she thunder-twerked her way to the top of the game, elbowing out a crowded field of contenders to cement herself as the best rapper of the year. She saves the best for last with her new, much-morethan-good debut, Good News, 17 bassed-up, braggadocious, sometimes ballistic tracks. Good News is the resilient album we all need after an impossible year. Its verses are a celebration of survival against all odds,
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and if clubs were open, you’d feel the triumphant pulsating 808s through your sneakers. The tracks borrow elements of trap and Latin pop (you might be tempted to hit “skip” when she experiments with pop vocals on Don’t Rock Me To Sleep), but Megan’s MO is deploying not-taking-your-shit bars over classic ’90s beats: on Shots Fired, she calls out Toronto’s Tory Lanez—her alleged shooter—to the all-too-appropriate sample of Notorious B.I.G.’s Who Shot Ya? It’s not all dis-track bravado, though. Seamlessly switching cadence, Megan evokes Breonna Taylor as a rallying cry for the protection of Black women, then spotlights the simultaneous softness and strength of her femininity. It doesn’t hurt that Megan enlists some of the biggest women in hip hop to bolster her debut: Smooth siren SZA weaves around the Stallion’s bars in Freaky Girls, while Beyoncé embellishes Savage Remix with her honey-drip vocals. Of course, she still leaves plenty of room for booty-shaking bops like Body, which bounces up and down like a twerking tush. Classy, bougie, nasty indeed. By LAURA ROBINSON
DECEMBER PLAYLIST ADDITIONS FROM SLAIGHT MUSIC
RYAN LANGDON BEST NIGHT
S THEO TAM Y THERAP
ALI & THEO WE THREE KINGS
MOSCOW A PARTMENT NEW GIRL
OND KAYLA DIAM ED AVE LISTEN I SHOULD H NDS TO MY FRIE
www.slaightmusic.com
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REVIEWS
30¯SECOND ALBUM BTS
BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG
BENEE
BADGE ÉPOQUE ENSEMBLE Self Help
YUNGBLUD Weird!
Genre: K-pop Sound: In-your-feels harmonies, notes of retro hip hop and bubbly club beats. If You Like: Years & Years, Monsta X, Troye Sivan Why you should listen: An obvious product of the pandemic, the boys get blue in pared-back ballads but find groovy optimism in disco-pop numbers customized for living room dance parties. Best Track: Dis-ease
Genre: Pop punk Sound: Gritty garage rock complete with crunchy power chords and hoarse hollering. If You Like: Green Day, Sum 41, Neck Deep Why you should listen: Not just a fun Green Day-ification of decades of rock, this unrelenting covers record is a valuable sampler platter of classics and deep cuts from legends like John Lennon and The Bangles. Best Track: That Thing You Do!
Genre: Chill-pop Sound: Whimsical melodies, diary-like lyrics and mellow e-girl lullabies. If You Like: Mallrat, Billie Eilish Why you should listen: With a trappy Lily Allen feature and a 90s house-inspired Grimes track, this genre-hopping debut marks BENEE’s transition from TikTok bop-star to thoughtful lyricist. Best Track: Night Garden (feat. Kenny Beats & Bakar)
Genre: Jazz/funk Sound: Slinky solos and hyperactive bongos over a groovy big-band base. If You Like: BADBADNOTGOOD, Thundercat Why you should listen: Although they sound like nostalgic pop anthems, listen closer to the lyrics and you’ll discover poignant lyrics about struggling with race and culture in Britain. Best Track: Sing a Silent Gospel
Genre: Pop punk/alt-rock Sound: Classic U.K. punk updated with 2000s pop-rock and SoundCloud-style beats. If You Like: My Chemical Romance, Lil Peep, Lil Aaron Why you should listen: The English iconoclast is determined to push the boundaries of genre, gender and sexuality with this record’s rebellious vocals, politically charged lyrics and amorphous sound. Best Track: Parents
Be
No Fun Mondays
Hey u x
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Miley Cyrus
PUP
Guizmo
Charlotte Cardin
Orville Peck
The raw club anthem that 2020 has been waiting for.
Clanging guitars plus gang vocals equal the perfect tobogganing track.
Cool French hip hop hidden in the soundtrack of Amazon Prime’s The Boys.
Bilingual It Girl seductively rejoices in a much-needed breakup.
Masked marvel hauntingly revisits Bronski Beat’s best.
Prisoner (Ft. Dua Lipa)
Rot
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Hendrix
Passive Aggressive
Smalltown Boy
REVIEWS
ZACH ZOYA
PARTNER
RICO NASTY
Nightmare Vacation
JORDANA Something to Say
WIZTHEMC What About Now
Genre: Rap/R&B Sound: Blistering bars and sad-boy singing over trappy beats and woozy samples. If You Like: Lil Baby, Post Malone, The Weeknd Why you should listen: At just 22, the Montreal emcee sings and raps with equal expertise on his debut EP, a promising mix of high-energy hip hop and bedroom R&B. Best Track: Le Cap
Genre: Rock Sound: Groovy basslines, face-melting guitar riffs and grungy 90s punk vibes. If You Like: Car Seat Headrest, Bully, Pat Benatar Why you should listen: These head-banging rock anthems deliver hilarious takes on life. Hit play to find out what happens when teenage dirtbags grow up. Best Track: Big Gay Hands
Genre: Punk-rap Sound: Screaming vocals over punky power guitar with an expertly produced trap backbone. If You Like: Tierra Whack, MF DOOM, JPEGMAFIA Why you should listen: With immaculate flow and raging pop-punk instrumentation, this record showcases Rico Nasty’s signature sound while still diving into fresh ideas. Best Track: IPHONE
Genre: Indie rock Sound: Filmy vocals, garage-rock guitar and hypnotic textural loops. If You Like: Broken Bells, Soccer Mommy, The Black Keys Why you should listen: Marrying supersonic sounds with head-in-the-clouds vocals, this rising indie queen puts rawly honest words to the feelings many experience but are afraid to acknowledge. Best Track: Big
Genre: Rap/hip hop Sound: Sunny party pop with buoyant bass lines and a carefree sing-spoken flow. If You Like: Still Woozy, Dominic Fike, MAJAN Why you should listen: This plucky emcee went from couch surfing to international idol in an instant, and these upbeat, uplifting bangers are the reason why. Best Track: All My Friends Are Stoned
Spectrum
Never Give Up
10 TRACKS THE NEXT STAFF CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF THIS MONTH
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Loyle Carner
binki
Babe Corner
800db cloud
Zaki Ibrahim
Timely political commentary bursting with bass and brass..
Quirky indie-rap bop about feeling funky.
West Coast rockers revamp a Y2K classic for the sad-girl generation.
Frantic lyricism and chaotic production create a track that feels like a bender.
Galactic, pulsing pop stunner that captures love’s exhilaration.
Yesterday
Wiggle
Cool
100 gecs
Love Made Naked
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30¯SECOND ALBUM REVIEWS
NOVEMBER
NILS FRAHM
Genre: Pop Sound: Booming vocals paired with gloomy electronic beats and stirring pop melodies. If You Like: Depeche Mode, Purity Ring, Charlotte Day Wilson Why you should listen: Gregory-Yves Fénélon’s moody EP is tender enough to soundtrack a weepy solo dance party but has potential to be pumped through a club’s speakers someday soon. Best Track: Jerome
Genre: Ambient/electronic Sound: Undulating symphonic soundscapes punctuated by subtle beats and digital bleeps and bloops. If You Like: Aphex Twin, Tim Hecker, Brian Eno Why you should listen: None of YouTube’s lo-fi chillhop playlists match the cinematic beauty or experimental originality of the German composer’s otherworldly blend of electro and classical. Best Track: Sunson
ANA ROXANNE
ONCE A TREE
Genre: Ambient/new age Sound: Lapping water, airy vocals and plush synth-scapes. If You Like: Grouper, Brian Eno, Sarah Davachi Why you should listen: Ana Roxanne’s languid ambient tracks foster introspection and gentle affirmations—and who doesn’t need more of that in their life right now? Best Track: A Study in Vastness
Genre: Electropop Sound: Pulsating club kicks, wispily sung melodies and EDM-worthy drops. If You Like: Majid Jordan, Alessia Cara, Skrillex Why you should listen: The ascendant dance duo—a TIFF-calibre actor and an OVO insider—finds a formula for body-moving hits that will shake clubs post-corona. Best Track: Rush
Bedroom Eyes
Because of a Flower
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Tripping with Nils Frahm
Fool’s Paradise
KACY & CLAYTON AND MARLON WILLIAMS Plastic Bouquet
Genre: Folk Sound: Twangy guitar riffs and sublime vocal interplay atop timeless folk and country storytelling. If You Like: Bill Callahan, Courtney Marie Andrews, Bert Jansch Why you should listen: This unexpected long-distance collaboration between a Saskatchewan duo and Kiwi singer-songwriter is a melodious match made in heaven. Best Track: Arahura
THE DARCYS
Fear and Loneliness Genre: Alt-pop Sound: Synthy, beat-heavy electronic tracks with reliably feel-good choruses and emotive vocals. If You Like: The Killers, Yukon Blonde, The 1975 Why you should listen: It sounds like a callback to the best of 2000s alt-pop, but a funky undercurrent and modern production make this Toronto duo’s fifth LP entirely fresh. Best Track: Too Late
THE AVALANCHES
MONEYPHONE
Genre: Electronic Sound: A hard-to-pin-down melange of 80s electronica, ambient chill-hop and modern rap. If You Like: LCD Soundsystem, Blood Orange, Childish Gambino Why you should listen: No two tracks are alike, thanks in equal parts to a diverse lineup of all-star features and an unflagging determination to push creative limits. Best Track: Running Red Lights
Genre: Slip hop Sound: Duelling raps, Auto-Tuned melodies and ecstatic beats. If You Like: Juice WRLD, Blueface, Bon Iver Why you should listen: Friends since high school—not so long ago—Toronto’s David May and Enoch Ncube have graduated to groove-rich rambles that just might take over the world. Best Track: Indecision
We Will Always Love You
RHYE HOME
Faith*
AVA I L A B L E JA N UA RY 2 2
THE LIMITED EDITION DOUBLE LP AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY THROUGH LAST GANG RECORDS — LASTGANG.COM
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THE LOCAL PAGES
Y Y Z TORONTO ARTS & EVENTS DECEMBER
RALPH HELMS A DIGITAL DANCE PARTY Nothing can stop shows at the ’Shoe
There’s no substitute for live music, but the Horseshoe Tavern is serving up the next best thing: livestreams straight from one of Toronto’s most iconic stages. This month’s lineup includes: Montreal indie darlings The Dears (Dec. 11), CanRock veterans The Lowest of the Low (Dec. 23), and a free hourlong set from Toronto’s best kept pop secret, Ralph (Dec. 11), whose irresistible hooks and house-inspired tracks are impossible not to dance to— even at home. “I’ve seen so many amazing shows at the Horseshoe,” says Ralph. “There’s such a good energy in that place. Just being with my band and singing with a proper mic on a real stage, it’s a sweet reminder that I love what I do and someday I’ll get back to it.” Friday, Dec. 11 and Wednesday, Dec. 23. Free to $20. horseshoetavern.com.
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YYZ DECEMBER BORN RUFFIANS INVENT A HARD-ROCKING HOLIDAY When those other festivities feel too tame
A couple of years ago, the good-natured goofs in local indie-rock band Born Ruffians masterminded the Shondi Festoon, a wintry non-denominational celebration. Like any holiday, it comes with traditions: drinking hot beer, dressing as your best friend and, most importantly, a spirited set from Born Ruffians, featuring top-of-the-lungs yelping, scrappy guitar lines and locomotive percussion. This year’s Festoon goes virtual, but don’t expect the band to tone down its hoser hijinks. Friday, Dec. 11. $15. noonchorus.com.
Avengers STATION
Hang in Hulk HQ, get hammered with Thor This expansive exhibition is like a portal into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Every room is a comic book lover’s fantasy: the lab where Bruce Banner transformed into the Hulk, the workshop where Iron Man supes up his suits, an observatory where Norse newbies can attempt to wield Thor’s hammer. The show is slated to open on Dec. 21 provided Ontario’s lockdown lifts—even superheroes don’t want to mess with a super-virus. Monday, Dec. 21 to Sunday, Jan. 31. From $29. avengersstationcanada.com.
A TIME WARP TO STUDIO 54 The AGO recreates New York’s legendary nightclub
For three years in the 70s, Studio 54 was a Mecca of music and fashion. Andy Warhol, Michael Jackson and Cher regularly rocked the club’s dance floor, a radically inclusive space that welcomed people in all their glamorous glory. Now, the Art Gallery of Ontario is resurrecting the fabled hotspot through hundreds of photos, films and fashion-defining pieces. Even if the pandemic prevents the show from opening as scheduled, here are a few snapshots of Studio 54’s splendour. Saturday, Dec. 26 to Monday, April 5. Price TBA. ago.ca.
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YYZ DECEMBER
GO
FOR VAN GOGH
The Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit is the safest, most stellar show in the city The virtuosic 19th-century artist, who sold only a few paintings in his life, could have never imagined his work like this: projected in vibrant hues across a 600,000-cubic-foot labyrinth for a motorcade of virus-averse spectators. The awe-inspiring show features every essential Van Gogh—Starry Night, The Potato Eaters, his iconic self-portrait—in divine detail; brushstrokes look so large they could have been applied by a broom. The drive-through exhibition, held in a defunct printing press at 1 Yonge Street, gets bonus points for being one of the few remaining attractions to remain open and safe for visitors during lockdown. To Monday, Feb. 15. From $95. vangoghexhibit.ca.
FRAZEY FORD
U KIN B THE SUN
FORD’S QUEST FOR TRANSCENDENCE COMES OUT ON TOP MOJO (#15 ALBUM OF 2020) DRAMATIC AND RATHER DAZZLING UNCUT (#18 ALBUM OF 2020) MAGNETIC ENOUGH TO TILT THE EARTH’S AXIS Q MAGAZINE (★★★★) AN ANTIDOTE TO HOPELESSNESS EXCLAIM! (8/10)
NEW ALBUM OUT NOW FRAZEYFORD.COM 50 DECEMBER 2020 NEXT
Tyler Shaw
Matt Webb
UnSilent Night
Canadian acts old and new rally for a good cause Sacha
Fred Penner
The cat keeps coming back and Fred Penner’s appeal never goes away. Makes sense that kid classic Penner joins the inspiring voices of The Tenors to raise cash for children’s music programs at this benefit for the education charity MusiCounts. The freshest performance should come from Toronto’s one-to-watch country singer, Sacha. Her summer EP, The Best Thing, sounds like a 2020 take on Fearless-era Taylor Swift, establishing Sacha as an exciting songwriter who follows and flaunts the genre’s rules. Thursday, Dec. 10. $10. musicounts.ca.
We are proud to present virtual performances, and opportunities for artists and audiences to connect. Live from The Rose features concerts recorded on our stage, and broadcast to audiences at home.
PHOTO: TYLER SHAW
FREE TICKETS RESERVE NOW NEXT
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THE WHISTLER FILM FESTIVAL GOES GLOBAL
Netflix has nothing on this newly virtual institution
THE LOCAL PAGES
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Normally, this 20-year-old film fest is a cinematic treat for ski bums after a long day on the slopes. This year, resilient organizers have moved the fest online and it features a program stuffed with emerging Canadian Talent. Music video director Wendy Morgan makes her full-length feature debut with the provocative opening night flick Sugar Daddy, a seductive story about a young female composer (Letterkenny’s Kelly McCormack) selling herself to an older man (Colm Feore) with connections in the industry. Other titles tell essential tales from forgotten parts of Canada: The Corruption of Divine Providence follows the disturbing disappearance of a Métis girl in rural Manitoba, while Goddess of the Fireflies—a box-office smash before cinemas closed—provides a grungy glimpse into the lives of Quebec teens in the 90s. All films available until Thursday, Dec. 31. $15 a single ticket, multi-ticket passes from $40. whistlerfilmfestival.com.
VANCOUVER ARTS & EVENTS DECEMBER
Sugar Daddy
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YVR DECEMBER SAID THE WHALE BEATS THE LOCKDOWN BLUES
Said the Whale is a quintessentially Vancouver band. Their discography is filled with quirky indie anthems about False Creek, West Coast winters and getting lost in the BC bush. As a gift to their city—and their fans everywhere—the group is playing an acoustic Christmas-themed livestream, full of requests and tracks from their holiday EPs. Thursday, Dec. 17. $20. sidedooraccess.com.
THE BUILD BACK BETTER FEST ASKS WHAT’S NEXT?
WITHOUT RULE OF LAW
Theatre for an anxious generation This darkly prescient coming-of-age tale couldn’t be staged at a more perfect time. The play, staged by Trinity Western University’s theatre school, follows a gang of eighth graders as they prepare for the apocalypse, studying survivalist handbooks, learning jiujitsu and posting prepper videos to YouTube. The fact that audiences will have to stream the show from home only adds to the doomsday mood. To Sunday, Dec. 13. $10. twu.ca.
The artists and activists behind this transformative online festival aren’t content to lock down and laze around. Instead, they’re contemplating what comes after COVID-19 through radically imaginative conversations about race, climate and inequality. The organizers seem sure about one thing: the future is full of music, because they’ve booked soulful sets from ukulele queen Desirée Dawson, R&B rabble rouser Buckman Coe and more to dot their discussions. Thursday, Dec. 17. Free. bit.ly/buildbackbetterfest.
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DOWNLOW CHICKEN
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IS EXCITED FOR THE LAUNCH OF NEXT MAGAZINE
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CANADA’S DESTINATION FOR FRIED CHICKEN Vancouver: 905 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC Calgary: Coming Soon / Toronto: Coming Soon T: 604-283-1385 IG: @dlchicken • dlchickenshack.ca 54 DECEMBER 2020 NEXT
YVR DEC
LIGHT ON
VANCOUVER OUTSIDER ARTS FESTIVAL Fresh talent on the fringes
Vancouver’s next best artist might just be waiting to be discovered on the walls of the Lost and Found Cafe in Gastown this month. That’s where the Vancouver Outsiders Arts Festival is presenting an exhibition of new paintings, illustrations and other visual works from underground and undiscovered talents, many of whom have never shown their work publicly before. To Saturday, Jan. 9. Free. cacv.ca.
A luminous landscape awaits at the VanDusen Festival of Lights COVID restrictions have made communal holiday cheer a little harder to come by this year, but this Vancouver tradition still promises some sheer shimmering fun. Across 10 acres of botanical garden, more than a million lights are coiled into twinkling trees and radiant reindeer, creating a spectacle so bright that you’ll be seeing dots for days. To Sunday, Jan. 3. $8 to $14. vandusengarden.org. Jujube Jacinto
Available in Alberta, B.C. and coming soon to Ontario 403 474 HOPS | citizenbrewingcompany.com NEXT
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THE LOCAL PAGES
Y Y C CALGARY
ARTS & EVENTS DECEMBER
HOMEGROWN COUNTRY TALENT GETS FESTIVE Four must-see acts at the Blue Jay Sessions
The Blue Jay Sessions have been shining a spotlight on indie Canadian singer-songwriters since last fall through intimate live performances. The latest set of shows were supposed to be at beloved Mikey’s on 12th, but the series has moved online to the Blue Jay Sessions’ Facebook page. Still, they will feature a can’tmiss collection of solid country acts, including a few trying to push the boundaries of the genre. Here are four mustsee—from your couch—shows. Free. facebook.com/ thebluejaysessions. 56 DECEMBER 2020 NEXT
D’ORJAY THE SINGING SHAMAN
A self-proclaimed “new kind of outlaw,” the Edmonton-based dynamo is one-part soulful country singer and one-part shaman. As a Black queer woman, she challenges traditional ideas of the country genre to a good old-fashioned showdown. 7 p.m., Friday, Dec. 18.
YYC DECEMBER
KATIE ROX
As if playing banjo and singing in the chart-topping, all-female country band Nice Horse wasn’t enough, Alberta girl Rox has also seen success as frontwoman of the Canadian indie-pop group Jakalope. 7 p.m., Friday, Dec. 11.
CORY MARKS
If Ozzy Osbourne went honky tonk, you’d get Cory Marks. Racing down the highway that runs between country music and hard rock, he’s whipped up an extra-special treat with his new carol Jingle My Bells. 7 p.m., Friday, Dec. 18.
AMY HEF
As a pop-rocking performer, Hef wrote energizing tracks that ended up in TV shows like Keeping Up With The Kardashians and Vanderpump Rules. Now she’s tapping into her western roots to deliver a country-tinged singersongwriter set. 7 p.m., Friday, Dec. 18.
A SWEEPING CELEBRATION OF YOKO ONO’S INCREDIBLE CAREER Often misunderstood, always pioneering artist Yoko Ono’s 60-plus-year career is celebrated at the Growing Freedom exhibit at Calgary’s Contemporary Art Gallery. Pieces from her iconic Montreal bed-in with John Lennon—like handwritten lyrics to Give Peace a Chance and a blackened knife they no doubt used to smoke hash—will steal the show, but it’s the more modern works that prove 87-year-old Ono is still a guiding force in her strawberry field. In the latest iteration of Water Event, an ongoing series that Andy Warhol once contributed to, she invites six local Indigenous artists to create “water sculptures”—they design a vessel, Ono provides the fluid. Until Sunday, Jan. 31. $10. contemporarycalgary.com.
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SNEEK-E-PEEP’N
Handmade quarantine creations through the looking glass Next time you’re out for a walk trying to beat COVID cabin fever, sneak a peek inside the window of the Esker Foundation in Inglewood to find the colourful ceramic sculptures of Kasia Sosnowski. Her playful pieces— like serpentine coils and a pair of dangling legs sweating neon-green tears—address a moment particular to the pandemic: strolling around the block for fresh air, sneaking sly look-sees into neighbouring windows, and experiencing a simultaneously tantalizing and anxiety-inducing instant of voyeuristic insight. To Sunday, Jan. 31. Free. eskerfoundation.com.
SIN-SATIONAL SANTA The cast of Calgary’s Forte Music Theatre seem destined for Santa’s naughty list with the latest edition of their holiday shows beloved for gently pushing the limits of seasonal “decency”. They’re
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seventh risqué revue, Naughty But Nice: Seven’s On Screen is an online offering recommended for audiences unlikely to be sending wish lists to the big man. This ticketed online event runs
Wednesday through Sunday at 8 pm with weekend matinées. At 2 pm. Streaming through Dec. 20. Tickets and info at: fortemusical.ca
INSTALLATION VIEW OF KASIA SOSNOWSKI’S EXHIBITION “SNEEK-E-PEEK’N” ON VIEW AT THE ESKER FOUNDATION, PROJECT SPACE FROM 17 AUGUST 2020 TO 31 JANUARY 2021. PHOTO BY: JOHN DEAN.
YYC DECEMBER
FUNNIES THE NEXT
TIME-WASTING PUZZLES, GAMES AND ACTIVITIES
COLOURING IS FUN!
THE WEEKEND PLAYS THE SUPER BOWL Last month, the Canadian R&B superstar landed the biggest gig in the world: performing for an estimated 100 million people at the 2021 Super Bowl halftime show on Feb. 7. Can he get through it without any wardrobe malfunctions or M.I.A. drama?
ILLUSTRATION: KATRIN EMERY
Colour him in and post a pic to Instagram with the hashtag #NEXTweeknd and you could win a limited-edition Weekend Vinyl Prize pack from Universal Music Canada.
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tribution partners r a complete list of dis
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FUNNIES DRAW POST MALONE NEW FACE TATS FOR 2021
ILLUSTRATION: KATRIN EMERY
THEY SAY, “NEW YEAR, NEW YOU.” WHAT BETTER TIME TO GIVE POSTY A NEW LOOK? HIS FACE IS A BLANK SLATE, SO GET OUT YOUR PENS! TAKE A PIC OF YOUR CREATION AND POST IT TO INSTAGRAM WITH THE HASHTAG #NEXTPOSTY AND YOU COULD WIN A LIMITED-EDITION POST MALONE VINYL PRIZE PACK FROM UNIVERSAL MUSIC CANADA. NEXT
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FUNNIES
HELP TAYLOR SWIFT GET HER GRAMMY
MAZE CRAZE
ILLUSTRATION: KATRIN EMERY
T SWIFT IS NOMINATED FOR SIX GRAMMYS IN 2021. BUT SHE KNOWS BETTER THAN ANYONE THAT WINNING AIN’T EASY—EVEN WHEN YOUR NAME’S IN THE ENVELOPE. CAN YOU HELP HER TAKE HOME THE TROPHY WITHOUT GETTING INTERCEPTED BY KANYE “IMMA LET YOU FINISH” WEST?
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THE STRIP
o r a r r Fe the adventures of
and the hunt For their holiday mojo
Mean while. . . at th e barber shop above th e leg endary cameron house in west end Toronto, our h eroes, th e pop-rock sibling trio ferraro, consider wh at a shitty holiday season it’s gonna be with a covid lockdown coming. can th ey to save th e holidays? m aybe th ey’ll g et a holiday miracle from a not-so-secret santa?
gonna need a lot more of this adult beverag e
Wh atch a boys doing for th e holidays?
Don’t know.
lockdown sucks!
Holy Dash er, Dancer and Downer, dudes! We can still g et all Frosty and blitz ened!
Does this h elp ?
Not exactly. I asked for a fade!
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! f o o p I’ll summon Fath er Cud-m as. He’ll know wh at to do.
You rang? Fath er Cud-m as is h ere to lift your covid-weary spirits
hope it’s not anoth er round of “blue rodeo was bigg er th an r ush” stories.
come with me downstairs my young ferrari’s. a cud-m as miracle awaits!
nice entrance ancient spirit. can you h elp us save th e holidays?
a beautif ul g uitar!
OMG!
as c u d-m fat h er h ro u g h ca m e t u s! fo r
p resents for everyone!
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and a bass!
Oh yeah! that dar lene love Holiday classic - Baby please come home.
hmmmm . . . th a gives me an idea
you g uys know this one?
I love th at song!
What are the chords again?
Wait! Wh ere’s Mich a el buble?
I didn’t want to be on B uble any way.
Told MoM I was Gonna be on B uble
No Selfie with th at g uy!
Lets hit it!
it’s a cud-m as miracle! Brass and backup sing ers too!
and a 1, and a 2-3. . .
and so it was, Fath er cud-m as was tr ue to his word and saved th e ferraro holiday jam . Th e ferraro’s and jimmy wish you and yours th e h ap piest of holidays. . . possibble. . . under th e cir cumstances. Stay sa fe!
Scan this code to watch th e Ferraro holiday jam - live from th e cameron house now!
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COVID CONUNDRUM Dear Amy: Right before Calgary imposed its new coronavirus restrictions, I started seeing this guy. He’s cute, clever and a ton of fun. Except now he’s started roping me into dinner parties with a dozen people, which feels totally irresponsible. I can see this relationship going somewhere, but I’m afraid he’ll dump me if I say anything or stop showing up. What should I do? Cornered By Calgary Cutie Dear Cornered The pandemic is such a difficult time to navigate. I feel for everyone trying to find love in the time of COVID! That being said, lockdown or not, what is most important from a partner is to know that their utmost concern is that you are comfortable and that there is a constant flow of consent. Even though it may be something as banal as a dinner party, if you are feeling at all distressed and your cute, clever guy isn’t making sure you are at ease and encouraging you to make healthy choices for yourself, that just doesn’t sit right. Don’t be afraid of what might happen if you are honest about feeling in danger, because if he 66 DECEMBER 2020 NEXT
ASK AMY
isn’t open to your cues, he might be a ton of fun, but he might also be a ton of trouble.
BANDMATE BUMMER
something during this terrible time for musicians? Then just do it without him. Generally, it’s always best to figure out, as a band, how you are going to make it through conflict, because there will be many more fights and arguments if you stay together. You may also want to change the narrative of “prima donna”—name calling never really worked in my history of being in bands.
WIRED BUT DISCONNECTED Dear Amy: No matter how many quarantinis I drink with my friends during virtual happy hour, all my online interactions these days feel stunted and shallow. Something about pre-scheduling all my hangouts and seeing everyone on a 13-inch screen hurts my soul and makes me feel even lonelier. What are some new, meaningful ways I can connect with people? Disconnected Connector
“My band, Stars, has always been a democracy, so generally things come down to a vote, and the person who votes the other way of the majority has to Dear Disconnected eat it. ” The screen can be the an-
Dear Amy: My band hasn’t played a single show this year, so I suggested doing a paid livestream to make a few bucks and remind our fans we exist. Our guitarist refuses to entertain the idea—he says it “degrades our art.” He’s a prima donna, clearly, but he can shred, so none of us wants to kick him out of the band. What do we do? Shredder Dreader Dear Dreader—There are a few options. My band, Stars, has always been a democracy, so generally things come down to a vote, and the person who votes the other way of the majority has to eat it. There have been moments when someone in the band is adamant about their opinion, vote or not, and then it comes down to a matter of respect and understanding of where the person is coming from. Could you do a pared down livestream without the “shredding” to make a buck and feel like you are doing
NEED ADVICE ON LOVE, SEX, RELATIONSHIPS, THE MUSIC BIZ OR HAVE A CONFESSION TO GET OFF YOUR CHEST?
ASK AMY MILLAN.
tithesis of connection. We’ve learned that more than ever these past few months. Why do we all talk so much louder on Zoom? We don’t have a lot of options, sadly, as we have to be patient and stay inside to keep our elderly safe and our hospitals unburdened. Make a plan to walk outside at a distance, sit in the park at a distance. Mask up and go to a friend’s porch with some hot shots and a heated blanket. It’s all we got. We will get through this.
FINDING A NEW NORMAL Dear Amy: What is a good way to create and stick to a routine or schedule? Scheduling a Schedule
Dear Scheduler I am certain you are not alone in feeling it’s hard to find a routine in this strange new reality. All semblance of a normal day has been taken away from us by the pandemic. Here we are, trying to completely reroute our lives. Off the top, a major roadblock to productivity is beating yourself up if you aren’t accomplishing what you think you should be. At the beginning of the pandemic, University of Toronto professor Aisha Ahmad wrote some fantastic essays about productivity pressure and the importance of being soft on ourselves during a global crisis. They’re a great resource. Another one of my favourite writers, Anne T. Donahue, talked about her own challenges with productivity by hilariously describing the moment as if we were all “treading water in a pool of potatoes.” Instead of trying to get in a daily routine, maybe you can make some goals: what do you want to accomplish this week, this month, this year even? I also find light meditation and taking time to just sit with myself gives me the motivation afterwards to get to it. I miss so much the routine of exercising with friends, writing in a coffee shop, having a monthly lunch with girlfriends to put life in a bit of perspective—but we will get there again. For now, do what you can each day and don’t forget to be kind to yourself. Empathy makes a lot of room, and in that space, you just might find your daily flow.
Amy Millan is a Canadian indie rock singer and guitarist. She records and performs with Stars and Broken Social Scene and has a successful solo career. Have a question for Amy? askamy@nextmag.ca
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