I find myself coming back to the Hip more the older I get.
And why wouldn't I? They're clear Canadian music royalty. And this song - from their 1993 album Fully Completely - is quintessentially Canadian - named for the line that separates the East from the prairies, running somewhere between Winnipeg and Regina, really close to the western shores of Lake Winnipeg.
Yep. I looked it up.
But it was more than that. It was a song about being at the edge - the brink - and pressing forward.
Written by the band, it was a top 20 hit in Canada and a top 40 hit at US rock radio - further cementing their legendary status.
I think my Canadian fans know and by now my worldwide fans know as well that lead vocalist Gord Downie passed away in 2017, and the 2016 tour was their farewell. Their last shows, in their hometown of Kingston, Ontario, were nationally televised and watched by 1/3 of the Canadian population.
Of course they played a spirited performance of this song. Note the faster tempo and extended jam break.
Also, we really miss Gord Downie and we're not afraid to say it.
Daniel Caesar is a great up-and-coming R&B singer who happens to be from Toronto.
And by "up-and-coming", I mean multiple Grammy-nominated and Grammy-and-Juno-winning, #1-hit-singing singer/songwriter.
He's a big deal, who has had some big collaborations with other hitmakers like Justin Bieber, Kali Uchis, and H.E.R.
This song - a non-album single that was the b-side to his mega hit "Get You" - ended up being his first charting hit, reaching high on the Adult R&B charts in the US and running up some pretty impressive streaming numbers.
So, when he first appeared on the NPR Tiny Desk in 2018, it makes sense that he'd lead off with this song.
Well, here we go. It's everyone's favorite Canadian cringecore queen, Sophie Powers.
What else do you want me to say here?
That she's releasing music slowly but virally and it seems to be working?
That she's got an alter ego for her goofy stuff (yeah, I'm pretty sure now) and her main stage name (because Powers is not her real last name) is getting more serious?
That this song is an early, old single, released in 2021, and it's really strong? And leans serious?
That she designs her own outfits?
That her mom is proud of her?
It's nice to see a mom so proud.
That she's clearly Canadian? And that I'm pretty sure this video was filmed in Toronto because the CN Tower makes an appearance?
OK, I guess we can say all that.
But can we say we have a strong live performance of the song?
Yep, we can.
OK, but a cringecore artist like this can't duplicate that, right?
Emmanuelle Querry's website says the following about her:
"Emmanuelle Querry est une autrice-compositrice-interprète émergente de la scène francophone, qui se distingue par une pop assumée et sensible, nourrie d’influences R&B et électroniques."
I don't know. I don't speak French.
I'm kidding. It calls her confident yet sensitive, and infused with electronic and R&B influences.
Her debut album, Au 10ᵉ étage, was released in early February, and I encourage you to give it a listen. It's really good.
Did I mention she was from Quebec? Yeah. She's big in the Montreal club scene.
It was important to me that I start this post like I have started no other in this blog's history - leading with the music.
In his life, Gord Downie, leader of the Tragically Hip, was a board member and vocal supporter of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper - which is now known as Swim Drink Fish after merging with other like-minded organizations - who are concerned with preserving the water and the culture of the lakes and waterways surrounding the Great Lakes and Lake Ontario specifically.
He was a great public speaker - which a lot of people did not know - and he once told a story at one of the LOW events, in April 2015 - about the drop off. Alex Lifeson heard this beautiful spoken word piece, and it stuck with him.... so when Rheostatics put together The Great Lakes Suite, they took Gord's beautiful words, and put them to music.
Gord Downie passed away in 2017, but his words from that Waterkeeper Gala are still with us. And below, they are without music.
Learn more about Swim Drink Fish at www.swimdrinkfish.ca - and donate in Gord's memory if you are able .
I did not have a new Rheostatics album on my 2025 bingo card.
I didn't have a GREAT Rheostatics album on it, at all.
You see, I wasn't really a big fan of Rheostatics before 2025.
And then they released The Great Lakes Suite, a concept album around the Great Lakes. And critics were kind to the album, such as this great one quoted below:
"I was not a Rheostatics person, which is exactly why it shocked me how hard The Great Lakes Suite landed: a sprawling, mostly improvised love letter to the lakes that turns geography into this wild, shifting soundscape. Alex Lifeson and Hugh Marsh are here, but the moment that really broke me is “The Drop Off,” built around a haunting spoken‑word recording from the late Gord Downie about Lake Ontario and water stewardship – it’s like having a ghost of Canadian music history standing in the middle of the suite, reminding you why this landscape matters.
This song, written by Kevin Hearn, closes the album, and it is a beautiful, sweeping piece about the Lakes and their status as an inland sea. Alex Lifeson of Rush joined the band on guitar.
Have they had a chance to perform the song live yet?
Of course they have, and Alex Lifeson joined them for that, too!
Honestly, I knew there was gonna be a Lights song come March. Probably today, but because things happened, I had to rearrange.
Because I WAS going to intentionally skip posting one day in February to make something happen.
And then I did not. Because I got sick of rearranging things.
And then more things happened and I just moved this back. Because it was just easier.
On January 28th, she very much told me (and all Lights fans) exactly what song that was gonna be.
You see, that's the day she released the song "COME GET YOUR GIRL" and its accompanying video, two days before she released A6EXTENDED, the deluxe edition of her fantastic 2025 album A6, about which one critic said:
More than a decade after Siberia and Little Machines, A6 is the first Lights record that really feels like it belongs beside them - not as a sequel, but as their evolved equal. It’s a neon‑soaked grief diary that shows she is still the blueprint for the new wave of alt-pop, folding the heavier, LŪN‑era electronics into synth‑pop songs about damage, numbness and clawing your way back to yourself. she manages to make the "glitch-pop" trend feel grounded and visceral rather than just aesthetic, hitting with the urgency of someone rebuilding in real time. - Literally me.
Yeah, I put A6 #7 on my 2025 list.
This video is why I put it there. If you are a Lights fan and you recognize the scenes from the "Second Go", "Toes", "Running With The Boys", "Giants", or "Prodigal Daughter" videos (guess we have our next two Lights posts written), you have a sharp eye. The scenes from those videos are recreated pretty meticulously (no idea if the scenes were redone or if these are digitally enhanced versions of the originals but I'm leaning towards the former) (Edit: I know now that they were, indeed, redone), but she's clearly singing the song, today, modern-day. It's definitely 2026 Lights, not 2011 Lights with her lips changed.
The song (after which her 2026 tour is named) is also great, but dang, the video is distractingly good.
Today is NOT the 2000th post on Wicked Guilty Pleasures. It was supposed to be, but stuff happens. #1000 was mentioned above. THAT, I did not plan.
Yeah, it was supposed to be 2000. Oh well.
But because we did some rearranging, we get to heard this song, live, from February 26th!!!!!
