I listened to this album - Graceland Way - on the day it came out - last Friday, April 24th - without knowing a single thing about Mikaela Davis. The cover did tell me something about the album, though.
Can we guess the genre?
What I did NOT guess was that Davis was a classically trained harpist, which is really cool. And she actually plays it - on the album and on stage.
What I did NOT guess is that Davis's record label is Kill Rock Stars, famous home to the riot grrl revolution of the 1990s.
What I REALLY did NOT guess is that Davis is performing at the Lilac Festival in Rochester, NY on May 13th - a Wednesday night, so I likely won't be there, but that does not mean I'm not going to try - because, and this is the kicker, she's actually FROM Rochester, NY.
Without knowing ANY of that, I listened to what is an excellent album. This is the second single from that album - featuring Tim Heidecker (of the comedy duo Tim & Eric) and Grammy winning artist Madison Cunningham - and it is a sweet, bright, throwback of a country song... complete with harp.
To be fair, he DID write it, and he DID record it first - in 1978. It's HIS song.
And, after Johnny Paycheck made it a monster hit and everyone assumed he wrote the song - and Johnny Paycheck HIMSELF implied this was true and definitely downplayed the actual songwriter - David Allan Coe wrote a sequel.
I'm not saying this was the reason, but Johnny Paycheck would never have another #1 hit song.
It feels a little weird to pay tribute to a great outlaw country singer-songwriter like David Allan Coe - whose biggest hit wasn't made popular by his own recording of the song. ("Take This Job And Shove It", by Johnny Paycheck, by the way).
But no. This perfect country and western song - co-written by Steve Goodman and an uncredited-by-choice John Prine, would end up being Coe's biggest personally recorded hit song. It hit #8 on the Country charts in 1975, and ended up being one of the biggest hits of the year.
This live performance of the song - despite the fact that he didn't write it - illustrates just how great a storyteller Coe was.
David Allan Coe passed away yesterday. His voice and his songwriting will be missed.
OK, I'm clearly posting this because it's gonna be May. But also, it's a fun song. It was also the ONLY #1 song by *NSYNC - and they charted a LOT. This was their biggest hit, and it still endures every late April to this day.
Wikipedia calls Australian artist Carla dal Forno an "electro-pop singer".
Yeah. Maybe.
But she's much more than that.
Her latest album, Confession, was released on Friday, and it is one of my favorites of 2026 so far. It's dreamy and skilled. Her fourth solo album (after three as lead vocalist for the band F Ingers (and a release or two with Mole House)), it is a lush masterpiece.
Today's song leads off the album, and it is an ethereal opus that sets the tone for the entire album.
Sometimes this blog feels like ad copy. I'm sometimes parroting facts from the artist's Wikipedia page... or worse, their official bio, rather than telling you how it makes me feel. And, with all the new music I hear, I sometimes get apathetic about it. I'm going to try not to do that this week.
I heard Eaves Wilder's debut album Little Miss Sunshine last week, and it was part of a streak of albums I had listened to after a long streak of albums that were just meh. This album is delightful. The title came from an ironic nickname given to the artist - she admits herself that she was "a bitch". The album itself is full of songs that are nature-themed in title - referencing types of weather and land - kind of going through her own imposter syndrome like a meteorologist.
The results should erase any self-doubt she has.
This performance, released last week, shows that Wilder can play a guitar just like she's ringin' a bell. And she's still really young. In her early 20s, she's already showing performance and songwriting maturity beyond her years.
Look, I have a very hard time listening to Chris Brown since his incident with RiRi.
I came around on this song - which was produced by Diplo and Afrojack - for two reasons.
The first were the guest stars on this track, who STOLE the track. STOLE. Busta Rhymes and his speedrap is the thing of legend. Lil Wayne proves to be his equal. And their participation made this song a huge hit - one of the biggest of 2011, on top of the fact that it was just a huge hit in its own right.
Busta Rhymes has performed the song with Chris Brown - live - and he's just as great with the speedrap live as he was in the studio.
To be fair, Justin Bieber doing the Busta Rhymes part is somehow just as impressive.
He also does the Chris Brown part, though.
But really, you came here for reason 2:
A couple of months after this single was released, a couple of Berkeley School of Music students named Amy and Nick - who happen to have been in a band called Karmin at the time - recorded a version of this song - with Amy singing ALL THREE PARTS.
It's epic. And they thought they had butchered it.
Honestly, I spent the last two days referencing this song and this video, I feel we need to talk about it.
I think we all know that the two members of Videoclub were a couple, both musically and romantically. This was their first single, one of their best known songs, and while it spoke of what seems like love, it's really talking about a superficial love, with little depth.
I'd like to think Adèle and Matthieu had more than just this, but that's the song.
Fast forward to 2021, a couple of months before Matthieu would leave Videoclub, and this very sad acoustic version of the song.
Neither of them is happy.
Four years later, when Adèle performed the song at a festival in France, she's back to being happy.
For those who don't, this is absolutely a song about her relationship with Mattyeux, and one he felt the need to respond to. But it's a sad song - and it revisits a lot of the scenes from "Amour Plastique" in a slightly different frame, much like Mattyeux did in his video.
But I'll be damned if he doesn't write a hell of a song,
I'd feel a lot better about it if the video wasn't a direct ripoff of Videoclub's "Amour Plastique" and a lyrical response to "C'est drôle" by Adèle Castillon, his ex-lover and ex-bandmate.
Let's throw it back to brat summer as we celebrate the warming days of this spring!
It blows my mind (and probably Charli's nostrils) that she does this song live, but she does - and it was a highlight of her Coachella set last year.
As part of the reimagined album brat and it's completely different but also still brat, Charli does a version of this song with Shygirl. Shygirl appeared on stage with Charli to do their version together in Detroit. Stick around to hear her go seamlessly from "365" to "360" (and then to "Von Dutch").
Lime Garden are an all-girl indie pop-rock band from Brighton, in the United Kingdom. Their second album, Maybe Not Tonight, was released last week, with this single, which the band calls their favorite single they've ever recorded, being released earlier this year.
By the way, Maybe Not Tonight is an early contender to top my #Wicked25 this year. Easily one of my favorite albums of the year so far.
But back to this song. It SHOULD be a huge hit by now. It's different - and has an interesting and unique bassline. On top of the album being great, this is one of my favorite singles of the year.
Now listen!
Just because they released the song in 2026 doesn't mean they didn't perform it in 2025.... and it sounds a lot like what you heard on record. Also, this band is TIGHT!
A number one POP hit - the second for each artist - and a MONSTER country hit, it dominated the charts in 1983. It is considered to be the greatest country duet of all time - and I think that's a pretty solid pick.
The song is written in C major for Rogers but switches to A-flat major in the parts where Parton takes lead.
Of course, they performed the song together whenever they could, but the last time they did was on October 25, 2017. Rogers was retiring (Dolly still isn't) and would pass away in 2020. It's rare to have a firm last concert in advance, and he was lucky to do it.
Some called the performance painful. I say it's a classic.
You know, when Midnight Sun, Zara Larsson's fine album from 2025, was released, I listened to it soon after its initial release - early October. I liked the album quite a bit. I stopped short of calling it "great" but I enjoyed it, and said I'd come back to it.
And then I moved on. And I got a bit sick of hearing "Midnight Sun".
But "Stateside" gave me a good reason to give Zara Larsson a second chance. And it's a good thing. Her second biggest hit was a single from 2015 that peaked very high in Europe, including spending time at #1 in her native Sweden, and in the 70s... uh, stateside. And, she released this video in her native Sweden and Europe.
She made a total of three videos for this song in 2015, including this one for the United States.
And because it was a big hit song, she kept performing it live, like she did here for Swedish television.
And she kept performing it..... like this performance at Lollapalooza in Chicago in 2017.
Important to note that she really won the crowd over with her performance
And she kept performing it.... like this performance at Lollapalooza in Brazil in 2018.
It had been a huge selling single in Brazil already, so no surprise that the crowd loved it.
And she kept performing it.... like this performance in the UK in 2023.
It had already been a #3 single back in the 2015-2016 timeframe, and among her biggest hits there, by the way.
And she kept performing it on the Midnight Sun tour in 2025.... and then she played a show in Amsterdam.
On this tour, it had become tradition to bring a fan onstage to dance the somewhat TikTok popular dance at her shows. On this night, she chose a 16-year-old girl named Julia Coster.
Let's just say that Julia knew the dance.
Julia understood the assignment.
That viral moment got a LOT of attention, including US television coverage, and it gave the song a second win worldwide, including a rise to #36 #35 on the US charts - and still rising!!!!
And now, these fan interactions have become Zara's signature.
Today, I'm working mostly backwards, and we're starting with the Winter Olympics - specifically the skating exhibition done by two-time gold medalist Alysa Liu.
This sparked interest in a song that was already rising - and that is the version of "Stateside" from PinkPantheress's reimagine set Fancy Some More, the followup to her fantastic Fancy That. On Fancy Some More, many of these songs from the original mixtape were reimagined as duets - and all of them more than once (most of them more than twice).
Partly due to Ms. Liu, and partly because it's an absolute banger, the duet version of this song with Zara Larsson (one of four by my count) has floated to the top. It is currently a top 10 hit in the United States and worldwide. It's almost as if two up and coming pop stars in their own rights are elevating each other.
Also, remember that both of these artists are European. Being stateside to them means something different than it would, say, to an American. It's very much more tourism.
But it DID start off as a PinkPantheress song originally.... it's a lot less pop and a lot more harshly electronic, but it works and works well.
Compare that to this demo version, which is slightly more Charli XCX-inspired. The Autotune is way way turned off in this version.... and she ended up dialing it back for the released versions.
By the way, Zara Larsson wasn't the only one our friendly neighborhood PinkPantheress decided to team up with on this song. This version, for example, features Kylie Minogue. It's got a very different feel, for sure.... but it's still poppy.
Her collaboration on the song with Swedish hip-hop artist Bladee is a bit more... industrial. Same song, but also, a different song.
I'm including the version she did with Groove Armada, but this very overtuned and electronic version is probably my least favorite of all of them.
But now bringing it back to Zara Larsson - who happens to also be touring at the same time as PinkPantheress.... it's become a live staple for her just as much, though, and she finds a way to do it while still being respectful to the songwriter and original solo performer.
But, really, little ever beats the original, as we see from this PinkPantheress live performance in Tokyo earlier this year (and yes, we saw her Coachella set and it was spectacular)... but you can see that Zara Larsson's shared success with her has changed the performance of this song forever.
Compare it to an earlier performance of the song, which is remixed differently and more like the original.
Also, stick around for the whole performance because it's incredible.
There is no official video for the 5th single off Choke Enough, but this is the first YouTube result.
But let's add a layer here. Oklou is clearly still playing the sweet acoustic guitar and still singing the sweet and heartbreaking lyrics that I suspect about the pains of parenthood and having to eventually let your child out of the nest - but it's a much more upbeat sounding song when additional layers of music are added.
It sounds more rich with a full band is what I am saying.
What happens when the gag goes so far that it's no longer a gag?
You get two very technical musicians who now have to wear elaborate costumes every time they perform.
So let's talk about Angine de Poitrine.
They're a duo who are aliens from another planet, 333 years old - Khn and Klek Poitrine - who have known each other since they were 13. But really, it was a band - La Poëysce - who were booked for the same venue two nights in Saguenay, Quebec two nights in a row and created an alter ego so people would show up the second night.
But forget about the costume schtick for a second. This is math rock - and take a good look at Khn's instrument. First of all, it's a double-necked instrument, with a guitar and a bass (based on a Fender Stratocaster, for those so inclined) with separate outputs and.... well, about four times as many frets as standard instruments. He's playing notes between the standard twelve notes.
The sound is made possible by looping pedals at the bareish feet of Khn and Klek - this is how they can have multiple instruments playing at once. It's a complex sound and very technically interesting.... but also, it's a solid sound.
This performance was recorded by KEXP in France a couple of months ago, and has quickly become one of the channel's most viewed... and with good reason. This was their opening song, and it is from their new and EXCELLENT album Vol. II, so go check that out.
Several years ago - November 12, 2012, to be precise - I set up a Google alert for an artist that is considered to be the most prolific in history. Asha Bhosle performed more than 12,000 songs behind the scenes for many Bollywood movies. If you have seen a Bollywood movie, you'd recognize her voice. She's also one of the few Indian artists to receive a Grammy nomination - and she received two of them.
Her legacy is absolutely monstrous. To this day there is no greater influence to the playback genre.
I was more hopeful with each passing day that she had discovered immortality.
The immortal Asha Bhosle
Asha Bhosle passed away today, aged 92.
From the Bollywood movie Hare Rama Hare Krishna, this is Asha's immortal voice in playback, and probably her most well known song.
On the occasion of her 80th birthday in 2013, Asha came out front and center, with her granddaughter, and performing this song with the Metropole Orchestra in The Hague.
Even 40 years after the original, she sounded magnificent.
Asha leaves behind a large family, and she will be sorely missed.
Slayyyter's new album WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA was released in late March, and it's a grimy electronic masterpiece. This album is a clear contender for our #Wicked25 this year.
Today's song - co-written by Slayyyter and her producers - is called by her "the best song I've ever written." It makes sense. It's dark and inventive.... and also, she's literally shooting a Chanel handbag in this video.
Afrika Bambaataa was a complicated man with a complicated history - and not always a good one. Several CREDIBLE child sexual abuse allegations were definitely part of his history, and that's horrendous. Because of that, I almost didn't post this one.
What is undeniable is that he was one of the people who started hip-hop house parties in the 1970s. So, with his passing, a pioneering and very dark portion of hip-hop history closes. This 1982 single was his only appearance on the Billboard Hot 100, and the song is seen as one of the most influential hip hop songs of all time.
Normally, I would say that the artist who passed would be missed, but in this case, I won't be saying that. I will say that he leaves behind some influential music. That's all I am going to say.
I made a promise - a guarantee - that all the artists who had not been posted about on #WickedGP that were part of the Wicked 25 would get a post if they had not.
It took me until April, but here's the last one. Tyler Childers's album Snipe Hunter was a masterpiece of country music. Here's what one critic had to say about it:
"Snipe Hunter is Tyler Childers going all‑in on weird spiritual country: talking to gods, playing with garage rock and Phil Spector (and Rick Rubin) sounds, and still somehow landing back in the holler. It’s messy and brave in a way major‑label country almost never is. This is the album I absolutely expected to dislike and almost didn't listen to - and yet, here we are, talking about it, because it is that undeniably good." - Literally me.
And it is that good. This song - which is about an older woman and not a Finger Lake (and when you hear the song, New Yorkers, you are going to be screaming that he's pronouncing "Oneida" wrong) - is a beautiful masterpiece that is a lot of the reason the album made my list.
I wish all country music sounded like this. The whole album is sincerely incredibly good, and I stand by its placement on my list, even as I am actively rethinking other entries.
It's an official LIVE video, but trust me. This is what it sounds like on the record.
He doesn't need a full band to show you how personal and heartfelt this song really is, as he has done live.
I don't take many trips back to the 1980s, but in this caex of Fairport Convention) and Linda Thompson - a husband-and-wife duo - had been married for nine years and had released five albums of varying acclaim and success. They had been dropped by Gerry Rafferty, who had financed recordings that generated no interest. Their marriage was struggling - and Linda was pregnant.
So when Joe Boyd signed them to his Hannibal Records, he was taking a serious risk. What he got was a masterpiece of an album that ended up being a pretty big hit, 1982's Shoot Out The Lights. It would be the duo's final album (and their marriage would be over by the time of the album's releasae), but it would reestablish Richard as a songwriting force.
The title song is a masterclass in guitar-driven emotional rock music.
Just because the marriage broke up does not mean Richard did not perform his songs.
By the way, Richard and Linda are both still with us, and Richard even sometimes still performs, as he did in 2014 in this clip.
So, we talk a lot on here about a lot of those big music prizes. From the Mercury Prize, for the UK, to Polaris for Canada, to the Australian Music Prize, there a lot of them.
One I have not talked about much is the Premio Ruido, or the "Noise Prize", given to Spanish artists. shego - named after a character from the TV show Kim Possible, of all places, is a band that is a of women from Madrid who were on the shortlist for the 2025 version of that prize.
Raye co-wrote this song with long-time collaborator Mike Sabath, and released as the first single of her 2nd album, This Music May Contain Hope, which has been universally praised and I need to go listen to.
No, she isn't married.
And no, she's not wearing shoes, either. This is something Raye often does live.
The song is currently a top 20 song in the US, and shows no signs of slowing - and is an even bigger hit worldwide.
I wasn't kidding about the barefoot thing. Her performance at Glastonbury last year was similarly sans shoes.
And when she appeared on Jennifer Hudson's show, she was similarly barefoot.
We're not exactly running out of ideas, not by a long shot.
But this song got turfed to Totally Covered..... because it IS a cover, of a song by Ani DiFranco. And yes, those two posts were published on the same day (except I just updated the Ani post).
And it shouldn't have been, because Alana Davis turned the song into something Ani DiFranco did not. And Elektra Records pushed Davis into recording the song.... and to making lyrical changes - something that made both Davis and DiFranco initially uncomfortable, although both came to terms with it. Record companies, right?
But anyway, this song isn't exactly a cover anymore. This version has a chorus - uncredited to but written by Davis. It is its own thing... and that's why it's getting its due here.
Davis is a fantastic performer - STILL - but I chose her Conan performance from 1998 because it showcases her voice so perfectly.
Had I known Angèle had new music coming in March, I wouldn't have posted her in February.
I literally could not wait any additional time to post her newest single today. It's in English and French, and it is just a GREAT pop song. Teaming up with electronic duo Justice, they have made possible the most accessible and obvious hit song for both of them - and since it was written by Angèle herself (with composition contribution by Justice), it's clear she's well in tune with what makes a hit.
The video was shot on iPhone. No joke. And it's completely unhinged.
Indeed, she is Chinese - raised in Hunan province - and got her big break on Korean and Chinese reality TV shows.
She released her new EP Teenage Ramble in 2025, and this song as its lead single. It's superficial, poppy... and an awful lot of fun. Co-written by the artist and producer Yu Zeng, the song is definitely CONSTRUCTED, but also PERFORMED and performed and constructed WELL by Liu.
She's young, yes, but also, she has a hell of a stage presence, as can be seen in this 2024 performance of the song. Even before this song was released as a single, she had the crowd LOVING it.
This is probably the weirdest song I've ever posted.
"But it doesn't sound weird".... well, actually, the entire concept of the album was strange. You see, Ariane Roy, Thierry Larose and Lou-Adriane Cassidy are all popular musicians in the francophone music scene in Quebec. They are also tremendous friends and have regularly appeared on each other's albums.
In 2024, the three of them did a few shows together where they were all the headliners - Le (Ariane) Roy, (Thierry) la Rose, and Lou[p](-Adriane Cassidy) (this structure was a throwback to similar groups like this from the 1970s).... and then they released a live album - called Le Roy, la Rose et le Lou[p] - where each of them had 1/3 of the songs, and then they all got together and performed a theme song with all of them together.... the title song named after the three performers, written by the performers and Alexandre Martel (songwriting and romantic partner of le Lou[p] (and songwriting partner of la Rose, to be fair)).
But when I tell you that Fionn is by far my most listened to artist so far in 2026, this cover of the Fastball classic is a big reason for this.
OK, sure, it's really Felix Cartal's song - he's providing the music while the Finn-Morris twins are giving you the great harmonies - but c'mon. He's not why you're here.
This video was filmed in five hours in Mission, British Columbia. And yes, they did turn a motor vehicle into a ball pit.
I have traditionally saved the last day of March for the last few years for a newer artist I have recently discovered that has been on heavy rotation for me.
For this last day of March, I'm going to talk about a band I only just discovered a few months ago.
In fact, I first heard them and their latest album, scum., on December 10th of last year. It was so good, I rated it my 16th favorite album of 2025. Let's read what some critic said about them:
"Fionn’s scum. is pure femme‑rage pop‑rock, a tight, snarling little record where every chorus feels like finally saying the thing you swallowed at work, at the bar, on stage. Songs like “Blow” and the title track turn mansplaining, bad exes and low‑level everyday misogyny into sugar‑rush guitar anthems, all Veruca Salt/Elastica‑coded hooks and twin‑sister harmonies that made this one of my go‑to “I'm pissed, but I need to be pissed safely” albums of 2025." - literally me.
Since then, I've had a chance to live with Fionn's catalog and music. Not only would I rate scum. higher now than I did in December - and spoiler alert, I'm going to revisit that list - it's likely a top 10 album and woefully underappreciated. They are my most listened to artist so far in 2025 - and I have branched out further than their latest album.
Today's song is the title song from their 2023 set that featured the same femme-rage pop rock and same twin sister harmonies - and may have been been a little angrier.
I kind of like the Vancouver-based harmonies even more live. And, here, you can tell that - although they do have a drummer - the signature sound is all Alanna and Brianne Finn-Morris's work.
Yes, the band's name is a play on their last name.
I think this video probably shows best why Fionn's music resonates with me.
I was looking through my drafts after hearing last night's tribute to her on the JUNOS as she received the Lifetime Achievement Award... and it was given to her by the literal Prime Minister, Mark Carney. I've never been a huge Joni Mitchell fan - but she was a fantastic songwriter and performer.
Sarah McLachlan and Alison Russell did a brilliant job performing this song in tribute... and then Joni walked out on stage and tried to perform as well... but her mic wasn't working for some reason. I feel like someone else up there could have given her a working microphone... but anyway. Because she got cut off from singing more, I wanted to make sure *I* paid tribute to her here.
This performance is from 1970 and the Isle of Wight festival.
Now, what is maybe not so well-remembered is that she also won a lot of Grammy Awards... and her last win came in 2024, with her live album from the Newport Festival. She performed this song live in the ceremony that year, and it was very different sounding.... not just her voice, which was huskier, sure, but also a woman who had lived a life and a GREAT one at that.
A year ago, I had no idea who Lou-Adriane Cassidy was.
Well, I will admit that I have a draft from 2024 of one of her songs for this blog. I literally didn't realize that until I was writing this post.
Three months ago, I declared her FIRST 2025 album, Journal d'un Loup-Garou, my favorite album of 2025. I would reconsider a number of my 2025 list choices. THAT is not one of them. CLEAR best album of 2025. If that album had not won the Francophone album of the year at the JUNOS this weekend (which, of course it did), I would have been shocked!
One of the choices I would reconsider is on my honourable mentions list - and it is Triste Animal, Lou-Adriane Cassidy's SECOND 2025 album. Whereas the former tells a huge, sweeping story, the latter is more intimate - a quieter, different-sounding album. Both albums deserved top 10 spots, and I really hope Triste Animal is a Polaris consideration this year.
So, what better way to show you a frustrated waltz than a huge crowd?
I think it's telling that there aren't really videos for the songs on Triste Animal. There's just her, her huge voice, and the strong emotion from the songs she wrote with Alexandre Martel.
YES, that is Thierry Larose on guitar. Let's just dispense with that right now.
But if you REALLY want to hear the studio version, here ya go. It's still pretty great!
Lou-Adriane Cassidy and Thierry Larose will return.
I know we talk about the Polaris Music Prize an awful lot here.
However, the shortlist for that prize has a long history of excellent music.
The OBGM's (Oooh Baby Gimme More) 3rd album, Sorry It's Over, was shortlisted for the Polaris Prize last year, and is nominated for a JUNO award this weekend. The album is an angry and noisy sonic masterpiece, and you should check it out.
The band got a big break from an audition for a Budweiser ad, when the black Canadian-fronted band went from being booked for "urban" gigs to punk festivals.
I mentioned that they were black Canadian-fronted. In the video above, you saw Densil McFarlane.
In this live video, you can see that they're a Canadian punk band and no other adjective matters.
cootie catcher are a band from Sheboygan, Wisconsin.
I'm kidding. They're from Toronto.
For those unfamiliar with Canada, three guesses as to what province Toronto is in. For those familiar with Canada, THEY LITERALLY WROTE A SONG ABOUT THEIR HOME PROVINCE.
I mean, they didn't write a POSITIVE song about their home province, but they DID write it.
From their 2023 EP 5678, this is a great representation of the lo-fi pop music cootie catcher has been making for years.
Did you realize that we've never posted Nelly Furtado during March?
We didn't.
Which is a shame, because on Sunday, Nelly Furtado - who announced her retirement from live performances that she better be breaking tonight - is inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. And, really, we should have given her more due before today.
So, we chose this song, co-written by Furtado, Jim Beanz, and producers Timbaland (who appears on a different Nelly Furtado song that was an even bigger hit than this one, and who also provides background vocals to this) and Danja (who ALSO contributes background vocals), that is Nelly's 2nd biggest hit in Canada (to date, I presume), making it to #2 in 2006.
Of COURSE she went on Letterman and performed the hell out of the song.
This is the last regular post I'm writing for this year's Maple Leaf March. I think. I may write more stuff. We'll see.
Triples is the Toronto-based musical project of Eva Link - singer, songwriter, guitarist and actor. It wasn't always that way - it started off as a joint venture between Eva and her sister, Madeline. This song, from their 2019 album Big Time, is from the days it was a duo - and you can see they both appear and sing here.
I lied. THIS is the last regular post I'm writing for this year's Maple Leaf March. I think. I may write more stuff. We'll see.
PACKS is the Toronto-based musical project of Madeline Link - singer, songwriter, guitarist and onetime actor. It wasn't always that way - she started off with a joint venture with her sister, Eva, called Triples - but Madeline left when PACKS became too much of a demand.
There's no acrimony between the sisters, by the way. They're still very close.
PACKS's 2024 album Melt The Honey gives the same Liz Phair/Juliana Hatfield vibes, and it is really good. This is the title song from that set.
Unlike Triples, we have some live material we can share from PACKS.... like this show from 2023, prior to the album release. You can see that Madeline is an excellent, if not a little shy, frontwoman... and that the rich sounds from Packs is not just one person, but a whole band.
This is the last regular post I'm writing for this year's Maple Leaf March. I think. I may write more stuff. We'll see.
Triples is the Toronto-based musical project of Eva Link - singer, songwriter, guitarist and actor. It wasn't always that way - it started off as a joint venture between Eva and her sister, Madeline - but Madeline left when the success of her project, PACKS, became too much of a demand.... so it became Eva's project.
It's pretty good, too - her 2026 EP Every Good Story gives solid Liz Phair/Juliana Hatfield vibes. "Be Around" closes the set, and it is a love song that was inspired by Eva's relationship with her boyfriend and the honeymoon period she experienced at the beginning of it.
By the way, Inuktitut was a great album, but it wasn't the first time Elisapie had sung in that language.
This song was the lead song and single from her 2018 album The Ballad of the Runaway Girl, a multilingual masterpiece, with songs in Inuktitut, English and French - years before RosalÃa showed off being a polyglot.
The album got Elisapie a Juno nomination and her first Polaris shortlist. The song - the title translates to "Woman" in English and speaks to the strength of women - is absolutely masterpiece level work.
I debated which of the many excellent live performances of this song to share with you.
I chose this one, from CBC Music, which shows 1) it's a clearly guitar-driven song and 2) the song has a slow burn and slow build to an epic conclusion.
But also, I couldn't not share this performance from Seattle, WA, UNITED STATES radio station KEXP - from 2024, when she was touring in support of Inuktitut. This 2018 song was epic and iconic enough to make the cut for the short setlist.
Just because she released an album called Inuktitut does not mean that she doesn't speak English.
Or write her own songs.
Indeed, this song is both original and in English. Her 2012 album Travelling Love was completely in English. Of course, as a Quebec artist who also happens to identify as First Nations, she's at least trilingual, and a lot of her earlier music was in English.
Fun story - she received a 2012 Juno Award nomination timed with this album, in the Breakthrough Artist category...... but she had previously won a Juno in 2005, so the nomination was rescinded.
This song, co-written by the artist, is one of my favorites from her early career. It's just a sweet pop song. It is here for you to enjoy.
Do I understand every cultural reference in every song I post? Nope. Especially I don't understand some from Quebec.
Do you know who does? Quebecois indie singer-songwriter Thierry Larose.
And I feel like I am missing a cultural reference here. Maybe one of you can tell me what it is.
At any rate, this was the title song from Larose's debut album, cowritten by the artist and a large team, including Charles-Antoine Olivier (who also plays drums on this song) and Alexandre Martel (no joke, he's banging the congas and tambourine here), with whom he won the 2021 SOCAN Songwriting Prize - for a different song, but just to show you that he's got a solid team with strong chops surrounding him.
I don't care that this song is in French. I care that it's a great song that would sound in place on any indie radio station.
We talk a lot about the Polaris Music Prize on here. Mostly because it does honour really great Canadian music. Hell, I could do a Polaris month at this point.
Until last year, it honored albums only. Last year, they partnered with SOCAN and gave out a song award as well. This was the winner, and given what was going on in the world last year that I hope as of the time this blog post is published (I'm literally writing it the day after the win) is resolved because it's awful, it makes an awful lot of sense.
This song was a big single from Mustafa (the Poet)'s album DUNYA, which was also shortlisted for last year's album prize. It was good, and heartfelt, and a very pretty album, and this is a beautiful, emotional song.
This is a single from DAPHNI, which is a project by Canadian electronic musician Dan Snaith. On this single, he collaborated with CARIBOU, which is a project by Canadian electronic musician Dan Snaith.
Yep. He collaborated with himself.
Which, well, is kind of fun.
DAPHNI's new album Butterfly was released last month, and, well, it's a bright, happy electronic sound (unlike CARIBOU, which is darker). I enjoyed it, and I hope you do, too!
Last year, Polaris Prize-winning artist Debby Friday released yet another great electronic album, The Starrr of The Queen of Life.
Debby isn't necessarily a typical Canadian artist - she's signed to Seattle record label Sub Pop, she was born in Nigeria - but the Montreal-raised and Vancouver-based artist is certainly the embodiment of everything that is great about Canadian music and why I dedicate approximately 1/12 of the year and a solid 10-15% of the posts on this blog to Canadian music - because it's innovative and fun and exciting and unlike anything you hear anywhere else on earth.
Also, Canadian artists tend to put on a hell of a show no matter the genre, and you can see that Debby has the way-too-small early day crowd in the palm of her hand.... and brings ALL the energy to this very cool song.
This song is the first one she wrote and performed, while she was undergoing cancer treatment. It also appears on her 2017 debut album Landing.
The thing about this song is, it's one that requires the artist and a piano..... and it's much easier to see just how personal this song is to her in a live setting, especially an intimate one.
Part of me really feels terrible pulling out more francophone content when most of my audience is English-speaking.
Part of me knows that 2 of my top three posts of all time are by artists from Quebec (yes, doing anglophone songs, but stay with me). Francophone content does very well here.
And, since Beyries's latest album Reprises made my Wicked 25, and remains one of the few artists I have not otherwise discussed, let's talk about her.
This song, with music written by the artist, is from her 2024 album Du feu dans les lilas, which is an excellent francophone set from an artist who seamlessly glides back and forth between English and French. It's absolutely beautiful - so I hope you enjoy it.
You thought you were getting away with no Carly Rae Jepsen this March?
Nope.
But we went OLD. We went to her debut album, from the pre-"Call Me Maybe" times. This was the title song and main single off that album - written by Jepsen and her producer, Ryan Stewart. It was her first Canadian hit - and second single overall - peaking at #36 on the Canadian Top 100 and doing better on adult contemporary radio.
This album and single were released in 2008, a year after her third place Canadian Idol finish. Bonus points if you can name the top 2.
It's a song about her begging a guy to stay in with her tonight.
I love these "before they were really famous" performances, because you can see her excitement, even back then.
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?
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!
