Sitting in a soon-to-be packed Massey Hall on a cold and windy winter’s night, Canadian artist Billianne talked with Karma! about her music journey over this past year. From Milton, Ontario, Canada, Billianne broke through in October 2021 for her cover of Tina Turner’s “Simply The Best” inspired Noah Reid’s rendition on Schitt’s Creek. Billianne released her debut EP ‘The Things We Talk About’ last year and has released her singles ‘Daydream’ and ‘Crush’ to feature on an upcoming debut album. She has also performed at Osheaga Music Festival, opened for Jan Arden at the Canadian National Exhibition, and has performed on the Today Show. I met with Billi before she opened for Donovan Woods to learn more about her journey so far.
Julia: As we’re sitting here chilling, how does it feel to play Massey Hall? This is your fourth time!
Billi: This is the real time playing where my name is more of a thing. I’m opening for Donovan Woods and Charlotte Cornfield, which I’m the first three of the night. Yeah, there’s no venue really like this for me. I think part of it is that it’s in Toronto and is so close to home so it feels extra cool. Massey is so iconic to me. Over the times I’ve played here, it’s become more and more special. It’s a special place.
J: Yeah, it is. There’s just something in the air when you’re here. And it’s beautiful too; I’m looking at all the arches. It’s just a nice view.
J: You’ve played a lot of interesting shows and festivals this year and it’s been a big one for you. What been your most unexpected by exciting moment for you?
B: Oh, I feel like there’s definitely a few. I think one of the most exciting parts of this year was actually touring. I went on tour with Hollow Coves; I opened for them and was able to join them on their tour bus. And so, for the first time in my life, I’m joining a tour like that. It’s like a month long, and I’m on a tour bus, and I’m also seeing America, the United States, for the first time. Before that, I only really saw New York and I saw LA briefly. I think that was a significant part of the year for me. And then I opened for them in Europe for the first time and I was touring. So yeah, the fact of going to all these places for the first time, and the reason that I’m there is for music is the coolest part of the year. Just getting to do what you want but doing something you enjoy and having it allow you to travel and see all these new places and meet people is so cool.
J: That’s really awesome! And you’ve been doing gigs in and around Canada and abroad for a while; what’s changed in terms of pre-show rituals or something that you’ve now started doing before shows.
B: Well, over the course of this, we realized that sound check can be kind of stressful. I think sometimes, when you’re a female musician, it’s like there’s that other level [where] you kind of have to break through that a little bit with sound people because they don’t know you; they’re just doing their job. And so, after [sound checks] we started doing our little sound check hugs, so that’s a new thing that we [now] do all the time. It connects us again which is nice. Because, you know, you’re giving notes about your monitor or whatever and it all feels very technical and sometimes uncertain and scary and so that’s nice. And then before a show, we also now just do big deep breaths and also try to get us in sync with one another. And I think that helps with the flow.
J: I like that. It’s good to have set things that regardless of wherever you are, you know, “okay, we’re going to have this moment to decompress before doing a gig”. I think that’s awesome.
J: And, you know, being a female artist, a Canadian artist as well; what are the unique challenges in that?
B: It’s just sometimes, I think, it can be easily assumed that you’re just another singer-songwriter; a girl who’s just here and you’re gonna do your songs or whatever. I hate that it’s [become] a stigma around female musicians in general, but you kind of have this energy that you can feel at a venue; not every venue and certainly not Massey Hall today, but sometimes it happens. I think that’s something specific to female musicians, so honestly it’s kind of hard to explain to my male musician friends. I think you don’t know unless you experience it and it’s not like anyone is trying to be mean; it’s just the level of understanding. That’s something I’ve noticed for sure and in just navigating that and new places and having to prove yourself a little bit more.
J: That’s totally true. And how do you feel like you’ve grown as a musician over the past couple of years now that you’ve been making music and having all these new experiences?
B: I fee like, to me, a majority of it has just been growing as a person and I think that reflects in the music. Like as I was saying, I’m seeing so many things for the first time; getting my eyes open to different cultures of living as you go to places in Europe and seeing so much about the world. Also having to navigate all these new social relationships that come with being on tour. So, I’m learning about myself and also learning that I’m so capable of doing something like soundcheck and being like “yes, I want more vocals in my monitor” and “yes, I’m certain of that”. I’ve definitely grown a lot in that aspect so it feels good for things not to be as uncertain.
J: Yeah, finding your footing in something new and exciting can be challenging and having the autonomy to do that. And being certain can be a hard thing.
J: Obviously, Massey is a great venue to play, but what would be your dream venue or gig that you’d want to do?
B: Well, this whole experience of opening for a bunch of different artists this year, I think about it at every venue like “it would be SO cool to headline”! I think though one of the ones for me is Danforth Music Hall, I think it’s the perfect size of venue and perfect level of fame to sell out that venue. It’s all you really want and really need; at least for me. I think the Danforth is so intimate but still feels like a big show so that’s one that I want to do. And it’s in Toronto!
J: I’ve been hearing you more and more on the local radio lately! Especially “Crush”. What was it like hearing your music on the radio for the first time?
B: It was crazy! Especially the first time it happened just naturally for me in the car. I remember we played Osheaga the day before and the song came out the day before or day of we played and I found out it was going to be playing on the radio a couple days earlier. It was like “oh my God, what’s gonna happen? That’s so crazy!”. I was actually driving up to Ottawa to pitch the song to another radio station there and the next day I heard it come on on the way there. I was like “this is so cool”; they said my name and everything and they were like “our future star” on Virgin Radio which was like “what?”.
J: That’s awesome!
B: And then, recently too, I had the experience of hearing it for the first time naturally in the car with my collaborators, Duncan and Nick, and it just came on on Moose FM up north. That was extra cool because we were all together the first time in the car hearing it.
J: Aw that’s so cool! I think the one time they had your mom on?
B: Oh my mom! My mom loves the radio in general before any of this happened so she calls [‘Crush’] into radio stations or she’ll text it in. And so she was texting and requesting my song and we were all at this family dinner and [the station] started calling her phone and because then we already knew they had been playing it, they talked to us for a while and they cut it together and put it on the air 30 minutes later; that was so cool!” *laughs*
J: It was so wholesome! I love that.
B: I love my mom!
J: She’s your hype woman!
B: My dad too! But my mom goes to that level with the radio stuff.
J: I love it. A lot of people say their inspirations for their music draws from their family and their relationships like you mentioned when talking about tour: what are your biggest sources of inspiration within music and outside of it?
B: Well, definitely my family is one of my biggest inspirations. My whole first EP was written about them just because that’s what I knew. I was just writing about what I knew and the experience of growing up in the house and stuff. For other inspirations, I remember some of my first writing sessions I was listening to Lizzy McAlpine a lot of the time; back when she didn’t have ‘five seconds flat’ or ‘older’ and so I would bring her up all the time. She’s been an inspiration for me before I put out ‘Simply The Best’. I think she’s so cool and the way that she writes is so cool and I want to be able to do that. That was one of my first memories with that I think; being specific about a musician. The other thing now is just all these friends I’ve made in music and seeing others navigating their careers like, whether it be a behind-the-scenes move that they’ve made or watching them post the songs they write. I’m like “everyone’s so cool; I wanna do that!”
J: I feel that! Even for me right now a lot of my inspiration is coming from friends and colleagues and it’s great to connect with people over something common. It’s a special thing.
J: These last two questions are something we ask everyone we interview for Karma!. We’ve been asking artists to recommend us a song for our Karma! playlist. What song would you add? No pressure!
B: Oooh! Well, I was talking earlier about Leif Vollebekk and one of my new favourite songs is ‘Surfer’s Journal’. But what first came to mind was Ryan Beatty’s ‘ribbons’.
J: Nice! The last question I have for you is: If your music was a colour, what colour would it be?
B: You know what’s funny? I’m inclined to say orange but orange is never my first pick of colours.
J: That makes sense though! It’s warm and comforting.
B: Oh and purple! Purple and orange.
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