Cheerleader makes big splash as singer 1 Family is a bedrock 4 Calvin connection 5 Meeting perchance
A look at the soulful voice leading the Juno nominees
TORONTO — Jessie Reyez was once a Toronto Argonauts cheerleader and now she’s a four-time Juno Award nominee.
The soulful 26-year-old R&B singer with a biting edge captured attention last week for tying Arcade Fire with the most nominations at Canada’s biggest music celebration.
It’s another step toward mainstream popularity for Reyez, who has become a familiar voice on Canadian radio stations with the single Figures from her debut EP Kiddo.
Here’s five things to know about the audacious Juno contender:
Reyez was born in Toronto to parents who immigrated from Colombia, but that doesn’t mean her cultural roots aren’t intact. The singer pays tribute to her family’s origins in the music video for Great One, which trails her as she visits their homeland. It’s a spiritual reflection created after the deaths of her uncle and a childhood friend. Reyez walks among the marked graves of locals while seemingly chasing the ghost of a child, and her journey winds up at a river where she’s baptized by some welcoming figures.
2 It’s Yessie, not Jessie
Although she was born Jessica, she prefers people call her Yessie, eschewing the hard J sound. She says this is how her family says her name.
3 Cheer squad
Reyez was a cheerleader for the Toronto Argonauts football team before she started pursuing music. Jorie Brown, her former cheer coach, remembers her as spunky performer with rough edges. “If you watch the old rehearsals, everyone’s in their shorts and half-top and Jessie’s in basketball shorts,” Brown said in a promotional video for the singer produced by Vevo. Cheerleading and Reyez weren’t meant to be forever, as she eventually decided to ditch the gig to chase a music career.
Starting out with big dreams, Reyez pounded the pavement with a hard sell. She often tells the story of walking into the now defunct Toronto nightclub The Guvernment and handing out her mixtape to DJs while they were performing a live set. One of those DJs turned out to be producer extraordinaire Calvin Harris, known for crafting hits with Katy Perry and Rihanna. Several years later, Reyez officially reunited with Harris for a collaboration on his 2017 album Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1 called Hard to Love.
Reyez counts Grammy-winning artist Chance the Rapper among her pals. She made connections with him a few years ago through fellow rap artist King Louie, who was convinced they’d get along. After many conversations, they wound up worked in a Chicago studio together and have been friends ever since.