Talks famous supporters, Grammy nominations and sharing her “Close-To-My-Heart Album”

Allison Russell

Allison Russell’s phone started blowing up.

Friends and family members were congratulating her, letting her know that Barack Obama had included her aching ballad “Nightflyer” in his annual best-of-the-year playlist, slotted between Nas and Lil Nas X.

“Barry has great taste,” Russell tells Exclaim! “I look forward to his playlist every year. To actually be on it is just wild. It reaches such a broad and diverse audience too, which is such a boost for each of us. I am truly grateful.”

This is the latest a string of high-profile accomplishments for the Montreal-raised, Nashville-based songwriter. A member of groups Our Native Daughters, Birds of Chicago and Po’ Girl, Russell released debut solo album Outside Child in spring 2021 to universal acclaim. It was long listed for the Polaris Music Prize, led to performances on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and at the Grand Ole Opry, and is currently nominated for three Grammy Awards.

According to Russell, who already had a long career as a professional musician prior to going solo, it feels “surreal” to finally gain significant recognition for her work.

“In some ways, I think it took the trauma of 2020 for the greater music industry to be able to see or hear me at all,” she says of her rise to prominence. “Black women who embrace Black eclecticism in the arts … have been so intensely tokenized and sidelined in the past — despite being foundational to every genre of modern song — that most of us had little-to-no industry support until very recently.”

That Outside Child has been so widely embraced is particularly meaningful to Russell, given the album’s intensely personal subject matter. “As a survivor of 15 years of severe childhood sexual, physical, psychological and emotional abuse, I wanted to sing my roadmap out,” she says. “So, for this most vulnerable and close-to-myheart album to be the record that has broken through to the broader music industry, and to a much wider audience — after so many years of flying under the radar with my various projects and albums — is affirming and hopeful and joyful beyond belief.”

The fact that her music has found a fan in the former US president shows just how far Russell has come and how many people her songs have touched.

Edmonton, AB

South African-born, Edmontonbased artist ARDN has been finetuning his brand of hip-hop and R&B since 2018 debut Goodwill. His dedication to facilitating endless good vibes caught the attention of popular TikTok music curator Axel Tanner, whose post recommending ARDN’s 2019 single “Wavin’” helped droves of listeners discover his breezy, soulful take on rap.