Latest release suggests Shraya isn't done with pursuing pop stardom yet
In 2020, Vivek Shraya debuted a new theatrical work titled How to Fail as a Popstar. Three years later, the Calgary-based transgender singer has released Baby, You're Projecting, on Vancouver-based label MINT Records.
Declaring the whole pop star thing kaput was a tad pre-emptive.
“Rather than being the final stage of mourning a lifelong dream, How to Fail as a Popstar became more of a declaration that I might never be done with music and here's the proof,” said Shraya. “Baby, You're Projecting, is music made under my own terms, and MINT came into the picture after I'd finished the recording and thought it would be good to get some extra support this time around. Whether it is an illusion or not, there is a perception of legitimacy that comes with being affiliated with a label.
“All thanks to MINT, that isn't necessarily going to make the difference between attaining stardom now or not.”
From her 2002 solo debut, THROAT, recorded at age 13, to other projects such as the band Too Attached featuring her brother Shamik Bilgi, Shraya's original songs have always honed in on exploring different ways of exploring identity. Baby, You're Projecting finds the singer dishing up everything from the debut single, Good Luck, You're F----d, and its followup, He Loves Me Until He Hates Me, to the relationship-questioning Colonizer. This last mention might be one of the first under-three-minute-long ditties to challenge the underlying motivations in mixed-race relationships with a dance-beat backing.
Unlike the near chamber-indie folk of previous recordings, Shraya is in a big production state of mind with the new music. The seven-time Lambda Literary Award-finalist and University of Calgary assistant creative writing professor is better known for her literary and poetic output, but finds songwriting to be a pretty even split between melody and meaning.
“It's probably a fair 50-50 split between the two, with a song like Quitter being from a hummed refrain stuck in my head, to Colonizer, which totally came out of the lyrical construction of the chorus,” she said. “With this project, my producer James Bunton was very much in favour of bringing in all of my various derivations and focusing in on the song first to let them be what they are. I really found that the sequencing order takes you on a bit of a sonic and thematic journey, which was quite rewarding.”
Having previously addressed topics ranging from the 2019 graphic novel Death Threat, chronicling her responses to receiving repeated transphobic hate mail from a stranger, to the “personal interrogation of skin” in 2017's Even This Page is White, cheering up a bit wasn't a bad idea. Baby, You're Projecting also finds the artist in an upbeat state of mind.
“A close friend once described my work as `dire', and I took that to heart,” she said. “Playing the album to friends and getting their positive response to songs such as Hate Club has been great. Again, this is probably a direct result of this album not being tied to following one specific theme, genre or style and having room to breathe.”
A devoted multitasker, it's not hard to imagine that any room to breathe in Shraya's world is merely a pause to put together the pieces of the puzzle to turn an album into a series of videos, then a film or play followed by a selection of analytic essays.
“I tend to think that many steps ahead with any project, coming in with what the album is called, the artwork, adjunct plans, etc.,” she said.
“That looking ahead to the future component is useful in a lot of ways, as I like to imagine the world where each project is going to exist. I know that this runs against the contemporary singles, short video Tiktok viral world and its immediacy, but being on the other side of 40 I have to believe there is something to my method too.”
Having just collected a 2023 Canadian Screen Award for Best Original Music, Comedy for work on the CBC GEM series Sort Of, Shraya's method is certainly being rewarded.
“I've always wanted to make music for movies or TV as hearing I Will Always Love You from the Bodyguard soundtrack was key to my becoming a pop artist,” she said.
“I mourn the decline of that late 1980s/'90s emphasis on soundtracks, so being brought in on a show that features a trans (person of colour) character was a beautiful invitation. I'm very happy about it.”
So was CBC, which has optioned How to Fail as a Popstar into an eight-episode series that should premiere on the network in the fall.
The dates on the Baby, You're Projecting tour include: May 12, Montreal; May 14, Toronto; May 15, Hamilton; May 16, Victoria, Victoria Events Centre; May 17, Vancouver, the Fox Cabaret; and June 11, Halifax.