Metaphors drive Kiesza’s life. These literary devices are touchstones that help the singer-songwriter navigate her days and are constant companions to which she returns.
“I’m really metaphorical because I’m a writer,” explains the electro-pop artist via Zoom two weeks before the release of Dancing and Crying: Vol. 1. “I use them in my music a lot, but change them a little bit each time … having deep conversations with another person always triggers new ideas.”
Ten years since Kiesza exploded onto the charts with the billion-streamed dance hit “Hideaway” — that won three Juno awards and reached Gold, Platinum and Double Platinum status in the US, UK, and Canada — the artist grappled with a lot more than spending days crafting metaphors and creating new song ideas. In between that mega hit, which pigeonholed her into the dance genre, the songwriter spent years recovering from a traumatic brain injury suffered in 2017 and sojourned briefly in Norway. This healing, and letting go, is ongoing. As the title of this new batch of six songs suggests, Kiesza has returned reborn and a little more vulnerable. Ebullient. And, thanks to taking time, with this rebirth comes a new sound that fuses her past with her present.
“That is the biggest difference between this music and the music I put out in the past,” she explains. “‘Hideaway’ went big before I had even written an album, so I had to write fast. For Crave, I was in the midst of recovery. It was written based on songs that were pre-existing and had a 1980s poppy vibe. I kept it positive because I was in a really dark place.
“Before making this album, I wanted to take time to really figure things out,” Kiesza continues. “I have been through half a decade of recovery now and that changes you a lot internally. You don’t always know how you’ve changed until you go out into the world and bump into things, people, and new experiences. By witnessing your reaction to events you start to understand yourself better. I realized I had changed a lot more than I even thought. This album is a rebirth and a new beginning for me.”
Dancing and Crying: Vol. 1 is Kiesza’s first full length since Crave in 2020; it showcases the songwriter’s artistic depth and reaffirms what those who know already know: the power of music to heal. The new collection is released independently on her label Zebra Spirit Tribe. Written over a couple of years, mainly in Toronto and Los Angeles, the songs were born organically following deep internal conversations as well as external dialogues with friends, collaborators and co-writers, like producer Sugar Jesus, from her broader music community.
“These new songs are some of the favourite ones I’ve ever written,” Kiesza says. “They represent the beginning of this fusion of my past, present and future all coming together. It’s a complete version of me as an artist that I’ve never expressed so fully.”
This new version of the Juno-award winning artist was there all along, so why did it take Kiesza a decade to express – and to show – the world this side of her art? She believes it’s just a natural evolution and a part of any human’s journey finding one’s way in an ever-changing world and fast-paced music industry.
“We try to figure out our place in the world and often we don’t realize that we don’t have to shut ourselves off,” the singer-songwriter explains. “It is easier to get recognized when you focus on one pathway because you can find your niche quickly. But, for me as a songwriter, I’ve written in so many other genres.
“From a branding perspective, is it confusing?” she asks. “Sure, for some … people like to know where things belong and what box they fit into. If they don’t find that box, it becomes confusing and sometimes scary.”
There is nothing confusing or scary about Dancing and Crying: Vol. 1, but these compositions are definitely more profound than your average pop song. The songs explode from the speakers; then, they linger. There are many layers to unravel and each listen triggers new feelings. Take “Strangers,” the album’s focus track. The song speaks directly to the long-term effects of that traumatic brain injury Kiesza suffered seven years ago and how it impacted her ability to create and her sense of self. These are not just dance songs. Take a deeper listen to fully understand the picture of who this accomplished artist is now, what she is saying, and how far she has come on this healing journey.
“I don’t want to preach, I just want to crack the shell a little bit, so people can feel a desire to go within themselves, but on their own time,” Kiesza explains. “I want to open up listeners to their most honest expression within themselves. Dancing and crying both achieve that. When you get on a dance floor and finally get into a flow, you physically express yourself in a true and honest way. The same with crying. When you get to the point where you allow yourself to cry you have tapped into an honest feeling … you are allowing yourself to just let it all out. Dancing and crying are very similar in how they open us up.”
Adding to this new sound and emotional outpouring is a broader artistic vision. Each song is accompanied by a music video the artist describes as radio plays. Kiesza imagined this fantasy that chronicles the story of a 1930s character named Diana — an actress who loses everything and ends up on this adventure — during her Scandinavian sojourn.
“This story came to me sitting at a café in Norway,” she explains. “I’ve always wanted to make a film and thought why not make it with these music videos. Once I made the videos, I felt there was so much more to these characters, so I asked a friend who is a voice actor to do these radio plays to allow fans to dive deeper into the characters.”
TO DANCE, OR NOT TO DANCE, IS NOT THE QUESTION
Though her latest songs may not come off as true dance music, Kiesza isn’t trying to fit into a tidy little box. She follows her muse wherever it takes her — pouring her heart and soul into every new song she writes.
“What is dance music anyway?” Keisza rhetorically asks. “At the core, it’s any music that seeps into your soul and moves you to express yourself and get off your ass and dance.”
The current dance community, according to Kiesza, is DJ-driven. And, since a lot of these DJs are not dancers, they automatically have a different relationship to the music. “Since I come from a dance background, I always think about how I am going to dance to a song as I’m writing it,” she says. “I even dance to the song as I’m writing it to really feel it.” At the same time, the songwriter admits sharing a more personal side of her is not easy. “It’s very vulnerable.”
Vulnerable is how Kiesza hopes listeners feel after hearing these six new songs and the ones that will follow. It’s not about focusing on what box they fit into; rather, how do they make you feel? For Kiesza, music has always been a healing balm.
“I approach songwriting like it’s a journal entry,” she explains. “Many of the songs I write are not meant to come out. They are just meant for me to process my emotions.”
The dance, folk-fusion sound found on Dancing and Crying: Vol. 1, with its more personal lyrics, is not just a one-off, one record experiment. It took Kiesza more than two years to hone this particular sound and discover this blend and now that she has found it, she plans to keep creating in this space for a while. “That is why it is not just one large album,” she says. “It is volumes in smaller packages of a bigger vision that will continue.”
Most of the songs for Vol. 2 are already written and the songwriter says she already knows what the final song will be for the fourth instalment.
“I honestly see about four volumes for this project,” Kiesza reveals. “There is lots of music coming. This blend of dance and folk will open up the doorways of that side of me … my whole heart is in this music. I’m cracking my eggshell and I’m ready to explode into the world again. I’m trying to give as much as I can to my fanbase and have us all grow together … the growth I went through was a hard, painful process. I want to be able to give without others having to go through the same pain.”
These are songs to dance to like nobody’s watching. And, they are also songs to cry your eyes out to. Listen to them alone or listen to them with friends. No matter how you listen to them, let loose, be open to their message, and take the time to live in the moment and fully appreciate these joyful sounds.
“I wanted to make sure this time around I treat every day like my last because I have a new understanding of my own mortality by being faced with a near death experience,” Kiesza concludes. “I wanted to treat my music the same way. If this was the last thing I put into the world, what would be the most important thing that I did? For me, that’s what the experience of making this music was. It was amazing and included all the people I love. The essence of that journey is in this music.”
Kiesza is set to perform these new songs, along with some of her previous hits, with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra on October 5, 2024. Learn more and get tickets here.
