14 March 2024 - Tate McRae - greedy

There is absolutely no way I could do a Maple Leaf March this year without including the pride of Calgary, Tate McRae, who had been up to 2023 something of a minor hit artist outside of Canada.

Then came "greedy".  This female empowerment anthem, co-written by McRae, hit #3 on the US pop charts and was a #1 hit elsewhere in the world.  It is, by far, her biggest hit, both inside and outside Canada.

By the way, this is an active hit song.  As of this publication, it's currently rising back up the Billboard charts, at #6 THIS WEEK on the US Hot 100, #5 on the Canadian Hot 100.  

The song is also a 2024 nominee for Single of the Year at the Juno Awards next weekend - one of three for which she's been nominated (Artist of the Year, Fan's Choice).  

Also, driving a Zamboni.  Iconic.  She's clearly a fan (she even wears goalie pads on the album cover). 

Think Later is the album.  We failed to mention that.  Released December 2023

 So, enjoy the song... and the Zamboni ride. 

Keeping with the hockey theme, McRae performed during the intermission at the 2024 NHL All Star Game in Toronto - including this song, of course.

It's a pretty clean performance, which we'd expect at a sporting event.

I watch a lot of live videos before I choose the ones I want to share with you - and I'm picking this Today Show performance.  Why?  It's less clean than others have been - and she can clearly sing, even without the Autotune so clearly foisted onto her.  

13 March 2024 - Lightning Dust - Loaded Gun

I spend a lot of March compiling music for future Maple Leaf Marches.  Sometimes, the songs are great and will make good music for future Marches, or really, for any month of the year.  

Sometimes, I can't wait. 

And, so we are clear, I almost completely bumped Lights for this one.

I decided this was a good day to double up instead of bumping anyone.  

Amber Webber and Joshua Wells are Lightning Dust, and they are also members of another band called Black Mountain.  Hailing from Vancouver, Lightning Dust is presumably named after a character from My Little Pony... but, more importantly, they are focused on synth-pop-rock sounds that are really interesting.  

This song, a driving synth anthem, is from their 2013 album Fantasy, and it is really solid.

Despite being a side project, this duo does perform their critically acclaimed music live, and they do so with far more emotion that you might expect from a synth-pop-rock duo.

13 March 2024 - FouKi ft. P'tit Belliveau - St-Han Quinzou

We missed FouKi.  We first featured him and his collaboration with Jay Scøtt in 2022.  That Félix award-winning song ended up on my heavy rotation and was my most-listened to song on Spotify in 2022.  

It is also sung by people in my house who do not speak French.  

FouKi was also nominated for a Juno in 2022 - for Francophone Album of the Year.  He lost - and deservedly so, honestly.  Impossible à aimer was amazing.  He's nominated again this year in the same category, for Zayon, and I am boldly predicting victory.

This song, a collaboration with fellow Canadian artist P'tit Belliveau (he is a folk musician from Nova Scotia who does a fair bit of Acadian vocals), is quite energetic.  It is a party song, celebrating a popular festival day in Quebec of St. Jean Baptiste.  

Also, FouKi wearing the Nordiques sweater is straight fire. 

I actually like this better live.  You can really hear the Acadian folk that Belliveau brings to the party.  FouKi brings the Expos jersey to the party in this performance.  

12 March 2024 - Lights - Savage

Well well well.

We've reached the Lights portion of the month.  

You had to know it was coming.  It's not like we've haven't had like 20 Lights posts in the last three years.  

Only a slight exaggeration.  This is the 19th since 2021.  

This single was released in advance of her 2017 album Skin&Earth, which of course came with a comic book and a post-apocalyptic video.  

As she has done several times since Siberia, Lights made an acoustic version of Skin&Earth and released it in 2019.  This was an innovative recording, with unusual recording locations. 

This is not the studio recording.  This was a live performance in Austin, TX in 2019.  

No, no, this was the "studio" recording.  I put "studio" in quotes because her "studio" was her portable rig under an umbrella sitting on the ground outside during a rainstorm.  

That's really rain you hear.  

And this kind of shows you how she did it.

11 March 2024 - Rêve - Release Me

We were delighted to see that Rêve released a full album - Saturn Return - in December, and it was nominated for a couple of Juno Awards this year.  We'd be happier if she'd release it in the States.

What delights us even more is seeing more depth from someone who will, undoubtably, become a big star, even if her whole 2024 seems to be contained to Canada.  This song, from the album, was released as a short film on January 5th of this year - so, yeah, that's why there are some pauses in the song.  It's a great, deep, softer song - with some ambient beats, but not the thumping dance numbers that brought her to prominence. 

The song was co-written by Max-Antoine Gendron and Rêve, and it should be a hit everywhere, but, for now, we're going to have to be happy with Canada.  

10 March 2024 - Brooke Nicholls - Enough

Brooke Nicholls is an artist... and worship leader.... from Hamilton, Ontario.

That's right.  This is church music.  Which is part of the the reason why I'm posting this on a Sunday morning.  And it's GOOD.  I don't post a lot of religious music, but I do when it's good music.  

The other part is that she's a Juno nominee this year, for Best Contemporary Christian Gospel Album of the Year, for Glory To God.   This song, which literally declares that Jesus is enough, is a centerpiece of that album, which is really good.  

9 March 2024 - Softcult - Dress

According to WikiPedia, Softcult are a Canadian grunge duo from Kitchener, Ontario, and the duo are actually twin sisters.  

They are so much more than that.  They bring back the aethestic of the shoegaze movement from the early 1990s, bringing in elements of grunge.  

They're also Juno Award nominees this year, for Best Alternative Album, for their EP See You In The Dark.  This emotional song is a centerpiece of that record - the darkest and a song that has deep, dark themes but still retains a poppy feel. 

This video might be triggering, because of the flashing lights and the themes of sexual assault, which is also the subject of the song.  It was directed and edited by Mercedes Am-Horn, who also happens to be one of the twins in the band (her sister Phoenix is the other, and she produced it).  They bring an excellend DIY feeling to their music and the visual that matches it.

Of course they perform the song live, and, believe it or not, they even tour the US.  This is from a show in Dallas from last March - they built their Maple Leaf March case last year! - and you can hear the emotion a little stronger in the live version.