From the second you hear her voice, Jessie Reyez will stay with you forever.

The Toronto born singer has a voice that hits you right in your soul and it becomes very clear that her music comes from a personal space, which makes sense when you learn more about how she got to where she is today.

Jessie admits that her grades suffered in school because she was so musically-obsessed, “I’d get out at school at 3:00 PM, show up to dance practice at 6:30 PM, practice for three hours till 9:00 PM, get home at midnight, and try to do whatever homework I could before getting back up for 7:00 AM. But I did it because I liked dancing, and I loved the music” (via Noisey).

Jessie would go onto explain how much she immersed herself into what she loved most: making music.

“I stopped going to classes, and just went to the music class, just locked in the piano room. Thankfully my music teacher totally understood me and he would look out for me. It took me a year and a half to get out of my depression, but that time helped me create things I didn’t know I was capable of.”

As is always the case, life can come at you fast and Jessie learned that lesson when it was revealed to her that she had to pack up and move to Miami; Her family had applied for American visas and had finally been approved.

So she made the move where she became a bartender and as she put it, sort of abandoned her music, “People party all the time, and if you’re working in the industry, you’re sleeping all day and at the club all night, day after day. I did that for a year, I completely neglected my music. The only musical thing I did was playing the guitar at the beach when everyone was coming down after a long night” (via Noisey).

Tired of that scene, Jessie started back writing and even found herself moving back to Toronto after being accepted into The Remix Project’s Academy of Recording Arts, a program that helps young musicians from lower income homes study music, business, and other forms of art.

The Remix Project afforded her the opportunity to work with the likes of Chance the Rapper and King Louie, the latter of which she collaborated on a song called, ‘Living in the Sky’.

 

 

 

Fast forward to 2016 when Jessie released her critically acclaimed single, ‘Figures’ which was premiered by Zane Lowe and heralded by music legend Elton John.

 

 

 

Just this past April, Jessie released her debut EP, Kiddo (which you can stream below).

 

 

 

She’s recently performed at the BET Awards, the MMVAs and at the Mod Club, where she was joined by fellow Canadian singer Alessia Cara.

 

Girl power?? @alessiasmusic Thank u to everyone who helped me tonight #Toronto @ori.ginals

A post shared by Jessie Reyez (@jessiereyez) on

 

Jessie also appears on Calvin Harris’ new album, Funk Wav Bounces. Vol.1 on a track called, ‘Hard to Love’.

 

 

 

This really is just the beginning for Jessie which is why she’s this month’s ‘One to Watch’!

Filed under: jessie-reyez, one-to-watch