You’ve been really busy lately, according to your social media channels. What have you been up to?
I really wanted this year to be a focus on the music. Near the beginning of the year, I finished another album number four. We shot a video for it last weekend for the song that’s going to be the first single in the UK. It’s the current single out right now in Canada and it’s called Shock to My Heart. Toronto’s Proud FM was actually the first radio station to play it in Canada.
What’s Shock to My Heart about?
I wrote it in LA with a great producer named Damon Sharpe who has worked with Ariana Grande, Kylie Minogue and Jennifer Lopez. I wanted to write a realistic love song about how love isn’t always sugar and roses. I wanted to write something truthful from my heart for my fiancé Ish Morris.
How was the video shoot?
The director and I had sat down beforehand to talk about some ideas and right away I knew I wanted to do something ’90s. I’m obsessed with anything ’90s right now. So it’s grunge, but with a glamorous look. The concept of the video is what I would call a 90s acid trip. The storyline is basically that I wake up and no one is left in the world so I’m searching for someone. Technically, I’m searching for the ‘love of my life’. My fiancé appears in the video in flashbacks. One of the scenes was shot in water and it was the hardest set-up I’ve ever had to shoot. You [inhales] have to take in as much air as possible, get all the way to the bottom of the water and then try to look sexy to the camera. I tried to mouth the words of the song too, but it was so hard. But at the end of the day as long as it looks awesome, I don’t care, I’ll do it.
Will you be around Toronto Fashion Week later this month?
Definitely. Basically, if I’m free I will go to as many shows as I can.
Are there any in particular that you’re looking forward to?
I always look forward to the staples because I enjoy where the style is at. I love Rudsak, I think they’re great. The mass marketed ones like Joe Fresh are really enjoyable too. I just like watching them all because you get inspired by different things, always.
Lastly, I have to mention that your adorable dog has more Instagram followers than I do.
[Laughs] Oh my god, is that true? Sorry! His name is Quincy Bonez and he’s kind of a big deal. When we got him, we wanted his name to be musical, something legendary and iconic that we could put a dog spin on. We played around with a bunch of names and Quincy Jones popped up and we were like ‘There it is.’
Meghan Heffern from Backpackers was one of our Women You Should Meet! Tell me about your character on the show.
I’m not supposed to talk about it, but basically my character meets the two main characters when they’re randomly in BC. Whistler, specifically. And I might spark a little flame with one of them. This is either the second season or a continuation of the first because they’re back in the country.
I know you love fashion. You even debuted a single last year at a Toronto Fashion Week runway show. How did that come about?
It was for a label called Madame Moje and we both showed off each other’s stuff. They played my song during the show and I wore a lot of Madame Moje pieces during the week. They had actually asked me to use my song. The guy who does their PR is a good friend of mine and he introduced me to the brand and I loved it. It’s always nice to find brands and people that you enjoy and gravitate to. I loved the brand right away and I guess they loved my song right away too!
Would you ever think about getting into fashion and designing something?
I’d like to think that I have a recognizable style. I enjoy fusing glamorous with dirty grunge influences. I would definitely think about it if the right opportunity came around. I don’t like doing anything half-ass, so it would have to be the right situation because if I did it, I would put my heart and soul into it. I’d make sure it was the most fabulous situation ever.
You’re technically a recording artist and an actress. How do you split your time between the two industries?
To me, they go hand-in-hand. I just go with the flow. I wear a lot of different hats. One day I’ll wear my music hat. The next I’ll wear my acting hat. And the day after that I’ll wear both. Even though I love them both equally, I call music the love of my life because it’s what brought me into acting. Most people don’t know that I started recording really young. I was doing professional musical theatre when I was just a kid. I was in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dream Coat with Donny Osmond and an acting agent came backstage and said ‘I want to represent you, you’re an actor.’ I think I was around 10 at the time. He started sending me out on auditions and that’s honestly how I started acting. It wasn’t necessarily something I had sought out at the time but I’ve grown to love it and it challenges me.
Are you putting on your acting hat for anything in the near future?
I just shot an episode for a CWSeed show called Backpackers and that’s already in its second season. I also just shot a Molson commercial, too.
I’m just constantly auditioning. Any working actor knows that the audition grind is the hardest process. I consider myself constantly on the audition grind. Some weeks I’ll have four auditions and some weeks I’ll have none. I like to call it the Slope. When it rains it pours and when it’s dead, it’s dead. But then, that’s always a great time to focus on the music side. I always keep busy.
