By Ella Matte, contributor
Two-time Juno Award nominee Tanika Charles takes the stage in Sidney tonight (Jan. 24).
This Toronto-born and Edmonton-raised singer and songwriter didn’t expect she would ever end up in the business of music, but found her roots in a peculiar way.
She was living just outside of Edmonton on a farm, when she was watching TV while making dinner. The TV show was called the ‘Diary’ on MTV. She couldn’t take her eyes off the screen. Then a friend from Vancouver called her up and asked if she wanted to audition as a backup singer for the band Bedouin. She flew out to Toronto and got the job. She described that as, “the point where I started music back around 2010.”
Many describe Charles’s music as modern soul but she said, “I don’t know if I have found the style yet. With the progression of each album the sound actually changes.”
She started off making music with a traditional R&B sound and moved to a more contemporary style of R&B later in her career.
She said, “I love hip-hop and I love soul, country. I love all genres but I am a beat junky first and foremost. When I was creating my EP, I was mostly working with hip-hop producers. They would have a lot of beats that had sample bass. Just hard-hitting base tracks and from their it morphed into a Motown sound which was soul and a little bit of blues, touches of blue-grass, hip hop and it made sense. The second album was a little more hip-hop and now this last album Papillion de Nuit: The Night Butterfly has become contemporary R&B.”
“…I go through this range of emotions and it’s like butterflies…”
The singer said some of her influences are, Radiohead, Black Pumas, Alabama Shakes, Jill Scott, and Yebba. She mostly sings about love. Everything from being in an inmate relationship, true love, break ups, family love and really anything to do with love.
Before going on stage, the artist said that she goes “through this range of emotions and it’s like butterflies. Then my palms get sweaty and then I start sweating before I even go and get out there. So my outfit’s ruined because I get sweat marks and everything but it’s an excitement.”
The artist listed off a few answers to some rapid-fire questions:
“Favourite movie of all time?”
“The Witches of Eastwick”
“Favourite new artist?”
“BLK ODYSSY”
“A country that’s on your bucket list to travel to?”
“Japan”
“Favourite food?”
“My dad’s stew chicken”
“An irrational fear?”
“Shag rug, shag, shag carpet, shag anything.”
Tanika Charles said to expect “an evening full of love and storytelling” at her upcoming shows. She will start her tour in Sidney on Jan. 24 at the Charlie White Theatre at the Mary Winspear Centre. Following that performance, she will be in Courtenay at the Sid Williams Theatre on Jan. 25. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. at both locations and tickets are available online.