Five Questions With Terrell Morris

Photo Supplied by PR

Toronto’s new neo-soul breakout, Terrell Morris will be playing Lee’s Palace on July 21, and he’ll also be a part of The Open Roof Festival on August 1 and Manifesto on August 9!

This past spring, he released his EP, Molasses which was produced by duo Free n Losh and touches on elements of jazz, hip-hop, classic r&b, and postmodern soul.

Recently, he released a new single, “Pretty Life” which you can check out below and find out more about Terrell in our Five Questions With segment.

Care to introduce yourself to our readers?

Terrell Morris, from west end Toronto. Rapper, singer, songwriter, producer – that last one is a new addition to the resume but it’s real. Been writing for over 20 years (I started REAL young) but just really coming into my own in the last few years.

Can usually catch me in the studio with Free n Losh and more recently Weatherstone – that’s the core group of the production team behind the music. Shout out to the team.

Tell us a bit about your music and writing style.

The music is more mellow than most hip-hop but it’s not lacking in energy. And I recently came to the realization that I can sing, so I’ve been playing with my voice and different genres a lot more and that’s lead to a whole new lane of writing.

I get a lot of inspiration from neo-soul and R&B which tends to bring out the more poetic and melodic writing styles. And there’s definitely quite a bit of Jazz influence in the compositions as well so that really smooths everything out. Makes it melt. Nothing falls short of interesting, we don’t do boring or typical.

Do you have any upcoming shows? For someone who has yet to see you live, how would you explain your live performance?

Saturday July 21st @ Speak Your Peace Festival
August 1st @ Open Roof Festival
August 9th @ Manifesto

Depending on what show you attend, you may catch me with the full band behind me. It’s always a good air in the room when we’re up there. And of course everyone on stage is catching solos, we live for those moments. You don’t have to know all of the music to have a good time, it’s really not that type of show. We make it a party. You don’t gotta do anything but show up, we’ll take care of the rest. Just come ready to move with us because we all like to dance and we won’t leave til you’re dancing too.

If you were asked to suggest only one of your songs for someone to hear, which would it be?

It really depends on who the person is, there’s such a wide range of styles both sonically and lyrically. But to try to blanket it, maybe The Right Song (that’s off Free n Losh’s 5th & Ghost EP), or my new single Field Test. That song is a strong listen for anyone getting to know the music for the first time.

Canadian Beats is all about Canadian music, so who are your current favourite Canadian bands/ artists?

Allan Rayman, Jessie Reyez, Daniel Caesar, Sylo Nozra, River Tiber, Trish, Charlotte Day Wilson, Pengz, DIllanPonders, Sean Leon, TOBi, NorthSideBenji, Lil Berete, Nate Husser, Young Clancy. And then obviously Drake, PartyNextDoor, TheWeeknd etc etc.. A real blend of genres in there but a lot of great come up acts.

Connect with Terrell Morris:
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