Algonquin First Nations with Irish Settler heritage, Rebecca Hope has unveiled her new single, “Burn For You”.
Burn for You,” is about the danger and beauty of falling in love. She had just returned home from visiting her then-boyfriend across the country when she wrote it. A few days into the trip she had made the decision to end things as he hadn’t given her the honesty or time she deserved.
“Every time you move towards [love], you risk getting hurt,” says Rebecca. “But as I was writing ‘Burn for You,’ it hit me that falling in love and finding someone who is worth the risk of getting hurt is also incredibly beautiful.”
Check out “Burn For You” below, and find out more about Rebecca via our Five Questions With segment.
Care to introduce yourself to our readers?
Yes! I’m Rebecca Hope. I’m Algonquin First Nations with Irish Settler heritage and am also an award-winning Singer-Songwriter and Guitarist. I’ve been doing music professionally for 11 years now and won the Live Performance Category of the Canadian Songwriting Competition in 2017.
Tell us a bit about your music and writing style.
My music is primarily Folk and Country but I also break boundaries a little bit depending on what emotions are behind each song I write. I always say my music is my soul because most of my songs come from really difficult moments, where I needed to pick up my guitar to see some light.
There are two ways I write songs. One is to pick up my guitar and play some notes or chords until I find a melody I like, then to close my eyes and get visions about what the music speaks to. The other is to sing acapella while going about life doing dishes or taking a shower, and adding music behind the lyrics later.
For my new single Burn For You, I started writing with my guitar and had visions of a lonely woman sitting on a bed, an angry woman kicking up dirt amongst burning cars, and someone clinging to the ankles of a lover they didn’t want to let go. These visions came from the pain I was feeling after a recent breakup.
I tend to write when I’m at my highest points of emotions. That’s when I just need to express myself and get out what I need to say to heal. Music is the best way for me to do this.
How have you been keeping creative during the Pandemic?
To keep busy during the pandemic I’ve been journaling, writing a poetry book, and am currently finishing up three months travelling across Europe! I’m heading back to Toronto in the coming months to get back to building my career in my favourite city!
If you were asked to suggest only one of your songs for someone to hear, which would it be?
At this moment in time, Burn for You is my first release, so Burn for You. But there will be more very soon, so stay tuned everyone.
Canadian Beats is all about Canadian music, so who are your current favourite Canadian bands/ artists?
Some of my favourite artists of all time are Buffy Sainte Marie, Joni Mitchell, Bryan Adams, Neil Young and Blue Rodeo. There’s so much originality to the songs these artists write and you can feel raw emotion in their music and lyrics. They all inspire me to tap into my own gifts, originality, and emotions every time I write a song and get up on stage to perform. I’m grateful to be an artist in Canada, like these amazing trailblazers before me.