Toronto singer-songwriter Melissa Lauren has unveiled the official video for her title track off her 3rd studio album, My Voice.
“Dedicated to my 6-year-old, Leah. I wanted to write something to remind her of what her voice is: strong, soft, fierce, calm, funny, important, impactful, and curious;” shares Melissa. “The video is fun, playful, whimsical, and we even made the choice to feature her a little because our children’s voices should be sent flying!”
She recently wrapped up the first leg of her North American tour, including shows in Toronto, Halifax, and Portland. On November 10th, she’ll begin the western portion of the tour with stops in Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver.
“As a music video director, I wouldn’t say I have a specific process. I just listen to the music, to the message, take it all in, and let my intuition guide me forward;” says director Carlos Coronado of Coronado Films. “When I listened to Melissa’s song “My Voice” for the first time, I immediately felt this sort of quiet power, and I knew that I wanted to tell a story about people, and the magic and potential that lies beneath the quotidian. I wanted to make something that felt human, warm, and understatedly powerful; like the song felt to me.”
Melissa adds:
“Carlos, once again (he also directed the video for her Jann Arden cover of “Insensitive”), made me feel safe and heard during the whole process-a mirror of what the song is about: being heard and feeling safe enough to use our voices.”
The new album, featuring the singles “The Day We Stopped” and “Insensitive,” has garnered buzz from Canadian Beats, CTV Morning Live Halifax, CBC Music Mornings, CBC Radio One, The Sound Cafe, Eat North, Exclaim, Finding Your Bliss, Great Dark Wonder, SiriusXM “Canada Now” and many more.
Melissa Lauren’s dream with this album was to have her voice heard, but her mission was larger than that. As she explains, if there’s an overarching theme to the new album’s 11 songs —a mix of originals and thoughtfully selected covers all expertly helmed by producer, mixer, and multi-instrumentalist Tyler Emond — it’s “the boundaries that get in the way of communicating.”
And nothing brings the boundaries quite like a lockdown triggered by a global pandemic, during which Melissa and musician husband Nathan Hiltz were marooned at home together, forced to contemplate themselves and each other as the comfortably distracting routines of daily life evaporated.
Yet by candidly distilling the experience into her songwriting on My Voice, Melissa has created an album that serves as a musical touchstone for anyone struggling to articulate the good and bad challenges of managing close relationships during difficult times. Call it a sonic roadmap.
“It was a tough time for Nathan and me, and we got into a lot of fights,” Melissa admits with a laugh. “But I realized it all came down to feeling like you weren’t being heard, to a lack of communication. Signals can get crossed and misunderstandings can happen, but you can’t give up trying to have your voice heard. And you mustn’t forget to listen.”
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