Photo Credit: Brayden Treble

Celeigh Cardinal shares new single, “Over Before It Began”

Canadian Beats·August 2, 2023

Celeigh Cardinal Shares A Tale of Unrequited Love on “Over Before It Began”

Award-winning artist Celeigh Cardinal has shared her powerful new pop single, “Over Before it Began” via Birthday Cake Records. This new track once again sees Celeigh, known for her soul-folk style, take the pop genre for a spin.

Celeigh shares,

“When I was younger, I was kept away from my culture and felt very isolated in my community. I never felt worthy of healthy love. These experiences impacted the choices that I was making in my life during that time. But with growth and maturation, the new aspects of my heritage have helped shape my music and find my place in this world. I am shedding the internalized shame I have felt and am working hard to love myself exactly as I am instead of trying to change myself in order to be loved. And THAT is what “Over Before it Began” is all about. This is a song that tells of unrequited love in all its shapes, colours and feelings. I often experience unrequited love because I have a cycle of choosing to love people who don’t love me back. It is a form of self-sabotage, and it’s quite telling of the continued work I do in therapy. That aside, I wanted this music video to radiate empowerment. I wanted it to show a woman stepping into her power and choosing herself. I wanted her to feel encouraged & supported by the people who love her exactly as she is. This is about the journey of radical self-love, thanks to a loving community!”

For “Over Before it Began’“ Celeigh worked with co-writer Brennan Cameron at Edmonton’s Velveteen Studio with the same team as her debut pop tune “Wrong Love” – engineer, mixers, and producers Brandon Unis and Bradley J Simons, as well as Brad Smith mastering.

“We spent three evenings together and laid down all the instruments and vocals – recording everything in approximately 10 hours,” says Celeigh. “It was quick because we knew exactly what we wanted. The recording is almost exactly like the demo we brought in, except for the bridge which I had an idea for, but hadn’t attempted yet. Even that came together once we got into the flow. I said I wanted the song to be a mix of Thelma Houston, En Vogue and early Michael Jackson.”

2023 has been an incredible year for Celeigh thus far. She launched it with the release of her first-ever pop single “Wrong Love” which hit #1 on the Indigenous Music Countdown, reached the top 10 on the CBC Music Top 20, and garnered love from CBC Radio One shows across Canada, CBC’s Afterdark, CBC’s Reclaimed, Eat North, ET Canada, Exclaim, Great Dark Wonder stated, “Celeigh both delivers and surprises, with a pop tune,” Julian Taylor’s Jukebox, Roots Music Canada, SiriusXM The Indigiverse and so many more. She also released a remix of the track from Caveboy’s Isabelle Banos!

She was the guest host for CBC’s Reclaimed for a handful of months. She’s shared the stage with The Fretless, Logan Staats, and Richard Inman, and this summer has already performed at Sasktel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival, Harrison Festival of the Arts, Vancouver Folk Festival, Odlum Brown Fort Langley Jazz and Arts Festival, and many more. AND she has been keeping busy finalizing all the details on the full-length album follow-up to her JUNO award-winning album!

With a confident voice, Celeigh Cardinal owns a stage and captivates audiences by seamlessly blending humour and vulnerability in her performances. She has been recognized with awards and nominations from prestigious organizations such as the JUNO Awards, CBC Music Awards, and Western Canadian Music Awards.

Celeigh’s music has resonated with listeners across various platforms. She has achieved chart success on the Indigenous Music Countdown, CBC Music Top 20 Countdown, and !Earshot charts. With two full-length albums already under her belt, she is currently working on her highly anticipated third release, slated for late 2023.