Kreesha Turner Returns To The Spotlight with NXNE Performance and New Single
We are thrilled to be working with platinum-selling Edmonton-based artist Kreesha Turner as she returns after a decade-long hiatus with her new single “You’re Ego,” out May 29, 2026. She is also set to perform across Canada this summer, such as NXNE on June 12th at Cassette.
A haunting neo-jazz reckoning, the track signals a bold new chapter for Turner, reconnecting her with her first musical language: jazz. On “You’re Ego,” she explores the unsettling transformation that occurs when ego overtakes love, turning someone familiar into a stranger.
Produced by JUNO nominee Ari Mastoras and mastered by Noah Mintz, the track blends jazz harmony, live instrumentation, and soul-inflected vocals with modern production, building an eerie yet urgent sonic landscape.
“You’re Ego” marks Kreesha’s first release in nearly a decade and the beginning of a new era, with more music to follow throughout 2026 as part of an upcoming EP.
A five-time JUNO Award nominee, Turner first rose to prominence with her chart-topping hit “Don’t Call Me Baby,” which dominated Canadian radio and reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard Dance Chart. She has earned multiple accolades, including the Canadian Radio Music Award for Best New Solo Artist, and her music has been featured in major TV shows such as Gossip Girl, Empire, Desperate Housewives, So You Think You Can Dance, and Canada’s Drag Race. With performances ranging from international stages like the 2010 World Expo to headlining Toronto’s New Year’s Eve celebration for over 100,000 attendees, Turner now returns with a renewed creative vision.
First off, care to introduce yourself to our readers?
Hi! My name is Kreesha Turner. Most people know me from my earlier pop career and my song “Don’t Call Me Baby,” which was the most played song on Canadian radio in 2009. I’m a Canadian artist, born in Edmonton, AB, and raised between Edmonton and Jamaica. I was trained as a jazz vocalist, and I spent about 15 years living and working in Los Angeles, navigating the industry, building a career and since 2024 I am back home in my hometown of Edmonton. I reconnected with music during my solo travels through Southeast Asia in 2024 and 2025. This new chapter is really about returning to where I started musically and letting people hear the real me for the first time.
After nearly a decade away, what made now the right time to return with “You’re Ego”?
A) Honestly, life brought me full circle. In 2023 I experienced a devastating personal loss and while I’m grateful I had the support of family around me, it was the kind of moment that changes everything. After 15 years in LA, I came home to Edmonton, back to my roots, back to the people who matter most. From there, I set off to explore Southeast Asia, and it was specifically in Bali where something shifted. I found music again. I’d forgotten how much I loved performing, and the response I would get from people, just that pure, unfiltered connection, reminded me why I started. I felt like I had to lose everything to find myself right back here, doing what I was always meant to do. Music is part of my life’s purpose, and I think I finally believe that in a way I never fully did before.
How did working with Ari Mastoras and Alex Sergerie shape the final sound of the track?
Ari Mastoras was such an important collaborator on this project! My executive producer, and someone who truly understood the vision from the start. We weren’t trying to make something that sounded like anyone else. It was completely experimental in the best way; Ari helped me form my own sound and pushed me to make something that felt genuinely true to who I am. Alex Sergerie at Slamm Audio handled the mastering, and the care he brought to that final stage really elevated the whole thing. When you work with people who listen deeply, it shows in the music. Every decision we made together was in service of the song and the story, and I think you can feel that in “You’re Ego.”
Compared to your earlier pop-driven hits like “Don’t Call Me Baby,” how would you describe your artistic evolution on this release?
I’m returning to my roots. I was trained as a jazz vocalist. Jazz was my first love, long before any of the pop success. And this is an album I’ve waited over 20 years to make. The music is rooted in jazz, but my vocals are neo-soul, and my writing and storytelling approach is contemporary. It’s the most honest thing I’ve ever released, and a big part of that is because this is the first time I’ve made music without a label or management telling me what to do. No one in my ear about what’s commercial or what fits a format. This is the first time listeners are going to hear the real me… and that feels both terrifying and completely freeing.
You’re hitting stages across Canada this summer, including NXNE — what can fans expect from your live performances this time around?
Something really alive. One of the things I love most about jazz is that it’s built on community, on listening, on responding, on playing off each other in real time. So I’m bringing the energy of local jazz musicians in every city I perform. The lineup will shift, the improvisations will shift, and the experience will be unique wherever you are. That spontaneity is the whole point. Jazz doesn’t sit still, and neither will this show. Fans can expect something that breathes and moves, something they won’t see the exact same way twice.
How does performing now compare to when you were touring at the height of your early career?
It’s completely different! And I mean that in the best way. During live shows earlier in my career, I was always in my head. Always thinking about choreography, pitch, what I looked like, what people were thinking. There was so much noise. But it’s only in jazz that I have ever found those voices go quiet. There’s something about the nature of the music, the call and response, the improvisation, the trust you have to have in yourself and the musicians around you that demands full presence. I am stepping into these shows this time around in complete surrender, and that is a feeling I’ve spent a long time working toward.
If you could describe this new chapter of your music in three words, what would they be—and why?
Surrender. Soul. Truth. Surrender because I’m done holding back or trying to control how the world receives me. I’m releasing music and releasing the outcome. Soul because everything on this project came from the deepest, most unfiltered part of who I am. And truth because for the first time in my career, I’m not performing a version of myself that someone else shaped. This is just me, where I’ve been, what I’ve lost, what I’ve found, and where I’m going. Those three words feel like a promise I’m making to myself as much as to anyone listening.