Jessie Reyez

Jessica Reyez (born June 12, 1991) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Her 2016 single "Figures" peaked at number 58 on the Canadian Hot 100 in 2017 and was certified triple Platinum by Music Canada and Platinum by the RIAA. Her 2017 EP, ''Kiddo'', led to four nominations at the 2018 Juno Awards, winning Breakthrough Artist. Her follow up EP, ''Being Human in Public,'' was released in 2018. It won R&B/Soul Recording of The Year at the 2019 Juno Awards and was nominated for Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 2020 Grammy Awards. Reyez again won the R&B/Soul Recording of the Year, for "Feel it Too" with Tory Lanez and Tainy, at the 2020 Juno Awards, where she was also nominated for Artist of the Year. Reyez has written songs for Calvin Harris, Kehlani, Dua Lipa and Normani, most notably penning the hit " One Kiss", and has collaborated with Eminem on multiple occasions. Her debut album, '' Before Love Came to Kill Us'', was released on March 27, 2020, to widespread critical acclaim, and saw commercial success, entering at number thirteen on the US Billboard 200.

Early life

Jessica Reyez was born in the Jane and Finch area of Toronto, Ontario to Colombian parents. She was introduced to the guitar by her father, leading to a career in art and music. She played guitar as a child and began writing her own music in high school. Jessie and her family then moved to Brampton. After graduating, she opted out of college and instead chose to pursue her music while doing odd jobs on the side. In 2012, Reyez and her family moved to Florida, where she was primarily bartending and busking on the beach, but she returned to Toronto in 2014 after being accepted to The Remix Project's Academy of Recording Arts. At the Remix Project, Reyez was mentored by Daniel Daley, from Dvsn, and her music was heard by King Louie.

Career

Early career and ''Kiddo'' (2014–2017)

In 2014, Reyez and King Louie released a joint single titled "Living in the Sky", followed by a second single, "It Hurts (Selena)", in 2015. In early 2017, she released the single "Shutter Island" and toured Europe opening for PartyNextDoor. Her follow-up single, "Figures", was premiered by Zane Lowe on Beats 1 radio, alongside its music video. "Figures" peaked at number 58 on the Canadian Hot 100 in 2017 and was certified triple platinum by Music Canada.

In April 2017, Reyez released her debut EP, ''Kiddo'' as well as her short film ''Gatekeeper'', which addressed sexism and exploitation in the music industry. It specifically was based on her experience with music producer Noel "Detail" Fisher, who was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women, including artist Bebe Rexha. Kiddo peaked at number 83 on the Canadian Album Chart.

''Kiddo'' was placed on the Long List of the 2017 Polaris Music Prize and lead to four nominations at the 2018 Juno Awards (R&B/Soul Recording of the Year, Breakthrough Artist, Video of the Year, and Juno Fan Choice Award), where she won Breakthrough Artist. She also received two 2017 iHeartRadio Much Music Video Awards nominations for Best New Canadian Artist and Fan Fave Video for "Shutter Island". She was also nominated for two 2018 MTV Music Video Awards, including Push Artist of the Year and Video With A Message (for "Gatekeeper"). Reyez performed "Figures" at the 2017 BET Awards on June 25, 2017 and on ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' on August 8, 2017. Later in 2017, she signed a record and publishing deal with Island Records.

''Being Human in Public'' (2018–2019)

Billboard named Reyez one of the "10 Hip-Hop and R&B Artists to Watch in 2018". She also received a SOCAN Songwriting Prize nomination for the song "Cotton Candy". Reyez released her second EP, ''Being Human in Public'', and toured across North America. The EP won 2019's R&B/Soul Recording of The Year at the 2019 Juno Awards and was nominated for Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 2020 Grammy Awards. It also appeared on the short list for the 2019 Polaris Music Prize.

In August, Reyez collaborated with Eminem on "Nice Guy" and "Good Guy", from the album ''Kamikaze,'' both charting on the Billboard Hot 100 and appeared on the soundtrack to ''Fifty Shades Freed.'' On April 9, 2019, Reyez released the single "Imported" featuring 6lack, a re-working of a song off her last EP. The single was later certified Gold by both the RIAA and Music Canada. She also had a cameo in the Netflix film, '' Someone Great'' and appeared on '' The Lion King: The Gift,'' performing (with 070 Shake) and co-writing the song "Scar"''.''

''Before Love Came to Kill Us'' (2020–2022)

Reyez received her first Grammy nomination, when ''Being Human in Public'' was nominated for Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 2020 Grammy Awards. Reyez opened for Billie Eilish on her Where Do We Go? world tour, with some of the dates postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic. She was also booked to perform for the first time at Coachella festival, which was also postponed due to the pandemic.

Reyez released her debut studio album, '' Before Love Came to Kill Us'', on March 27, 2020. The album includes collaborations with Eminem and 6lack, with the deluxe edition including additional features from Rico Nasty, Melii, JID, and A Boogie wit da Hoodie. The album was preceded by the single "Love in the Dark" and also included previous singles "Figures" and "Imported". ''Before Love Came to Kill Us'' debuted at #13 on the Billboard 200 and was short-listed for the 2020 Polaris Music Prize.

Reyez was nominated for two awards at the 2020 Juno Awards: Artist of the Year and R&B/Soul Recording of the Year (for "Feel It Too" with Tory Lanez and Tainy), winning the latter award. The music video for Reyez's song "Far Away" won the 2020 Prism Prize winning the $20,000 award. Reyez was featured in Beyoncé's musical film ''Black Is King'', which premiered on Disney+ in July 2020.

Reyez is nominated for five awards at the 2021 Juno Awards: Artist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, and R&B/Soul Recording of the Year (for ''Before Love Came to Kill Us''), with two of her music videos nominated Video of the Year. She performed at the ceremony and won Video of the Year for "No One's in the Room", which was directed by Emma Higgins.

''Yessie'' (2022–present)

Reyez released her second studio album, ''Yessie'', on September 16, 2022. The album consists of 11 tracks, featuring one collaboration with former collaborator 6lack on the song "Forever".

Discography

Studio albums
*'' Before Love Came to Kill Us'' (2020)
*''Yessie'' (2022)

Tours

Headlining
* The Kiddo Tour (2018)
* Being Human in Public Tour (2019)
** "Far Away" had just dropped as a single, adding to the hype of her dropping her first full-length album. That energy invigorated these shows, shown by the mutual admiration and support between her and the fans throughout. Reyez debuted the song "Love in the Dark," before its official studio release, in this tour too. Not much information is accurately known about which show exactly it was where the song was revealed, however the prevailing information points to a show dated October 24, 2019 at The Novo in downtown Los Angeles, to a sold out 2,400 fan strong army of supporters. 6lack also made an appearance at this show, to perform a duet version of the song "Imported." The capability to sell out a show that big while touring the continent before the release of an album is highly noteworthy - as was her collaboration record with world renown multi-platinum artists. Her fans understood that they were witnessing the (unorthodox, see the "Gatekeeper" music video that has garnered 11 million views on YouTube as of 2022, or the associated short film) rise of a superstar.
* Before Love Came to Kill us Tour (2020)
** This highly anticipated show never saw the light of day, as it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, robbing her and her fans of experiencing the debut album live. However, Jessie did many "virtual shows" of sorts in this period, notably her acoustic live-streams on Instagram. Her enthusiasm and passion to perform was evident through the heartbreaking reality - as she poured her heart out to a social media audience one stream following the next. One thing that continues to be cherished about this experience is the way in which this opened up a means of intimate connection between Reyez and her fan base, creating many memories through joy and laughter and art, as well as through a show of vulnerability as the world processed an unprecedented time in history. This period saw a sizeable increase in her popularity and core fan group, as the outstanding full-length album solidified her status as a serious artist and performer.
* Yessie Tour (2022–23)
** This tour was in support of the artist's second official full-length studio release, released after a brutal pandemic period to her artistry and the whole of live music. Jessie showed growth and healing in this album and the tour, of likes unseen from her before. Her lyrics, performance, and outlook at life had changed to a more mature, self-loving one.
** This time, her first scheduled show of the tour in Orlando, FL, had to be rescheduled and transformed into an impromptu "surprise" acoustic show due to rainy conditions. Her LA show saw her selling out the Hollywood Palladium, standing at a capacity to hold 4,000 people, ~1.7x the number of fans seen in the same city 3 years prior. This is a historic venue that had previously hosted the likes of Jay Z, Frank Sinatra, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and most notably to Jessie - Lauryn Hill. Even Dr. Martin Luther King had given a civil rights speech there in 1965. The show coincidentally matched the 3 year anniversary of the BHIP tour LA show, being set on October 24, 2022. The following night, she went on to sell out SOMA, San Diego, CA - housing over 3000 fans. The tour also saw her sell out the House of Blues in Dallas, TX, Roseland Theater in Portland, OR, and the Van Buren in Phoenix, AZ, among others. She is set to perform multiple times in her home country of Canada, and in early 2023 she is set for a European tour with shows in Norway, Denmark, Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and England; continuing her tour with special guests Armani White, Nija, Sadboi, and Leila Dey. This is a true marker of her success and growth as an artist, especially considering she has multiple shows in some countries (3 in England, 2 in Germany) halfway across the globe from her place of upbringing. Her upcoming Amsterdam show is noteworthy in that it sold out many months in advance, setting distance, language, and culture aside to unite in the love and admiration of an incredible artist. At this point, it is only up from here for Jessie Reyez. Can she hear you say "YUH, YUH YUH!"? Yuh, yuh indeed to an incredible journey we get to experience.

Supporting
* PartyNextDoor – European Tour (2014)
* Halsey - Hopeless Fountain Kingdom Tour (2018)
* Billie Eilish – Where Do We Go? World Tour (2020)
** Jessie only played at 2 Florida shows in this tour, before needing the cancel the rest of them due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She was set to travel the world with Billie.
* Billie Eilish – Happier Than Ever, The World Tour (2022)
** Her travelling the world with Billie idea was fulfilled here, seeing her perform at 15 out of 21 shows in Europe (according to this page), 3 of which took place at the grandiosity known to humankind as The O2 of London. The crowds of up to 20,000 showed their support to the artist as she gave way to Billie. While that is no Wembley or Great Strahov, it is still an extremely enormous feat to perform at the O2. Besides, Jessie has already worked closely on several projects with an artist who has sold out Wembley ( Eminem) in her own right (see " Coffin," "Nice Guy," and "Good Guy.")

Awards and nominations

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Reyez, Jessie
1991 births
Living people
Canadian women singer-songwriters
Canadian singer-songwriters
Canadian pop singers
Canadian people of Colombian descent
Musicians from Toronto
Juno Award for Breakthrough Artist of the Year winners
Canadian contemporary R&B singers
Canadian soul singers
21st-century Canadian women singers
Juno Award for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year winners
Spanish-language singers of Canada
Canadian hip hop singers