Canada’s JP Saxe is everywhere at the moment. His duet with Julia Michaels is flying high in the charts, he’s in every Sad Songs playlist on the planet, and he’s been spending the last few months working on what’s probably going to be one of the biggest albums of the year.
We had a chat with JP about life in lockdown, growing up in Canada, and the importance of a collaborative scene to any wannabe musician. 👇
You grew up in Toronto – how were you influenced by living in such a wonderful music city?
‘I don’t think I knew it at the time how lucky I was to be surrounded by a community of such incredible artists. There was a cool dynamic in the city where you were in everyone’s band. I played keyboards in one person’s band and then they’d sing in my band. Then we would write and play shows together, and even if the only people at the shows were the 20 people whose shows you went to, it didn’t matter. I think that camaraderie is the most important relationship a musician can have.
‘My grandfather was a classical cellist, so my early memories are surrounding him and classical music. I was lucky to have a grandfather who made the concept of a career in music not seem absurd.
‘That instilled this blind confidence in me that I could do this: people told me I was crazy to go into music and they still do! His mentality of what it meant to be an artist and the subtlety of what it meant to create music, he made it hard for me to ignore how special that is.
Were you on the path to becoming a musician since day one, then?
‘I wanted to be a baseball player for a second, but that probably ended around 2012/13. Then I wanted to work for charities when I was in high school. I thought I was going to spend my life working in activism, until when I was 18/19, I had the opportunity to come to LA and work on music. I took it and haven’t looked back since.
How has this time in lockdown been treating you?
‘Generally, it’s been lovely! It’s the first time I’ve spent this much time in the same city in forever. I’ve been watching so much Jeopardy and crushing all of my friends at online Scrabble; people are more enthusiastic than ever about board games, which is how I’ve been my whole life. Recently I’ve been productive and have been writing some songs I really love, as well as finishing songs for the upcoming project that will start to come out soon!
‘I think there will be a song out this summer, and I still want to get my album out before the end of the year. I have had to postpone tours, obviously, but in terms of releasing music I see no point in stopping! I miss playing shows for audiences who aren’t trapped in my phone, though – you can’t hear people singing along when they are doing it from their bedroom. But I did a stream for Amazon the other day on Twitch and there were like 23,000 people there: it was like playing a stadium, but it was not how I ever imagined playing a stadium!
Do you think having the ability to have this reach without having to go out on tour will change how things are done in a more permanent way?
‘I don’t think there will be less touring because there is nothing that matches that feeling. For my fans in North America and some parts of Europe, you are seeing way less of me right now because I would be out on tour; but, if you live in Turkey or Bahrain, you are seeing way more of me than you otherwise would’ve been. The effort to be more present with your fan base online makes you way more interactable for fans. I like these weekly shows and it is an opportunity to try out new songs and communicate more directly with the fans. I like talking to the audience when I’m on tour, but it takes a lot of confidence for someone to yell something to you at a venue, whereas on Instagram Live I can talk to anyone who can comment on the stream.
You’ve also just put out that Doctors Without Borders version of If The World Was Ending – how did that come about and what was it like collaborating with all these artists?
‘It was so fulfilling and so much fun! Julia and I saw some of our friends cover the song just by themselves and we thought about how we could use that for some good. Doctors Without Borders is a charity I have cared about for a long time. At the end of the video my friend Crystal speaks – we’ve been friends for a decade so was cool to collaborate on something like this.
‘She started working at Doctors Without Borders around the same time I moved to LA and staying in touch throughout our respective journeys has been extremely grounding for me. It was a colliding of worlds to do this – and, obviously, I thought in high school that I was going to go into activism, so it was nice to be able to do something like this.
‘When I was in high school, we’d put on shows. Each show would have a few artists and that show would support one artist’s cause, and we did it because wanted to build each other’s passion and encourage other artists.
‘When I moved to LA, we were hitting a ceiling with what we could do, but then I had the chance to come here and do this project on a larger scale and get bigger artists. So, to be 7 years later and have this project with so many people who are enthusiastic about this cause was an incredibly special full circle moment for me.
You’ve had an EP out for a few months now – what was it like to bring it on tour while you had the chance?
‘We did a few shows in North America and then I supported Lennon Stella in Europe. I got the thrill of singing those songs with an audience a few times and can’t wait to be able to again. That EP was an awful lot of life and experiences for me. They are songs from the last 2 years, and I picked these 6 as they show a trajectory both musically and personally. As for the tour itself, it was my first time touring Europe and it was insane! I talk about the Dublin show a lot as that was extra insane – the Glasgow show was special, too, as I was surprising Julia [Michaels] on tour.
Obviously, it’s hard to know what’s happening from one week to the next right now – but do you have any goals for the rest of the year?
‘I really want to touch my toes this year. I made it a goal for last year, but I think now that I’ve got all of this time on my hands, I need to finally do it. Also, putting out an album, I guess. I think if I can touch my toes and put out an album, 2020 will be a successful year despite the madness.
What have you been listening to recently?
‘The new Fiona Apple album is incredible. I’ve been revisiting a few childhood-defining albums for me, so things like Oscar Peterson, Rumours, Blue by Joni Mitchell. It’s fun to listen to albums from top to bottom and listen to songs in context.
If you curated a festival, who would your headliners be?
‘Julia Michaels, Frank Ocean, Stevie Wonder and Fiona Apple.
And finally, do you have a dream venue?
‘Massey Hall in Toronto! I can’t wait to play there – and, when I do, I’ll record that concert and put it out as a live album.