Stacey Ryan is on fire. With a recent summertime feeling infused single “Deep End” and a string of headlining shows in major cities, this is a really exciting time for the Canadian jazz artist. “Deep End” slotted easily into my August playlist, the upbeat jazz energy makes it the perfect song for a pool party (as shown in the music video) or, in my case, the perfect song for a morning commute.
Before her LA show, I got the chance to hop on a quick Zoom call with Stacey and ask her about this era of her career.
Brigid: It’s great to virtually meet you! Thank you for taking the time out of your, I’m presumingly busy, day to hop on this call with me!
Stacey: Of course! It’s kind of a chill day, the Montreal show was not yesterday but the day before. So I’ve had a couple of days to chill at home and relax before going out to LA, so I’m glad we got to schedule something in the meantime!
Brigid: Sweet, we can jump right into it then! Congratulations on your single release, how are you feeling about it!
Stacey: Thank you! This has been the busiest release period of all the songs I’ve put out. I was doing shows at the same time it came out, so it was kind of hard to navigate around doing promo for the shows and promo for the song. Blending that all together to make it seem fluid… it’s a touchy thing. It was the best birthday of my life, that’s for sure! My birthday was the same day it came out. It was awesome. I’ve had releases before where just the song came out and that was that, but this one had so many other things. It was awesome.
Brigid: Could you tell me a bit about the track? It has a really funky sound, which I think is cool.
Stacey: Yeah! I did a writing trip back in LA in February, and “Deep End” came out of one of the first 5 or 6 sessions. I remember we wanted more of a Prince, Janelle Monae funky vibe, but also keeping it kind of in the pop space. But then also having these jazzy elements which I’m known for. Those cool, interesting snaps and percussion, we wrote the lyrics to kind of fit that. We went with cheeky, teasing lyrics. We found the pocket, and the song wrote itself super quickly.
Brigid: Totally, and I love the music video! It’s so fun, so summer. Can you tell me a bit about the video?
Stacey: So we had an amazing director, Nina Kramer. She has done “Don’t Text Me When You’re Drunk”, and “Fall In Love Alone”, the music video for “Deep End”, and another one that’s on the way. She just has such an eye for capturing… building a storyline… you can understand what’s going on in a story without it being fed to you. She has such a vision in her head. We would shoot the scene once and she would be like “great, that’s perfect, let’s move on.” That’s how it kept the day going smoothly. It was also just a fun pool party, swimming in the pool with a GoPro. We had an underwater picnic at one point, where we had to hold dumbbells to keep us underwater. It was a super fun process, and the whole team made the whole day just seem like a fun day, instead of like we were just working.
Brigid: Yeah, and it all came together really well. The final product really encapsulates the song.
Stacey: Definitely. I feel like when we went into it, and I saw the pool and the set, I was like “I want this to be like ‘Fabulous’ from High School Musical 2,’ with the cool choreography. People have been saying that in the comments of the video too. It got across, and I’m glad.
Brigid: Yeah, “Fabulous” but a little more jazzy.
Stacey: Totally.
Brigid: So your track “Don’t Text Me When You’re Drunk” kind of blew up on TikTok, what do you think about the role that social media has played in your career?
Stacey: Without social media, I probably wouldn’t be on this Zoom call with you right now! I owe a lot, especially TikTok. I had no idea what would happen if I posted that open verse, I didn’t know that would lead to me getting signed, or me moving out to Los Angeles. I had other viral moments happen before, but nothing quite like this one. It was kind of overwhelming, but it’s given me the push. These days, social media plays a huge role in people getting discovered, which I think is awesome, and I owe a lot to TikTok. Now, look at me! I’m playing sold-out shows! It’s a dream.
Brigid: And you’re so young too! You just had a birthday, are you 22 now?
Stacey: Mmm-hmm, 22!
Brigid: I’m also 22, I’m right there with you. How has it been, navigating the industry so young?
Stacey: I’m not going to lie to you, it’s been very difficult. The creating part, the promotion part… it’s all so much fun, but it’s so much work. I think people tend to overlook it, because they’re like “oh, you’re living your dream, that’s what you want to do”, and they’re right. But traveling a lot… I’m a huge homebody, 100%, so going here, there, and everywhere and not having a day to just do nothing was a big shock. Something I’ve never done before. I’m still not used to it, I had a period where I was feeling like I almost burnt out. I was like “I don’t need to sleep or eat, I can just work! And it’s fine!” You need to know how to have balance. That’ll make it so that you can do all this crazy stuff, but then when you get home you have time to relax and stuff. I’m going to be navigating this for a long time, and I’m already kind of getting used to it, in a way. It just takes time.
Brigid: It’s definitely a huge adjustment, for sure. So circling back to your sound, you have a lot of jazz influence. How did you end up in that sonic space?
Stacey: Going to jazz school definitely helped. In high school I was in an intensive music program, I played trumpet in band and I was in the jazz band. That’s where I was first introduced to music that isn’t on the radio. That sparked that interest in me, and I met friends who were listening to kinds of music that I had never heard before. Then when I went off to CEGEP, I definitely met tons of new people and listening to new music. I was going for jazz, so we had to learn blues and bossa nova, all that kind of stuff. Learning all these kinds of music made me appreciate them that much more. When I got to CEGEP, I started listening to Hiatus Kaiyote, Erykah Badu, these artists I had never even heard about. I was like, this is fire. That’s more like neo-soul R&B, but I was also listening to Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, all those people. They all blended together to make this pop/jazz/R&B. I don’t fit into a certain box of doing the same thing, which I think is kind of cool because I can branch out into all these different things.
Brigid: I think your sound is pretty unique, and it’s cool that you can lean into those different genres depending on the song. Tell me about these shows you’ve been doing, you have your last one of this little string of them, how has it been being on the road?
Stacey: Honestly, I had so much fun. This is only my second time doing shows consecutively. The only other time I did it was when I was opening for Lawrence. We were playing in places like Bloomington, Indiana, which are towns that I have no connection to. But these three shows, the first one was in New York City on my birthday, which made it that much cooler. The record label came out, so I had a connection there.Then I came home to Montreal, which is my home, so my family and friends were there. It was a really grounding moment. I was also playing with my friends from LA, so it kind of blended those two worlds which I thought was really cool. Then the last show is in LA, which is where I live now, so all my friends from there will be coming. All these cities that I did these shows in, I have a personal connection with. It’s been awesome, and the shows have been going really well too.
Brigid: That’s awesome! So just to wrap up, you’ve had this single release, and you’ve had this leg of shows, what’s upcoming for you, if you can share anything?
Stacey: More music on the way for sure! We have been working nonstop to get new music out. We have such a fun time creating it. That’s the stuff behind the scenes that you don’t see, how long it takes to get a song out. I really enjoy that process. I’m going on tour with Joshua Bassett, it was supposed to be in October but they got rescheduled for next year. It’s still on, I think! It’s still in the plan for now. We’re trying to get more headlining shows, because headlining shows are awesome. My first headline show was in Paris, that’s crazy too. Now, playing a headline show with a band and backing tracks… I feel so legit. I think it’s so fun. More music, more shows.
Listen to “Deep End” here!
