 © VX3 Exchange Inc. By Alexandra Few Happy New Year, Toronto! What better way to celebrate the new year, by adding some new music to your music playlist this year? Check out these 10 local Toronto artists that you need to keep your eye (and your ears) on in 2019. 1. EBHONI  © EBHONI | Twitter Born and raised in Toronto, Ebhoni has a variety of songs that mix different genres together, such as R&B with dancehall, and electronic elements. With recent releases such as Street Lights, Warning, and Opps, hopefully we can expect 2019 to be full of more releases! Check out her SoundCloud account here. 2. The O’Pears  © The O’Pears The O’Pears, a Toronto-based trio made up of Lydia Persaud, Jill Harris, and Meg Contini, create contemporary folk music that gives off the exact feeling you want from this type of genre. Their beautifully curated tracks can be best demonstrated in their debut EP titled Like Those Nights, and with their most recent release Stay Warm. Group member Jill describes the groups future plans for 2019 as: “Touring [for] our new album for the first couple months of the year, mostly through Canada but we’ll be playing a festival in Miami… we also have plans to record an EP and have a spring tour in the works.” Check out their SoundCloud which has a variety of singles from them, as well as their most recent music video for One Day. 3. J-Soul  © officialjsoul | Instagram Toronto’s J-Soul creates tracks that mix his rapping and singing talents to produce R&B/Soul singles and EP’s. His most popular song, Slow Wine, has over 14 million plays on Spotify, along with other high-ranking singles. Signed to Cash Money Records, J-Soul is linking up with a lot of big names, so we can only expect more music in 2019. His most, especially with his recent releases include Dark Clouds, Thunderclap, Love Me, and Mod Ting. Check out J-Soul’s SoundCloud account for his most recent EP titled L.I.S.A, and check out his music videos here. 4. Charlotte Day Wilson  © Exclaim! |Norman Wong Toronto based artist Charlotte Day Wilson, creates a blend of R&B, folk, and jazz tracks, and has recently released her second EP, Stone Woman. In Charlotte’s first EP, CDW, the song Work was nominated for the SOCAN Songwriting Prize in 2017, and was a longlisted nominee for the 2017 Polaris Music Prize. With over a million monthly listeners on Spotify, Charlotte is making it big, with her most played song at over 16 million plays! Charlotte was even featured on Toronto-native Daniel Caesar’s single Transform, released in 2017. Look out for more singles produced by Charlotte, and check out her SoundCloud along with her official music video for Stone Woman. 5. Anders  © Noisey - Vice Toronto born recording artist anders has made a global name for himself. As he mixes elements of pop and R&B to create tracks that have charted on iTunes and have been featured on Spotify’s New Music Friday playlist. With an array of singles, and his latest album titled Twos, anders is continually pushing out tracks that have hit great numbers. With over 4 million monthly listeners on Spotify, and with his most recent collab for the song Love No More, which has over 37 million hits, anders is definitely someone to follow in 2019. Check out his SoundCloud here. 6. ShaqIsDope  © Grungecake ShaqIsDope is a hip hop/R&B artist, and his most recent self-titled EP provides listeners 7 songs that offer personalized verses. The name ShaqIsDope is based off of the famous basketball player Shaquille O’Neal, who actually joined him as a for a collaboration for in a remix of Karate Chop by Future, after hearing his songs online. His most recent releases include Know The Feeling, Cold as Ice, and Promise which are already gaining doing numbers on Spotify. Recently hinting on his Twitter about future plans, ShaqIsDope tweeted: “My next body of work bout to be crazy” so hopefully 2019 is going to be a year of more growth and new projects! Check out his music here. 7. Saya  © Flare | Matt Adams Saya is breaking the boundaries in the pop world in the best way possible, by releasing music that is influenced by many different genres. This blending of sound has led her to releasing many singles, such as her debut single Wet Dreams that has over 4 million plays on Spotify. With an assortment of released singles since, and two recently released EP’s with 7 songs each, Saya is a name that needs to be added to your playlist. Check out her SoundCloud, and her most recent music video for her single The Moon. 8. Shagabond  © Red Bull | Anthony Tuccitto With over 189,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, Toronto producer Shagabond has released a collection of singles and and has most more recently, he has teamed up with LA artist Noah to create even more music. Shagabond’s music has an electronic sound, and after teaming up with Noah, the two have created skillfully laid out tracks that offer a fusion of genres. Shagabond describes teaming up with LA vocalist Noah for his second EP titled, Everything, All at Once, “So far I’ve been really happy with the response we have gotten.” The EP features his more recent singles, Arouse, Genuine, and Steam, along with an Intro and 2 additional songs. For 2019, Shagabond says: “I’m looking forward to following [the EP] with some collaborative singles and another solo EP sometime in the New Year.” For more of his work, check out his SoundCloud here. 9. Tasha the Amazon  © HipHopDX | Instagram | TashaTheAmazon Tasha the Amazon is a hip-hop musician that has released a variety of tracks that highlight her strength as a rapper, and most recently released her latest single, Intercontinental. Her debut EP, Die Every Day, that features 8 songs, was nominated for Rap Recording of the Year for the 2017 Juno Awards. She was also the first female artist to win the 2017 MuchMusic Video Award for Best Hip Hop Video for her song Picasso Leaning, which was released in 2016. Keep an eye on Tasha’s music, as 2019 might be the year for new singles or possibly a second EP. Check out Tasha’s music here, as well as her award-winning music video. 10. Savannah Ré  © Noisey – Vice | Janick Laurent Singer and songwriter Savannah Ré creates R&B tracks that have been gaining a lot of traction lately, especially as of late, as she was the opening act for Jessie Reyez’s 2018 North American tour. Her latest single, Best Is Yet To Come, already has over 200,000 plays on Spotify. Although she has been releasing music for a couple of years, 2019 may be the year of more releases, especially with the tour behind her. Check out the audio to her latest single down here, and be sure to add Savannah’s music to your playlist. There is so much talent cultivated from Toronto, so why not show some love to fellow Torontonians by adding songs from the above artists, and those beyond this list. Make it your New Year’s resolution to expand your music taste and broaden your horizon to new local artists and sounds.
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