
When we reach Chantal Kreviazuk, she is in Sweden recording her 11th studio album.
The story of this album – which may be named Monster or possibly Rockstar Joy – begins with, well, Beyoncé.
Said megastar released a cover of the Dolly Parton hit “Jolene” on her country album, Cowboy Carter, and when Kreviazuk heard it, she was immediately inspired.
“She lent herself to this one little lyric that piqued my interest,” Kreviazuk says, “It was ‘I raised that man, I raised his kids.’ She was talking about marriage and it sounded very personal to me. I went to the piano and I wrote this song.”
She played it for her husband, Our Lady Peace frontman Raine Maida. “And he said, ‘you should go demo that right now.’ It was a sign that something was there.”
She sent the demo to Stockholm-based producer Eric Rosse and a few months later she found herself in Sweden, recording an entire album.
When we talked, Kreviazuk was leaving Sweden the next day. Next up for the three-time Juno Award, and Grammy Award winner is her tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of her 1999 double platinum album, Colour Moving and Still.
It’s been a pleasure revisiting music from her early recording days, she says. “I love listening to this album and going back to it.”
Her three sons like to play her older songs, she says. “I don’t think I would necessarily listen to my old music that much but the kids, they’re so cute, they say ‘Mom, do you know, if Taylor Swift heard this, this would be her biggest hit? Send it to her!’ It’s so funny.”
She’s already done one scaled-down version of the tour’s show. “It just felt like putting my foot in an old shoe. It’s so rewarding and fulfilling to play all the songs. I feel like I can own them more now, almost, than then.”
Colour Moving and Still includes Kreviazuk’s well-known recording of “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” which was featured on the blockbuster movie Armageddon starring Bruce Willis and Liv Tyler. It also includes “Before You,” one of the biggest hits of her career, which was inspired by her husband, Raine Maida.
The first songs the two wrote together, “Dear Life,” and “Little Things,” are both also on the album.
Beyond writing her own songs or co-writing with Maida, Kreviazuk has also written songs for or collaborated with artists including Kendrick Lamar, Christina Aguilera, Drake, Pitbull, Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, Britney Spears and Josh Groban.
“It’s neat because you write so many songs and well, I’m not able to be the vehicle for all these songs,” says Kreviazuk. “I get to get out of myself for a little bit and get into somebody else’s head a little bit and it’s cool.”
Kreviazuk has concerts scheduled for September 26 in Camrose, September 27 in Sherwood Park and December 7 in Calgary. All the details are on her website.
“Before You” from Colour Moving and Still: