Elizabeth Boland, professionally known for her second name, Lowell, is sitting in a small study by Toronto. The room with wooden panels can be small, but it is where it has created many of its successes, and it shows.
In front of her, she feels a juno and a graded gold record for the beaches’ CULP MY EXthe album she copdoduo and the successful song, Blame Brettthat she co -written. To his right there is a Wurlitzer electric piano, which, he says, is like the one that brought on a tour for one of his three albums acclaimed by critics.
To his left there is a public relations person, with a touch that tells the story about the moment when his five -year -old son asked Lowell how Beyoncé smells (the answer was not surprising: it smells very well).
And in his lap there is a guitar, which is currently used to play the song that captured the attention of that child, no less the rest of the world: Texas keeps them. The Soul/R & B/Country song of Melding Genre helped to launch country to return to The stratosphere of pop cultureBeyoncé Finally on the Grammy stage for the album of the yearand several Canadians in the relatively equivalent stage of Canada in March.
“I joked that, you know, if they didn’t do this category this year, I was going to get angry,” Lowell says about the new composer category without performance in Junos.
She is prepared for this this year for co -writing both Cowboy‘s Texas Hold them and Bodyguard (as well as to co -write the song of the beaches One is needed to know one). That nomination occurred shortly after sharing two Grammy nominations with Beyoncé for the best song and the best country song.
“Because if I have a Grammy [nomination] Before getting a juno, that would be quite bad. Know?”
In his ‘older sister’ time
Half chin exhibits Lowell’s typical temperament, a woman whose feminist and possessed lyrics mixed with occasionally heartbreaking and sad arrangements have come to color some of the greatest songs of pop music. It is likely that these qualities are extracted from the experiences of life: a promoted trust combined with natural sensibilities (it has a perfect tone and synesthesia, a neurological condition that is not uncommon among artists) He pushed her into music in a family of non -musicians.
Then, abandoning a classical music program, years of intermittent work, unreliable and not reagrable outside the industry, and a critically praised debut album but commercially attacked, left it something bored.
Her experiences with these difficulties have found their way in her music, guiding her to what she calls her current “elder time.” He has pushed her to protect and guide the songs and careers of musicians such as Hailee Steinfeld and Madison Beer – Lowell wrote much of the EP of Steinfeld Written average history and helped write almost all Beer’s album Life support. And she is also developing the next New Scotland artist Baby Nova.
When you are in a room with her, you can’t avoid noticing that she has a little sensitivity of iron damn. She is kind and fun, but it is not the type that is sensitive on delicate issues.
When a lateral conversation appears around a particularly thorny theme for musical nerds, if learning music theory is so important to create great songs, you don’t have to think much about an answer.
While it is more inclined to follow the most contemporary and pop -oriented thinking schools than classical techniques when elaborating songs, the theory always has in mind. It means that, although creators who have no knowledge of the theory may need to trust fleeting inspiration when they have days outside the days, Lowell can resort to their training to expel something good enough to get to the next opportunity.
When it is pointed out that some musicians feel that academic thinking and guided by the theory gets in the path of an organic connection with music, finds it fun. People with that opinion about music, says, are probably not in work studies as often as she.
“I am a fighter. I love to shake the pot a bit,” he says later, laughing. “Always bromeo, as, ‘I don’t necessarily like, but sometimes respected.'”
Agrrid Victorias
It has been a hard respect. And although he presents his lack of Junos as a joke, there is a bit of truth there; It is not bitter, she is quick to notice, but something close. Because while spending his decade in the industry writing songs for big names such as The Backstreet Boys, Charlie XCX, Jojo and Demi Lovato, Lowell’s name has been slower to establish himself.
When it comes to established artists, especially Americans, that is more or less waiting. But what was most difficult was to see the Canadian artists for whom he wrote: Tate McRAe, Bülow and yes, the beaches, obtaining praise and awards from their country of shared origin.
Bülow’s victory in Junos 2019 for the EP Damaged And his double platinum single It is not a love song It is a particularly difficult memory for Lowell.
“It was bittersweet … being there, destined to celebrate it, but it will not be allowed to be celebrated for it,” says Lowell. Because, even while stressing the joy he felt for his collaborator, that moment highlighted the Canadian composers of ceiling intractably hard they often crashed.
“I co-written that all EP with her and felt that, you know, all the creators behind him needed to be rewarded, not just a couple of selected people,” he says.
“That was when I really began to think about this category and if I needed to change.”
Composer Elizabeth Lowell Boland received two Grammy nominations for her contributions to Beyoncé’s song “Texas Hold ‘Em”. The song has been nominated for Song of the Year and Best Country Song.
Change the game
That thought first translated into a common strategy for Canadian composers: move to Los Angeles, where it seemed necessary to find work and recognition.
But after movement and constant success, its strategy changed. Instead of accepting the gloomy perspectives that are offered for composers in Canada, he thought, why not work to change them?
“The way Canada does not adopt its own talent can be a bit deterrent to stay,” he explains. “I went there, but I think it’s back, I realized that you can make more changes. You can’t simply escape things all the time.”
Now, the category that has defended for years finally exists. And its existence means that while Canadian companions Shawn Everett and Jack Rochon compete for their work as producers of CowboyShe and her Canadian Texas keeps them The coguionist Nathan Ferraro also addresses the largest music night in Canada for his chance in a Juno.
To be fair, she already picked Billboard Canada Inaugural Composers Prize without performance last year. And if he wins in Junos, he already has his speech (with planned fingers). As this year’s grammy winner, Amy Allen, who regretted that it is only the third year of its composer prize without performanceShe would recognize and thank all the composers who came before her.
But more than that, Lowell wants to continue fighting for composers who do not want to flee from the south.
“My hope is that people can stay here,” he says, while admitting that the competitive nature he learned in Los Angeles helped her return home. “I hope to bring that nature here, mention talent here … so that people, at least, do not have to go so early to find their way, you know?”
