What: Chantal Kreviazuk
When: Friday, 8 p.m.
Where: McPherson Playhouse
Tickets: $57-$68 at rmts.bc.ca, by phone at 250-386-6121, or in person at the Royal McPherson box office
A new album from Chantal Kreviazuk is on the way, which is big news for the Juno Award-winning singer-songwriter.
Though it will be her first full album in more than six years, Kreviazuk has not been idle of late. She has been loaning her songwriting services to other artists, leading to some A-level co-writing credits with Drake, Pitbull, Josh Groban and Jennifer Lopez. Her collaboration with rappers Kendrick Lamar and Jay Rock on the song Pay For It led to one of her biggest breaks yet, a 2014 appearance alongside the two on Saturday Night Live.
But as she finds the time to make music of her own again, the 41-year-old is taking stock of her life and career. Now living in Malibu, far removed from her Winnipeg roots, she credits much of her joy for life to the one she has created for herself with Our Lady Peace frontman Raine Maida, with whom she has three sons.
A home studio she shares with Maida means music is constantly being created. Both maintain careers of their own, so she is clearly having her musical cake and eating it, too.
“Some days I’m incredibly gung-ho and hungry to write a hit for someone else,” Kreviazuk said from her home office in California. “But other days, I’m like: ‘Wait a second. I need to do this for me right now.’ ”
That’s how she felt when she wrote her new single, Into Me, a love letter to marriage with Maida.
“It was a proclamation about maturity, and evolving as a human and as a couple. The work you put into a marriage, it’s kind of like motherhood — nobody thanks you for it, per se. But when you do the work, your partner thanks you for it. You start to feel the rewards. I wanted to translate that euphoria I feel into a song. I wanted to sing it.”
To date, the couple have been known individually as artists, but that is slowly changing: Her new project with Maida, Moon vs. Sun, debuted in May, and will be a going concern in 2016, Kreviazuk said.
The couple, who met in 1996 and married three years later, also have a growing reputation as humanitarians. They were jointly named to the Order of Canada in September, due in large part to their involvement with War Child Canada, a charity that helps children worldwide who are suffering in conflict zones.
“We’ve earned this place we’re in as a couple, and I’m so proud of that,” Kreviazuk said. “For Raine and I, it has happened incredibly naturally and organically and sincerely over time.”
Both were active in charity work before they met, but started to engage more as a couple once they were married. They travelled to Iraq in 2001 to film a War Child documentary marking the 10th anniversary of the Gulf War, one of their first joint humanitarian projects. Many similar trips have followed, and in 2014 they were given the Allan Slaight Humanitarian Spirit Award during Canadian Music Week in Toronto.
Kreviazuk thinks their ability to do charity work as a couple is a blessing.
“He would do some stuff alone and I would do some stuff alone, but we realized there was strength in numbers. When we came together and did a fundraiser, it was beautiful and it felt really good to be a team. That was a big turning point, because we could see ourselves co-operating as a couple and artists.”
Kreviazuk performs Friday in Victoria at the request of Community Living Victoria, which provides services and support to people with developmental disabilities and their families. Kreviazuk said she was honoured to be asked to perform at the non-profit organization’s annual fundraiser, having had some experience with the charity at a national level in the past.
She also has a personal stake in issues pertaining to mental health, having lost a boyfriend to suicide when she was 18. Kreviazuk has a brother who was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder 20 years ago, so she is acutely aware of the stress families often endure.
“I am somebody who comes from a family who needs support in areas where we do not have all the expertise … To take [someone in need] and give them a voice and bring dignity to their life, that’s one of the most honorable causes there is.”
She used to worry about how her charitable work would affect her career, both positively and negatively. No longer is she concerned with the opinions of others, now that she has grown as a sister, mother, wife and daughter.
“When things are coming from the belly, it’s who you are. This is who I am, this is what I stand for, these are my convictions, these are my passions, this is my inspiration.”