One of the first things that Montreal-based musician Shay Lia will tell you about herself is that she’s shy. It seems like an absurd contradiction—a shy musician?—but she says it with genuine conviction. She has always loved music but hid her voice from everyone, even her family, until she was about 18. Growing up in Djibouti (on the northeast coast of the Horn of Africa), a place where not many big-name international artists make tour stops, she never considered a career in the industry. But that changed when she moved to Montreal to study and became friends with some of the city’s brightest music creatives, including celebrated Grammy-winning producer and DJ Kaytranada. Eventually, he asked her to collaborate, and the rest, as they say, is history. The pals dropped their hit track “Leave Me Alone” back in 2014, and Lia has been navigating the industry as a blossoming indie artist ever since, winning a Polaris Music Prize nomination and a coveted nod on Michelle Obama’s #BlackGirlMagic Spotify playlist along the way. Her latest EP, last year’s Solaris, was her most daring move yet. Instead of sticking to her slick R&B roots, she pivoted away from a collection of songs she says were good but not exciting and went for a global, Afropop-inspired vibe. And that is what’s most intriguing about Lia: Rather than succumb to that self-proclaimed shyness, she isn’t afraid to push herself out of her comfort zone to see what will happen.

When OVO Sound—the record label co-founded by Drake—signs a new act, it sends a (figurative) alarm blaring through the streets of Toronto. Who better to vouch for an artist, after all, than the King of the 6ix himself? That’s not to say that dvsn, the critically acclaimed R&B duo made up of vocalist Daniel Daley and producer Nineteen85, needed the extra boost: The pair were already on their way to stardom before officially joining OVO in 2016, having gained recognition for their soulful crooning backed by understated production. The duo released their third album, the emotional and meditative A Muse in Her Feelings, last spring, joining the boom of local artists, like Jessie Reyez and The Weeknd, who were doing the same despite a bevy of pandemic-related delays. The LP garnered critical buzz, landed them on best-of-the-year lists and on the long list for Canada’s prestigious Polaris Music Prize and led to seven sold-out drive-in concerts. They launched 2021 with a brand-new EP, Amusing Her Feelings, which they describe as “a continuation” of their most recent LP. The lead single off the sultry four-track compilation is an eyebrow-raising, genre-bending mash-up of seminal Kings of Leon hits “Use Somebody” and “Sex on Fire”—an indication that dvsn has no interest in adhering to any established music “rules.” Consider Toronto conquered. Next stop? The rest of the world.

In recent years, it hasn’t been unusual to see Toronto singer-songwriter Ralph on lists of local musicians to watch. She has built a fan base across the country for her glossy disco-pop tunes and ultra-trendy (but completely distinct) aesthetic. Her sound is modern yet still a throwback to an era of vintage pop (she counts Cher, Donna Summers and Sade among her influences), so it makes perfect sense that the Juno-nominated artist has toured with the likes of Carly Rae Jepsen. Now, with two EPs and a full-length album to her name, Ralph is ready for her next big move. The song-stress recently launched her own label, Rich Man Records, initially as a way to carve out space for Canada’s booming indie-pop scene. Although the pandemic has forced her to temporarily pause some of her plans for the label, one thing remains unchanged: It is a way for Ralph to take greater control of her own music. Through Rich Man Records, she will own her masters, plan her own releases (keep an eye out for plenty of new work this year) and sit comfortably in the driver’s seat of her own career. Soon we’ll be saying “It’s Ralph’s world; we’re just living in it.”

Toronto rapper DijahSB has been quietly prolific for years. They have been on the scene for a decade now, consistently dropping raw tracks with whip-smart lyrics. The MC—who started out under a different name in 2011 as part of a duo—doesn’t shy away from anything. They can transition from punchy pop-culture references to earnest, revealing moments about everyday struggles with life and mental health, all while maintaining an appealing air of cool confidence. DijahSB aims to be inspirational without being preachy, using their music to grow, soothe and express hope. The indie artist dropped their debut full-length LP, the relatable and catchy 2020 the Album, last summer and quickly followed it with an EP, Girls Give Me Anxiety. And DijahSB isn’t slowing down: They have more singles planned for release throughout the year plus yet another full-length album set to come out in April. But don’t think for a second that their non-stop output is affecting the quality of their work. They have won spots on a number of critics’ lists and a shout-out from personal inspiration Kid Cudi, and they’ve been named an artist to watch by Complex, Amazon and Spotify (on which they rack up over 120,000 listeners each month). People are finally starting to notice. DijahSB puts it best on their Facebook page: “Catch a ride on the DijahSB bus before it’s too late.”

If you’ve spent any time on TikTok in the past year, you’ve heard JP Saxe’s voice. His melancholy duet with singer-songwriter Julia Michaels, “If the World Was Ending” (which was produced by Billie Eilish’s brother, Finneas), debuted in late 2019, but the apocalyptic love song took on a new life last spring during the first phase of COVID-19 lockdowns, playing in video after video on the app. “The song is making people feel closer to themselves and closer to the people they love because of the emotion that’s in the song,” the Toronto-born artist told Billboard about the tune’s new-found resonance. But make no mistake: Saxe is more than a viral meme. He and Michaels got a 2021 Grammy nod for Song of the Year, and amid all the attention, he released his highly anticipated debut EP, Hold It Together. The journal-like six-track compilation is a true showcase of talents, combining both his heart-wrenching lyrics and his surprisingly rich voice. Although Saxe hasn’t been on the scene long, he can already count A-list talents like Sam Smith, Demi Lovato, Maren Morris (whom he teamed up with for a new single back in January) and fellow Canadians Shawn Mendes and Alessia Cara among his fans. And that’s all before we’ve even heard his debut full-length album, which is expected to be released sometime this year.

Mustafa is no stranger to the public eye. Throughout his adolescence, the Torontonian was known as “Mustafa the Poet,” beloved for his brutally honest and powerful spoken-word poetry even at a young age. (A performance he did of his poem “A Single Rose” went viral when he was just 12.) He was the poet laureate at the 2015 Pan Am Games and was appointed to the Prime Minister’s 2016 Youth Council. His poetry was even embroidered on pieces in Valentino’s fall/winter 2019/2020 collection. But the artist took his time transitioning to music, starting behind the scenes by writing for industry powerhouses like The Weeknd, Camila Cabello and Usher. Now, at 24 years old, it’s time for Mustafa (“the Poet” has been dropped from his moniker) to step into his own spotlight. He released his debut single, “Stay Alive,” last year; it is both a delicate plea to his friends to stay safe and a mourning of those he has lost to violence, and it almost feels too raw in its grief for public consumption. When Smoke Rises, his first LP, is expected to continue in the same vein as “Stay Alive” when it drops this year; a rousing dedication to lost loved ones, it’s an exploration of loss and the complexities of his experiences. It’s deep, thoughtful music, and Mustafa did it his own way—just as he always has.

Anachnid—Oji-Cree artist Kiki Harper’s stage name, which is derived from her totem, the spider—had only a handful of songs out when she won SOCAN’s prestigious Indigenous Songwriter of the Year award in 2019. But it was a clear indication to the Montreal-based artist that she was on the right path. Anachnid started composing as a teenager but felt like she and her talents weren’t being seen while she was attending a non-Indigenous high school. She stepped away from music for nearly a decade but was lured back into it when she attended a workshop held by a Montreal-based Indigenous-music non-profit, Musique Nomade, a couple of years ago. She then got to work on her debut album, the haunting and innovative Dreamweaver, which dropped last year and landed her on the long list for the Polaris Music Prize. Her music is a fascinating, sensual blend of trap, indie, hip hop and electropop that draws on her Indigenous heritage and explores themes of injustice, race, colonization and capitalism. For the young artist, it’s just the start of the beautiful, evocative web she’s weaving.

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