By Jim Barber
With profoundly evocative sense of melody, and true poet’s art for words, Gatineau, Quebec singer/songwriter Mia Kelly has become a bona fide creative force within the broader Canadian musical landscape.
Big Time Roller Coaster Feeling, released in the early summer, is Kelly’s third full-length album since 2022, and sees a refinement of her process, an opening of her artistic heart to new inspirational perspectives and a continually rising confidence in her ability to convey the depths and complexities of the human experience through her radiantly authentic and profoundly honest songcraft.
After a run of summer festivals, including a pair in the U.K., Kelly began her cross-Canada tour in support of the new album – for the first time accompanied by a full band – on Sept 16, with a run of dates in her home province. She then heads to the Maritimes before setting out west for shows in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.
Music Life Magazine’s Jim Barber spoke with Kelly earlier this summer, by the side of a river, which is one of her favourite locales (she’s an avid river surfer!). The interview has been slightly edited for purposes of clarity, flow and to avoid repetition.
MK – Nice to meet you.
MLM – Likewise. Where are you? You look like you’re in a park.
MK – I am. My car’s in the garage, so I’m waiting for it to be done, and I’m in Wakefield, Quebec, by the river, at a cafe. So that’s, that’s where this call finds me. My hair is wet because I just went for a swim on the river.
MLM – How long after the previous album [2024’s To Be Clear] came out did you start working on Big Time Roller Coaster Feeling, or are you always writing and then reach a point of critical mass where you go, okay, I’ve got enough for a record?
MK – The latter. I just put out this record and I already have a dozen songs that I’m eventually wanting to materialize, and whether that’s the next record or not is up for debate. It’s just an ever-flowing process, and it takes such a long time, from starting to make a record to getting it actually out in the world, that those weeks and months are still productive and you’re still doing a bunch of writing, at least I’m still doing a bunch of writing kind of all the time.
It’s not really confined to an album cycle or whatever, and even while I’m recording, I’m writing often more than I ever am going to release. Because of timelines, it’s like, oh, these songs can’t make it onto this record, so I will have to bump them to the next one. So there’s a lot of overlap, and some of the songs off this new record had been written five or six years ago, and just never made it onto previous projects because of the way that they’ve been approached, or they didn’t fit within the other batch of songs, or that kind of thing – or I’d completely forgotten about them. There’s one song on this new record, it just got buried, and then I kind of dug it out.
MLM – Like a bonus ten dollar bill in your pocket that you forgot, right?
MK – Exactly.
MLM – You kind of touched on us a little bit, but before you start writing, is there a specific approach or a tone or a vibe to the songs, or does that kind of develop through the process, and then you start?
MK – I’m never trying to tame a song into being part of the project that I’m making right now. I think the song will be whatever it is, and then whether it fits in thematically or emotionally or vibe-wise with everything else kind of comes later. But I’m never doing it intentionally, like, oh, ‘this record needs a couple more softer songs’ or whatever it is. I’m not writing with that in mind. Very little of my writing is intentional. It’s whatever just spills out, it’s whatever is on my mind, and it’s whatever comes out when I pick up any of the instruments that I’m writing on. Very, very infrequently is it like, ‘oh, I want to write a song like this, let’s do that.’
MLM – I think in the press material, you mentioned that this was the most joyful album that you’ve ever written, which is a vibe, in a sense. With that in mind, what would you say is the, what I kind of call the connective tissue that goes between all the songs to make the record, a coherent work?
MK – There was some very general intention to writing a lighter record, because I put out these two really thematically heavy records in the last four years, and my life in general is extremely good. I feel really happy, and feel really lucky, and privileged, and there’s a lot of life, and love, and light, and goodness in my life, and none of my set was kind of representative of that. So it wasn’t really a conscious thought, but I think in the back of my mind, I wanted to be writing a lot about those things.
And despite there being some heavy things on this record, there’re a couple songs about MAID [Medical Assistance in Dying], there’s songs about injustice, and privilege, and heavier topics. But there’s also this kind of light that shines through all of it. In the songs about MAID [‘Medicine,’ and ‘Le vent qui m’emmenera’] it’s about how peaceful and serene her experience leaving this plane was, and you know, there’s levity throughout all of it, despite the harder topics.
MLM – That’s interesting, because I think a lot of that kind of stuff, the way we react, and I’ve been in therapy long enough to know that a lot of the emotions we feel are choices, right? Like, we can choose to look at things like death, and stuff like that, and take on the more negative aspects of it, or we can reach for the light, or see the light through some of that, and see the strength, and see the endurance, and see that peacefulness, do you know what I mean?
There’s a lot of horrible things going on in the world, but like what Mr. Rogers said, look at the people who are running towards it, not the people who are causing it or revelling in it. I think our reaction is a choice, so it sounds like you’ve kind of, whether you did it consciously or subconsciously, it’s more the goodness that’s in you is coming through, even when, like you said, the subject matter is heavy, but the tone is still light.
MK – And I believe it’s a privilege to be able to see things that way, and to be able to carry that lens through your life. You have to come from a safe place that allows you to be open, and to see the positivity, and to see the goodness, and that’s also kind of a topic on the record. Look at all these great things, but also what privilege. It’s not something I take lightly, but it’s something I get to experience. I just wanted to have a lot more uplifting material in my catalog, and also to honour all the great things that have been happening in my life for the last couple years, whether that’s my community, or falling in love, or my family members: I have a song dedicated to my sister, I have a song dedicated to all the people in my life, my friends who help me feel grounded. A lot of it is kind of an ode to them.
MLM – One of the things I think that is a thematic element is reflections on the varied aspects and nature of love – the continuum of love, the different types of love. There’s unrequited love, the passionate love, the, like you said, the familial love. That’s at least the current that I picked up through it all on songs like ‘Sea to the Moon,’ ‘Time’s Easy to Blame,’ and the title track.
MK – Totally, totally, and also a through line is about the kind of spark that comes with all those kinds of situations, but also with creativity, and also with the kind of more whimsical, aloof aspects that weave in and out of my life. For example, I have a song that’s dedicated to my dreams, and how I have strange dreams. I think there is something weaving in and out of this album looking at the way that our lives kind of intertwine with creativity, and love, and connection, and community – all of those.
MLM – Is that song ‘Strange Cocoon?’
MK – Yeah. It’s a song about all the odd and reoccurring dreams I’ve had throughout my life. There’s a couple of dreams that I’ve had, like, over a dozen times throughout my life, which is such a strange thing.
MLM – You’re still very young, but in the music business, it takes a lot to get to that point, a third record. How do you think you’ve evolved as an artist and a writer over these three records?
MK – I think my tastes have changed. Also, I’ve now worked with three or four producers, so just your experience in being in a studio, knowing what you want, how you want to communicate that – you grow a lot through all of those processes and experiences. I certainly don’t think I’ve arrived at where I want to be, nor do I think that moment is ever going to really happen, but you’re always learning.
My first two records have a lot of other people’s stories within them. I’m taking other people’s perspectives and slipping into characters, and making up fictional narratives and stuff. On this third record, it’s a lot more personal, it’s a lot more from my perspective, and my lived experience, and my emotions. There are still times where I am putting myself in other people’s shoes, and I think there always will, because I find it really interesting to write from different perspectives, Since [the new album] is a lot more personal than past records, I got to be more vulnerable through that, I think.
MLM – It takes time to get to that point of vulnerability, it also takes trust, so obviously you must have trusted [producer] Connor Seidel [Charlotte Cardin, Half Moon Run] to allow you to get to that place where you could be vulnerable. What was it like working with him and what did he bring to the experience for you?
MK – I’ve wanted to work with Connor for a really long time. He’s made a bunch of records that shaped what I listened to in my teens – he’s been kind of on my vision board since I was 13. So to finally be able to work with him could have gone a couple different ways. He was, admittedly, on a pedestal, and it could have very much been a challenging, disappointing, balloon-popping experience, but it was the opposite. He was grounded, and kind, and enthusiastic, and came with a bunch of ideas, and was kind of overflowing with stoke for the project, and also emotional understanding. We had a few calls before we even got into the studio, where he had listened to the demos, and he asked me to walk him through what each song was emotionally, and where they had come from, what they meant for me.
And that kind of investment and interest from him to want to know what the heart and the core of the songs were, meant a lot, and changed a lot, I think, of how the recording of the songs went, because I knew that they were being carried really carefully by Connor.
He did a great job of making me feel heard, and then also kind of throwing me some curveballs in a way that good producers do, where, you know, you flip a song on its head, or you completely change something, or we take out the core element that you think is foundational to the song, and leave it bare boned, and you get to rebuild around it. There were a bunch of moments that were really eye-opening, and wonderful to work through with Connor. He was just fantastic. I have no bad reviews to give.
MLM – How has your actual writing process changed, and what is the current process? How do songs come together? How much of it is sweat equity, and how much of it is pure inspiration?
MK – Like I was saying earlier, very little of it is intentional, and it probably should be. I would like to cultivate a writing practice, because I know people who write every day, or wake up every morning, sit down, and get something out, whether if it’s good, or if it’s bad. That’s not how it’s worked for me so far. It’s just feels like the hiccups, where they come, and you can’t stop it, and it has to come out, and then it happens, gone, and you don’t know where they came from.
I think a huge part of it is cultivating the space in your life to be able to allow the doors to be open in your heart, and in your brain, and to have moments of quiet, and moments alone, and moments without your phone nearby. A lot of the time, when songs come to me, I’m surfing in the river, so there’s like no distractions, or whatever, and I have to run home, get my phone, and sing into my voice, like my notes, or my recording app.
It means there’s a kind of urgency that comes with my writing, where it just kind of feels like it’s all tumbling out, and sometimes it’s so quick that I’m like, ‘who wrote that?’ I don’t know. Other times it takes a little bit longer, and it takes some massaging, and there’s always different processes. I’m always writing, with words and melody coming at the same time, and then I’ll finally accompany them with chord structures, regardless of instrument. Often I need quiet, like when I’m driving, or when I’m in the water, or if I’m taking an evening, and putting it aside to do some writing, which helps too.
MLM – Tell me the story behind the title track – ‘Big Time Roller Coaster Feeling’. How did it come together?
MK – Yeah, that’s a fun one. It’s super like campy, and joyful, and poppy, and I wrote it when I had a fling a couple years ago. You know when you have a big crush, and like whatever they say, or whatever they do, makes your tummy turn, like you’re at the top of a roller coaster. So I kept saying that I have a roller coaster feeling, I was telling my friends about it, and then I just started writing the verse about how I met this one fling, and then once I’d written the chorus, I didn’t know where to go, and I was like, oh well I’ll just write about other times that I’ve had this feeling, so I kind of went through my life, and picked moments in which I’ve met individuals that have given me that feeling. It’s a fun little storytelling opportunity. Everyone’s had a crush, and I get everyone to sing it with me when I’m playing it live. Yeah, it was a fun one to write. It came really quickly.
MLM – The imagery too, is something I think that most of us can identify with, right?
MK – Totally, and I think it speaks a little bit to the nuances that are on the album, you know, it is the tummy lurch, and it is that amazing feeling. Like a roller coaster, there’s highs, and there’s lows, and there’s, you know, questioning, and doubts.
MLM – What about ‘Blind Horse,’ where did that come from, and how did it come together?
MK – The opening line I completely stole from a conversation that I had with a guy who works in the music industry. He and I were talking about how much power he has. He curates lineups for a festival, and we’re talking about how you have to be really careful when you are a cultural gatekeeper and the kind of balance that you need to have, and the awareness of that power. He said, ‘I got the keys to the city,’ and I’d never heard that expression before, and I really liked it, so I stole it. Then a couple of months later, I put it into ‘Blind Horse,’ which is essentially a song about privilege, and power structures, and all the inequalities that are kind of running rampant everywhere, and have for forever.
It was my acknowledgement of a lot of the privileges that I hold, and I think it came to be after I was witnessing genocide, and witnessing war, and witnessing, you know, these evil billionaires, getting up to evil billionaire things in the news feeds, and feeling really powerless. And also feeling guilty for getting to live my free, and creative and joyful life, all of it being a result of a completely random thing, which is who I was born to, and where I was born. So the song is a big reflection on all of those things, and the privileges we hold that kind of go unmentioned a lot of the time.
In terms of visibility and equity in the business, it’s still frustrating and it is getting better, but it’s not good enough. A lot of the granting systems will have structures that are put in place to implement diversity, but it doesn’t mean real equity and representation. You may have a person of colour or a woman on the lineup, but she’s on the tiny stage at 1 p.m., and is getting paid a fraction of what the headliner is. There’re a lot of festivals, you look at Ottawa City Folk as an example, and not to shame them at all, but a couple years ago, I remember there was two or three days in a row where on the main stage, there were no women, not one woman on the main stage, except for maybe like a violin player in the big male-led band. It’s always like, there are three women on the bill tonight, but they’re all on the side stage – the discrepancy is crazy.
MLM – I really like ‘Coin in the Cake,’ mostly because I didn’t think your generation had parents and grandparents who did that sort of thing anymore. I’m 57, and my grandmother did that when I was a little boy. How did that one come together?
MK – My grandma’s always done it; she’s done it since I was a kid. It always was, and still is, exciting and fun to find a coin in your piece of cake. We were always told that the person who had the coin, usually a toonie, was the lucky one. This song started with that imagery, and then I liked the idea of making my own version of the old song ‘My Favorite Things,’ [sung by Julie Andrews in the classic film The Sound of Music] with all the levity, and all the juicy good bits of life that are luck-based, that bring you a bunch of joy, and then equating those to my community, and my friends. So it’s a big love song to all the people in my life who make me feel lucky.
MLM – You’ve used the term community a few times in this conversation. What do you mean by community?
MK – I mean it in so many different ways. Within the music scene, there is a huge, tight, beautiful community that I feel a part of. Here at home, I am immensely close with my street, so we have, like, a street group chat, and there’s hangs on the street where we’re having breakfast, and we have parties – my neighborhood is really interconnected.
I’m a big part of a river surfing community that I lead social groups within and hangs. And my friends, they’re all interconnected. My parents have been really great facilitators, I was talking about this the other day, of community, and they’re both involved in the arts, and they’re both involved in community-based arts, and so they know the importance of being an active member of your community, and being an active member of your society, whether it’s tiny within your neighbors, or within municipality, within your town, and showing up, It doesn’t have to be all saintly or whatever, but just available and asking ‘hey, does anyone need a hand?’
If someone needs a hand, you know, gardening, or moving houses, we’ve always just shown up. Being a part of that has been huge to my life. I think community holds a million different senses for anyone, but I get to be at the intersection of a bunch of those, and it’s just the best.
MLM – Was there something, or someone in your life that led you to want to write those two songs about MAID?
MK – My dad is a documentary filmmaker, and he got asked two years ago to tell this woman’s story, someone he had known in high school, but lost touch with over 30 years. During those 30 years, she had been chronically ill, and chronically in pain, and she wasn’t dying, but she had chosen to end her life through the MAID program, and had reached out to my dad asking if he wanted to document the last three months of her life. Basically, it’s a lesser known kind of subsection of assisted death, where there is no imminent death, but you’re just unhappy with your circumstances, and your circumstances aren’t going to change. Not just anyone who can apply. It’s not loosey goosey assisted suicide. It’s very strict, but she fit within the parameters.
It’s still very controversial, and a lot of people disagree with the process. But my dad accepted, and followed her throughout the last three months of her life in 2024. It was the closest I’ve ever been to that kind of situation, and it’s a really hard thing to kind of wrap your head around – watching someone schedule their own end of life. But she was light-hearted about it all, and she was looking forward to it. It was a world that I’d never really been introduced to before and the doctors that a lot of people that we talked to say that as soon as patients decide to end their lives, and they choose the date, then their conditions improve, and their moods improve, and their life quality improves significantly, because they have such a burden lifted because they know that the end is near. They know that they won’t have to suffer for an undetermined amount of time. So to watch my dad kind of carry her and her story until the very end, and for him to find this friend and grieve her again was just such a beautiful process. It was really moving, so I thought I would kind of tackle it through my songwriting.
I had one song from her perspective, and then one from the perspective of her loved ones who had to carry her to the very edges of her life and then let her go. It was really powerful. it’s a beautiful and emotional documentary, and I think my dad did a beautiful job of telling her story from her perspective. He actually got her to narrate the whole thing, and it ended up being just this really jarring and beautiful and complex set of emotions.
MLM – What’s the name of the documentary, and what’s your dad’s name?
MK – His name is Randy Kelly, and the documentary is in French. It’s called Le Temps Qu’Il Me Reste, which translates to this is the time that I have left. I think there might be an English version available but I’m not sure.
MLM – ‘Stand Up Woman.’ Tell me about that song.
MK – ‘Stand Up Woman’ is dedicated to my big sister Lara. She and I are very different people, but also we’re like cut from the exact same cloth. It’s been really cool to see how different and similar we are growing up, as all siblings are. It’s mostly a song that’s dedicated to her moral compass and her intense and passionate need to defend what is right, and how I’ve been protected by that spirit of hers many times.
It’s been a beautiful thing to witness, and I think when we’re faced with situations that need confrontation, Lara kind of grows and expands, and I really very much shrink. I hate confrontation, and she’s very much a fighter, and will do that for anyone who is deserving of being defended, and she will defend what is right at kind of any cost, which has led her to be in hard situations, and has challenged her relationships with people. But she’ll do it because her moral compass is just so steady. So it’s a song about her and her heart, and how I’ve been protected by it.
MLM – Depending on how you emphasize the words and the grammar in the title it gives it a different meaning. If you threw a comma in after ‘up’ as in Stand Up, Woman, do you know what I mean? And if you hyphenate it to be like a stand-up comic, it’s a term that’s often used for men. ‘He’s a stand-up guy,’ In the context of the song, she’s a ‘stand-up woman. She’s consistent in her integrity and morality.
MK – Exactly, well put, and I think it’s been cool to play that song live over the last couple months because people will come up to me, and share – unprompted. I won’t necessarily talk about my sister when I’m introducing the song, but I had a woman recently come up to me and tell me that she was convinced that that song was about her grandmother, and how much it was reminding her of her grandmother, and how there’s so many women who are standing up for what’s right in spaces where they are the only ones brave enough and bold enough to do so. It’s kind of cool that I have my sister to embody that, but there’s so many women who also do.
Starting in mid-September, Mia Kelly will be embarking on an extensive, full-band tour in support of Big Time Roller Coaster Feeling. For more information on the album tour dates and more, visit her social media platforms or https://miakellymusic.com.
