Toronto powerhouse Charmaine is boldly introducing herself to your music library
By Ime Ekiko
Pure talent, smart thinking, and a stroke of luck led Toronto rising star Charmaine to ink a record deal with Warner Music Canada. With her debut single “BOLD” freshly tucked into her expanding catalogue and an EP expected in early 2021, Charmaine isn’t slowing down anytime soon—in fact, she’s just getting started.
Last month, she spoke with SVGE Magazine about her beginnings, balancing her music career and parenthood, and the moment that she decided to be a bad bitch.
All photos captured by Spencer Edwards.
Can you give us a brief synopsis of your music journey?
I got into music around 2012. My family was in a tough spot. My dad lost his job, and we ended up losing our house. We moved into a shelter and then into a motel. All six of us—myself, my parents, my brother—were sharing the room. At that point, I knew I had to do something to get my family out of that situation and started praying about it.
Oddly enough, the next day, I logged onto my Facebook and saw a talent show. An A&R from Warner Music was supposed to be there. I missed the deadline, but I begged them to let me in, and they eventually did. I went inside, performed, and did my thing. It was almost like divine intervention because I had been praying and manifesting for myself.
I worked with the A&R for about two years, but after those two years, I started to question if music was really my thing. I was young and hadn’t had a chance to go through life, so when I was writing, I wasn’t really connecting with anything. So I took a break, went through some trauma, and came back in 2018 after I had my son. He was two at the time. I realized I had to show him that you have to use the gift that God gave you. If I can’t be that example for him, then I can’t preach that to him.
I quit my job as a makeup artist at Sephora. I focused on music and writing. I started at the end of January 2018. I sent the second song I wrote to the A&R rep for his opinion on how it sounded and he loved it. It’s been magical since.
Currently, who are you as an artist? How would you describe your artist persona?
Ultimately, I am an explorative artist. I don't feel like I have to stay in one box, and I don't feel like I have to keep one sound. My biggest thing is being creative with my voice, exploring the different tones, levels, and cadences that I can produce, and making that work in whatever it is I'm doing at the time. I think that alone has taken me so far.
Who were you before the music?
To be honest, everything that I've ever been into has been in the performance category. I started playing piano when I was eight. From then on, I was playing piano in church. I also sang in a choir in church, and I was the leader of the praise team. Eventually, I gave up on the whole singing and piano stuff and got into dance. I was doing a lot of dance talent shows and choreography. Ultimately, it's never been outside of the musical creative performance aspect ever.
“I just do what I want and I’m happy doing what I want.”
On the topic of your latest single “BOLD,” what is something that makes you feel courageous on any given day?
I'm really proud of the fact that I don't care about what people think about me. That's the best part. It makes me feel empowered. I am very empowered—very strong, very independent, and very bold—because I just do what I want and I'm happy doing what I want.
I don't care if anybody feels any other way about it. I think that's the most admirable quality that I've managed to manifest within myself.
How does one manifest that level of confidence? I'm an artist as well—a filmmaker—but I’ve always struggled with it. How do you ride that wave?
I was bullied a lot from elementary school up to high school, so I didn't have confidence in myself. I never thought I was beautiful, I never thought I was sexy, and I thought there wasn’t anything good about me until actually quite recently. And then I was like, “You know what? Why do I care about what other people say? Do they pay my bills? No. Do they do anything for my life other than criticize? No. So why am I allowing their opinions to affect me to the point that I don't see the value in myself?”
Once that switch happened, it was almost effortless. I was like, “Okay, forget it. I know I’m a bad bitch. I know you can't tell me anything, and I'm just going to move like that.”
Who is your main support system, and how have they helped you throughout your career?
Equally between my family as well as my label. A lot of artists don't have the privilege of seeing their labels like family. Because I've known Aryana for so long, I feel like there's more of a personal investment on their side into me. That helps me freely create and do what I need to do.
I feel so much better having an amazing support system on that side, as well as my family—I have a four-year-old son, and I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing if I didn't have my family looking out for me by helping out with him. Those two elements are definitely equal.
“ I know I’m a bad bitch. I know you can’t tell me anything, and I’m just going to move like that.”
How are you juggling your music and taking care of your son? I somewhat hate asking women this question because male artists rarely have to answer it, but I did just want to ask, as recent months have been especially demanding for most of us. What are some of the biggest challenges that you currently face and how are you pushing yourself to pivot past it?
I mean, it's difficult. It's very hard working during COVID-19 because I don't want to expose my son to anything or anyone that I've been around. I've had to stay away from him for quite some time now. That's the hardest thing, of course, because I'm his mom—he needs me, and I need him. What I'm doing is for the benefit of both of us in the long run, and sometimes, you just have to make those sacrifices to make sure that your kids are good.
I try my best to stay optimistic, and just keep my eyes on the prize because I know that all of this is for a greater purpose. I think the biggest challenge is just the fact that I'm not able to be present for my son everyday. That's a huge adjustment for me.
On top of that, I'm also very social, and I love being around people. It's been hard keeping to myself and not having that human interaction throughout this whole debacle. I'm just trying to stay sane until it's over.
How do you see yourself continuing to grow into your artistry? How do you see yourself growing into different genres and different sorts of experimental soundscapes?
I think it's more just just being open to trying new things. I don't want to be predictable. I don't want people to know what kind of song I'm going to drop next. I want people to ask themselves, “What is she going to do next?” I want to challenge myself. I want to try something completely different than what people would expect.
Being open, being explorative, being creative and being very non-judgmental to myself. Knowing maybe something might work, something might not. But at the end of the day, it doesn't hurt to try new stuff.
So what are your short-term goals and long-term goals? How do you view success as it pertains to your music?
Short-term, I want people to feel what I felt when I was making the songs—I want that to translate. In the long-term, I want to make an impact on people's lives. Just because life got the best of you at one point, it doesn't mean that you’re going to stay at that point. You have to make sure that you're pushing yourself, challenging yourself, and striving. You have to work your ass off to make sure that you can continue to elevate.
I feel like I'll be successful when I can change at least one person's life. I want one person who can say that they were in a terrible spot—that they had no hope and no faith in anything—until they saw me. They heard me. They listened to what I had to say and felt a sense of hope. Once I do that, I feel that I'll be completely content. Doesn't matter whether my career lasts a year, two years, or 10 years. I don't care. I just want to make sure that I can make a difference in somebody's life.
I want that to be the message behind my story: I came from nothing—absolutely nothing. Look at me now.
When you’re this committed to your goals, how do you engage with fear and failure?
If you have fear within your heart, you've already failed. You haven't even given yourself the chance to prove yourself wrong. That's the one thing I try my best to avoid. I don't want to be fearful because no matter what, trying doesn't hurt you. The worst case scenario is that it doesn't work, but it does not mean that you failed. It just means you tried, but it just wasn't for you.
If you allow fear to take over what you're doing, ultimately, that equates to failure because you didn't even try, you know? That’s just how I look at it.
“I want that to be the message behind my story: I came from nothing—absolutely nothing. Look at me now.”
You have a very unique style and a distinct fashion sense. How would you describe it? How did it come to be?
The one person I really look up to is Missy Elliott. She was so different for her time. When she came out, she was doing things that everybody else was afraid to do—like the whole latex trash bag. I don't want to wear the conventional stuff. I don't want to wear something that everybody else has.
I want to make sure that whatever I do put on and however I do present myself is always unique. It's always different, but it's also swaggy. It's stylish, and it makes people want to put it on, too.
What else can we expect from you? Any upcoming singles, EPs, or projects that you're dropping?
I'm in the process of working on my next drop, which will come in January. I have a couple more singles following and then my EP will be dropping March 2021. There's a lot happening and a lot coming. I'm not going to get into too much detail about what it is because I want people to be surprised. I want people to not expect me to do that, especially after this first drop I just did. It’ll be completely different. Completely different.
Do we have a name, or is it all hush hush?
Yeah, the title of my upcoming EP is Hood AvantGarde.