There's a theory that every song has two lives — the one before release and the one after. The first life is the story of the artist and why they decided to write the song. The second life is all about the role it plays in our lives.
Started in 2024, Playlist Storytellers is a live show that lets you experience the second life of songs.
This is our inaugural show at JUNOS weekend in partnership with SOCAN.
Over the past two months our team found four incredible people with personal stories about a Canadian song that changed their life.
Over 75 minutes you'll hear four different stories from four storytellers, each involving a song from a Canadian artist. Once the story is told, the lights will go down and we'll all listen to the song together.
"It doesn’t matter what a song is about, what matters is what it means to us. We never forget the songs that made us feel something"
Our goal for every show is to get a group of storytellers with diverse backgrounds who are sharing stories about songs from different genres
A Renaissance man for the Digital Age, Cadence Weapon aka Rollie Pemberton is a rapper/producer/author with a list of accomplishments and credits so long - from receiving industry accolades for his music to receiving awards for critiquing this same industry in his writing - you might wonder what more is there for him to do.
The Polaris Music Prize winner is known first and foremost for his lyricism: charged commentary and cautionary tales of artificiality, tech-culture, classicism, gentrification, exploitation and more fit beside the self-aware chronicles of his own life and career. An award-winning columnist and contributor to urgent cultural conversations, 'music industry sage' Cadence Weapon represents the best of the west as Edmonton's former Poet Laureate.
Now based in Hamilton, Pemberton is poised to surprise his listeners yet again with the release of his new album, Forager.
Born in Toronto, Haviah has spent a lifetime developing her skills as a songwriter, vocalist, producer and performer, culminating in a style of profound introspection and authenticity.
2019 saw Haviah earn break-out success with her album ‘13th Floor’, an inaugural work chronicling the deep-seeded traumas of her ancestors - making her the first hip-hop artist and the first black woman to win the Polaris Music Prize, celebrating the “Best Canadian Album Of The Year”.
With praise from NPR, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and BBC Radio 1, and tours alongside artists like The Arkells and Sampa The Great, her reach continues to grow — including a recent collaboration with Connor Price that surpassed 60 million streams on Spotify.
Ben is an acclaimed musician, producer, content creator, writer and cat lover from Hamilton, Ontario. Ben got his start in the music industry as a show promoter in the early nineties.
Ben is known for fronting several Canadian punk bands such as the Juno Nominated Saint Alvia Cartel(2006) Rules (2013), The Video Dead (2002) and more.
Ben is the co-host of the popular Get Into The Weeds (ITW) Podcast which found international success in 2018. ITW is known for sharing how guests like Tommy Chong, members of Beastie Boys and Cypress Hill discovered cannabis.
Currently, Ben collaborates and produces out of Halo Music in Hamilton and has launched a one man show exploring the comedic side of existentialism called SLOWLEARNER (@slowlearnershow)
Hilary is a Toronto comedian with a sharp eye for the absurd. Known for her satirical take on everyday life, she's built a reputation on the Toronto comedy scene as someone who can make the most ordinary moment feel hilarious. Catch her on stage and you'll leave seeing the world a little differently.
Tor is a Hamilton artist whose creative practice encompasses music, performance, story-telling and visual art. His focus has largely been on socially engaged, site responsive artwork that address topics of mental health, particularly social anxiety.
He contributes to several collectives including TH&B (a contemporary art collective dedicated to site responsive sculptures and social actions) Hamilton Seven (a storytelling collective of artists who hail from different creative practices), and Tuesday Choir (a weekly singing group focused on the social benefits of communal singing). Recent activities include “New Wave Your Behaviour” a musical theatre piece that has been touring Canadian Fringe Festivals since 2023.
Tor will be premiering a new fringe performance work at the Ottawa and Hamilton Fringe festivals this summer
FAQs
Time: Doors open at 5:30pm. Show starts at 6pm.
Location: Sheraton Hotel Ballroom (116 King St W, Hamilton, ON L8P 4V3)
Seats: This is a seated show. Seats are on a first come, first serve basis
