“Being Human in Public” is Reyez’s second EP, in which she says the gritty lyrics come from experience. Courtesy of Wikimedia
By Dinorah Prevost
When Canadian singer Jessie Reyez hit the stage at the Orpheum on Saturday, she played her second show on tour, which brought her back to Florida, her second home.
Known for her outspoken lyrics about relationships, the Toronto-born Reyez lived in Fort Lauderdale for two years.
Originally from Colombia, her family’s 2012 move to South Florida was years in the making. They emigrated from Toronto where they lived before their American visas were approved.
“My dad’s been wanting to come here since I was born and it took 16 years to get approved to come to Florida and live here,” Reyez said.
She remembers four things about living in Fort Lauderdale.
“The warmth, the culture, the food, the beach,” she said.
After high school, Reyez, 27, worked a series of odd jobs in Canada and Fort Lauderdale. She was a cashier at Pizza Pizza, a Canadian pizza chain, and a bartender at Bongos, a Cuban chain restaurant, among other jobs.
“The time that I spent at Bongos working behind the bar, it was actually lit because I was working with friends … that I now have forever,” she said.
In her early 20s at the time, she was also trying to get her music career off the ground. Her turning point came when she heard about the Remix Project, a creative arts program in Toronto for low-income youth, through a contact on Facebook.
“I asked my bar manager and explained what it was. I explained that it was a shot in the dark because you have to audition. So I begged him for the weekend off. He said ‘alright’ and I found a $50 flight on Spirit Airlines. 25 bucks there and 25 bucks back.”
Her flight only took her to New York, so a friend picked her up and drove her to the audition in Toronto.
She made it into the program, saved up her money and left Florida in 2014.
Two years later, she released “Figures,” her first major hit. It’s racked up more than 50 million streams to date on Spotify. She’s since collaborated with rappers Eminem, Chance the Rapper and DJ Calvin Harris.
Last month, she released her second EP, “Being Human in Public.”
Reyez said her gritty lyrics and raw vocals on songs like “Figures” and “Gatekeeper,” are from experience.
“I think it’s something embedded in me because I dealt with people close to me… lying to me and that just crushed me in the past. And so I feel like it hurt me enough to motivate me to be honest in every situation. I wanna show people how I wanna be treated.”
Coming back to Florida still has significance for Reyez.
“It’s really cool to be able to see home in more places than one. I have these beautiful memories and I have family that’s still here. When I come here, it’s like my second home,” she said.
Information from Interview Magazine and Exclaim! were used in this report.
