What to know
- Feist will be inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame at Massey Hall tonight alongside The Tragically Hip, Loverboy songwriters Mike Reno and Paul Dean, and Roch Voisine.
- At a live Toronto taping of And The Writer Is…, she recalled joining her first punk band, Placebo, in Calgary at 15.
- Feist said she has lost touch with former bandmate Toby Connolly and sent “a message to the universe” hoping to reconnect.
- She also discussed “1234,” “My Moon My Man,””” Heated Rivalry and the song she is most proud of, “Caught a Long Wind.”
- FINNEAS, Jeff Tweedy and Charlotte Cornfield are among the artists set to pay tribute to Feist at tonight’s induction ceremony.
Feist asks “Universe” to help find high school bandmate during Ross Golan’s podcast for her Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame induction.
American podcaster and noted songwriter Ross Golan flew to Toronto to record an episode of his popular podcast, And The Writer Is…, with Leslie Feist the night before her induction into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame tonight (Sept. 26) at Massey Hall, alongside The Tragically Hip, Loverboy and Roch Voisine.
With more than three million records sold and over one billion streams worldwide, Feist — she uses a mononym professionally — has earned four Grammy nominations, 12 Juno Awards, and the 2012 Polaris Music Prize for her album Metals. Her most recent album, 2023’s Multitudes, won the Juno for adult alternative album of the year.
Golan, whose co-writes include Ariana Grande’s “Dangerous Woman,” Flo Rida’s “My House” and Selena Gomez’s “Same Old Love,” introduced his guest like only an American would:
“Today’s Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee drips melodies on songs like maple syrup on pancakes. Every bite is delicious and predictably unpredictable,” he said. “She’s been in punk bands, indie supergroups, written international anthems, and made intimacy sound enormous. This pensmith has uniquely influenced thousands of other artists for over two decades because this songwriter doesn’t sound like any other artist.”
The podcast — which ran for a little over an hour and will be available at a later date — was recorded in front of a live audience at TD Music Hall and covered a range of topics, from growing up with a father who was a visual artist and the guidance she received from her late uncle, Dan Achen of the band Junkhouse, to the lifelong friendships and community she found with Peaches, Chilly Gonzales and members of Broken Social Scene.
Of course, songs and songwriting was a bit part of the discussion. They talked about her biggest commercial hit, a Sally Seltmann collab “1234;” the Heated Rivalry placement of 2007’s “My Moon My Man,” which went viral this past year, and the letter she wrote to series creator Jacob Tierney, as well as revealing the song she’s most proud of from her catalogue, “Caught a Long Wind.”
But while discussing her first band, Placebo, in Calgary — something Golan spent considerable time on — Feist credited high schoolmates Toby Connolly and Elescia Eisler with inviting her to sing in the punk band when she was 15, after they learned she was in the school choir.
“I still know Elescia. Toby, I’m sending out a message to the universe: I would love to see Toby. But before high school was done, we heard that she’d moved to B.C. and was building hay-bale houses and started to play clarinet. And that’s all the last I heard of Toby Connolly,” Feist said.
At the very end of the wide-ranging chat — filled with great stories from Feist but the pacing of the hour unevenly spent on getting started in her career — Golan finally mentioned Feist’s Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame induction, asking if she has imposter syndrome.
“Do you not realize why you’re here? I just flew all the way from L.A. to interview you. I got other shit to do in my life. Don’t you realize how good you are?” he said.
Feist acknowledged that such accolades and reminders are “helpful, actually,” adding, “But for real, yes, I’m working on it.”
“Someone sent me a screen grab. There’s this syndrome, a tendency for women to cap their own capacity for joy or success, or it’s called the ceiling effect or something, where we don’t want to shine too bright. We’re afraid if we take it, someone else doesn’t get it. We’re just taking care of everyone. They sent me that not for no reason.”
The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony will be livestreamed globally on the Amazon Music Twitch channel and on Prime Video in Canada.
Paying tribute to Feist for her induction are Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, with whom Feist co-wrote and sang on the 2009 song “You and I,” singer-songwriter Charlotte Cornfield, and American producer and songwriter FINNEAS, brother and collaborator of Billie Eilish, who cites Feist as a major influence.
Keep an eye on And The Writer Is… socials for a drop date.
The podcast was part of Music Publishers Canada and CSHF’s Song & Score Week (Sept. 24-26), which presented two days of panels and speakers for songwriters, producers and artists.
