Artist to Watch: Jessie Reyez

You can learn a lot about an artist from the way she sings a simple, declarative sentence. There are not enough words to hide behind, and this is usually by design. The less narrative information described by the lyric, the more an artist can fill in with her voice. Nina Simone understood this. So does Fiona Apple, Julien Baker and, now, Jessie Reyez, a Canadian artist who released her debut EP, Kiddo, in April.

Her talent became clear when I heard the first line from the chorus to “Figures”: “I wish I could hurt you back.”

The song is about being dumped and dreaming of revenge, and there is a piercing candor to that sentence, but the way Reyez sings it is even more remarkable. Her voice is heightened, agitated, alive. Like a great actor, her voice reveals a lot about a performed, interior state that is relatable. It is “alive” because you recognize the frequencies; it doesn’t sound like she’s faking it.

She never sounds like she’s faking it. During a performance of her song “Shutter Island” at a small show in London less than a month after the release of her EP, the small crowd begins to sing along.

Her face contorts, her body tenses and shakes, and by the end, Reyez is fighting back tears, overwhelmed by the recognition that the song has begun to resonate. Her reaction feels right, because she sings and performs with such volatility that you worry something will break. This song, too, has one of those strong, declarative sentences: “My straight-jacket’s custom-made, though.” This is not sung in desperation, but rather, defiance. It sounds like a call to arms, like a challenge to ignore her. I can’t imagine many who hear her will.