CMW 2014 Artist Profile: Ivy James

Our first-time intro to any music artist begins with our Artist Profile, where we learn about them and their music, directly from them.

Ivy JamesName: Ivy James

CMW Show(s): Tuesday, May 6 @ 8pm – The Central

Hometown: Oakville, ON

Music Genre: Pop-Rock

Year it all began: 2012

A quick introduction: Ivy James is a singer-songwriter artist from Oakville, Ontario who is putting a fresh spin on a popular genre. After the release of her debut EP, Ivy James won Best Young Songwriter at the Toronto Independent Music Awards and was a finalist for Best Female Artist in the International Acoustic Music Awards. She was also a finalist in the Hamilton Music Awards Rising Star Search and a semi-finalist in the UK Songwriting Contest and International Songwriting Competition. She’s played at festivals including Canadian Music Week and Indie Week Canada and opened for bands like The Johnstones and Crystalyne.

What got you into music? That’s always been a very hard question for me to answer because I really have no idea. When I was growing up, I had this intense love for music but nobody around me was involved with music in any way. I took music lessons for years but nothing really stuck. I’d say that writing songs was what sparked my inspiration for playing music, as I needed a way to show people the songs I’d written.

What are your sources of inspiration? Almost all of my inspiration comes from personal experiences. I write a lot of my songs from my subconscious, if that makes any sense. Usually, I’ll write a song and have no idea what it’s about until a few days later when it hits me.

Dream gig? I think that if I could open for Fall Out Boy and illScarlett, I would die very happy.

Your thoughts on Canadian Music Week? I was fortunate enough to play CMW last year and it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. It’s amazing to see how supportive everybody is and to have the opportunity to meet all of the incredible musicians that play at this event. I’m so grateful to be back again this year.

Interesting points others don’t know about you? I can say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious backwards