Kiesa Rae Ellestad, ask 'Kiesza,' is the kind of artist that knows how to work through the pain. The 25-year-old Canadian spent her teens increasing her threshold as a trained ballerina and after that, she joined the Royal Canadian navy and competed in Miss Universe Canada. It's difficult to believe Kiesza isn't at least 40. Kiesza has packed so much into her life. It hardly seems credible that she is still in her mid-20s. "I guess I didn't stick with many things for too long," smiled the Calgary native.
Ironically, Kiesza has taken a roundabout route to achieving a goal she set for herself at just seven years of age. Youthful musical ambitions were hardly surprising. Kiesza says she was "force-fed" Michael Jackson songs by her mother. Kiesza has now relocated to London and the Michael Jackson influence is evident in her first single after signing to indie label Lokal Legend in 2013, classics-inspired "Hideaway," and the accompanying video. "I love the music scene in Britain. 'Hideaway' is a deep house song but it's regarded as mainstream. That kind of thing doesn't happen in America or back home in Canada."
Inspired by 1990s dance music which her mother would regularly listen to, "Hideaway" is an uptempo deep house song incorporates elements of pop, electropop, dance and old school music over a sparse, 1990s trance-indebted backing track. Production-wise, the song is a combination of a thick vintage Chicago house bassline, a cracking drum machine and an EDM synthesizer. "The song basically pays tribute to '90s dance music so Michael was obviously a megastar during those years. I can also see how Michael could have influenced the video though it wasn't deliberate on my part. I was just intrigued by the idea of filming an entire video in one take."
"Shooting the video seemed impossible," Kiesza tells Rolling Stone. "I had less than three days to learn five completely new dance styles. Almost everyone told me that we couldn't do it. Then to top things off, on the day of the shoot, I broke a rib. I did the video in two takes and couldn't move for an entire month afterward, but I pulled it off." The energetic video is an impressive one-take shot that follows Kiesza as she dances her way through the streets of Brooklyn, switching off dancing partners and styles, while the song's thick bass and cracking drum machine drives the beat forward. But most impressively, she masks her pain like a pro. Fall in love with Kiesza and rekindle the omance with New York and '90s glory days by clicking play below.
Ironically, Kiesza has taken a roundabout route to achieving a goal she set for herself at just seven years of age. Youthful musical ambitions were hardly surprising. Kiesza says she was "force-fed" Michael Jackson songs by her mother. Kiesza has now relocated to London and the Michael Jackson influence is evident in her first single after signing to indie label Lokal Legend in 2013, classics-inspired "Hideaway," and the accompanying video. "I love the music scene in Britain. 'Hideaway' is a deep house song but it's regarded as mainstream. That kind of thing doesn't happen in America or back home in Canada."
Inspired by 1990s dance music which her mother would regularly listen to, "Hideaway" is an uptempo deep house song incorporates elements of pop, electropop, dance and old school music over a sparse, 1990s trance-indebted backing track. Production-wise, the song is a combination of a thick vintage Chicago house bassline, a cracking drum machine and an EDM synthesizer. "The song basically pays tribute to '90s dance music so Michael was obviously a megastar during those years. I can also see how Michael could have influenced the video though it wasn't deliberate on my part. I was just intrigued by the idea of filming an entire video in one take."
"Shooting the video seemed impossible," Kiesza tells Rolling Stone. "I had less than three days to learn five completely new dance styles. Almost everyone told me that we couldn't do it. Then to top things off, on the day of the shoot, I broke a rib. I did the video in two takes and couldn't move for an entire month afterward, but I pulled it off." The energetic video is an impressive one-take shot that follows Kiesza as she dances her way through the streets of Brooklyn, switching off dancing partners and styles, while the song's thick bass and cracking drum machine drives the beat forward. But most impressively, she masks her pain like a pro. Fall in love with Kiesza and rekindle the omance with New York and '90s glory days by clicking play below.
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