From competitors to bandmates with Beau Nectar

Beau Nectar is a partnership between Franco-Ontarian Marie-Clo and Franco-Saskatchewanian Émi. The duo met while competing on a reality TV show, Planete BRBR, and became friends over love of music and nature. This friendship soon enough led to the creation of a synth folk-pop band, Beau Nectar.

The duo’s music takes inspiration from nature and science, always personifying flora and fauna in one way or another. After signing to Indica Records and releasing their debut album, Two Lips, in 2023, Beau Nectar took a bit of a break but is back with a new track, “Tulip,” featuring Vox Rea. Last year, the duo have been making their presence known with awards and nominations, including Pop Artist of the Year at Saskatchewan Music Awards (2025) and Group and Pop Artist of the Year at Trille Or Awards (2025).

Kateryna Topol: Hello Marie-Clo and Émi, where are you writing to us from today?

Beau Nectar: Marie-Clo is writing from Vancouver Island, and éemi is writing from Saskatchewan!

KT: You met when you both competed on a music reality TV Show, tell us about that experience, please …

BC: It was a competition for French-speaking singer-songwriters from across Canada that were living outside of Québec. Marie-Clo was representing Ontario, and Émi was representing Saskatchewan. At first, we were kind of intimidated by one another – we both thought the other one was cool and talented. In competition mode, it’s hard not to compare yourself. We weren’t friends at first, but eventually, after being one of the few left in the competition, we both started talking to each other and realised we had a lot in common. Instead of letting competition lead us, we lead with friendship and vulnerability. We both made it to the Finale together in 2017, started our own solo careers as artists, maintained a long-distance friendship, and the rest is history!

KT: Love that! And what did your music journey look like before BRBR?

BC: Marie-Clo had an extensive background in musical theatre and was starting to compose music at the time, and Émi had mostly composed as a hobby, participating in a few contests here and there, but was about to just focus on other things. Our audition for BRBR was definitely an important crossroads in both of our lives.

KT: You produce songs in both languages, does that happen naturally, or are some songs planned to be French/English?

BC: It happens naturally; we don’t really choose to write in a specific language, unless we’re specifically doing the work of translating a song.

KT: You draw a lot of your inspiration from nature, can you please speak to how that inspiration … let’s say materialises in your music?

BC: We attach human nature and feeling to encyclopedic facts. For example, we really identified with the tulip. In the 1600’s, people went to war for the tulip and could even trade their daughters for a simple bulb; that’s how valuable it was. Shortly after its fame, the tulip contracted a virus that caused its colours to go from monochromatic to multiple colours. And just like that, tulipomania was dead.

Nowadays, the tulip is portrayed as a common flower in everyone’s gardens, even though she is still absolutely beautiful. We felt it was a lesson on passing trends and how they shape standards of beauty, meaninglessly. There’s also a secondary meaning in the fact that Tulips co-evolved with humans because they spark dopamine with their colours, so they keep being planted. Tulips don’t produce fruits (despite them having pistils). Lots of historical and encyclopedic easter eggs in that song!

KT: Very cool (not the price for the daughter bit, but the rest). Do you spend a lot of time in nature?

BC: Yes, Marie-Clo has a degree in Herbalism, she lives in the forest and loves being outside in nature. Similarly, Émi loves being outside. It’s actually something that they continue to bond over, and it’s what sparked the project.

KT: Do you have a garden?

BC: Marie-Clo does, she’s really good with that. Émi does not have a green thumb!

KT: What does your creative and production process look like, and how do you collaborate?

BC: We collaborate in many different ways. If we were to simplify it, we could say that Marie-Clo brings forth a melody that Émi works off of, and Émi brings lyrics that Marie-Clo works off of. Sometimes the two meet during residencies and work together from scratch. Sometimes one of us has an almost fully formed song, and we edit together. It really depends on when inspiration strikes, and it strikes in many different ways.

KT: Remote collaboration, very cool. You recently shared a new track featuring Vox Rea, “Tulip” – how did this partnership come about?

BC: It was actually one of the first songs we ever wrote in January 2021. I flew to her house for 6 weeks during COVID, and we holed ourselves up and wrote music and came up with the collaboration. Her partner was playing on a drum machine we rented, and Marie-Clo was on the piano, and we were just jamming lyrics and melodies and “I find love in the strangest places,” which is the song’s hook, came out, just like that. It was magical. Years later, we did the Banff Center for the Arts Musicians in Residence program and met Vox Rea and kept ties since. We really wanted their rich vocals on the album in some capacity, and this song was perfect for that, so we called them up years later to record harmonies!

KT: What are your plans for 2026? Tours, new music, anywhere people can see you live?

BC: So far we’ve got Phoque Off in Québec on February 18, our album pre-launch on February 19 in Montreal, a show in Powell River, BC on March 7th, and we jet off to Wales for Focus Wales in May!

Images by Sophie Vino.