Dressed in a loose white pantsuit she stepped out on stage to a room vibrating with audience applause. Not wasting a second she opened the evening with “I Can Only Whisper” seamlessly followed by “In Your Eyes”. The orchestra, outfitted with a harp and an impressive vocal group, worked beautifully with Day Wilson’s originals, allowing the musical instruments to shine collectively and individually and occasionally quieting to give space to the vocals.

Image by Anthony Tuccitto, Red Bull Content Pool. Cover image by Cover by Jenna Hum, Red Bull Content Pool.

Having greeted the room Charlotte reflected on her career and spoke to how amazing this opportunity is – to be performing in Roy Thompson Hall with one of the world’s best orchestras. “I feel like all my work is finally paying off but today I’d like to bring it to the beginning,” she slowed. “I’ve always had such a deep love of music, and this night feels like a huge arrival for me in so many ways,” said Day Wilson speaking about the songs that she listened to in her bedroom growing up.

“I’ve always felt this deep sense of gratitude for the songs that have defined my life, tonight I’d like to pay homage to some of those songs” she concluded taking the audience into Jimmy Ruffin’s “What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted”. Among other throwbacks she performed were songs by Joni Mitchell and Carole King but the most impactful rendition tonight was her cover of Portishead’s “Glory Box”.

Even with a complete orchestra behind her Charlotte took to her own instruments – guitar, saxophone, grand piano. Day Wilson’s love for piano is rooted deep in her childhood, tied to a piano her mother gave her. “I still play it every day,” she shared inviting on stage Sampha to perform “(No One Knows Me) Like the Piano”, one of her favourite songs. Constantly giving credit to the orchestra and other musicians she also shared the stage with a Canadian artist Saya Gray for a duet of Gray’s “Lie Down”.

Charlotte Day Wilson and Saya Gray. Image by Anthony Tuccitto, Red Bull Content Pool.

After multiple standing ovations as her second last song Charlotte Day Wilson performed “Work,” a song that put her on the scene many years ago. Just as the audience thought the show was coming to an end Day Wilson reappeared above the orchestra playing the venue’s pipe organ and causing an uproar of whistles in the Hall. 

“We’re almost at the end of this evening,” she pointed out a bit earlier to a collective sigh of disappointment, “I know, I know, I want more too,” she commented. “Tonight I wanted to enjoy the show as much as I wanted to perform it. I just wanted to enjoy the amazing music, the musicians on stage with me, and I wanted to celebrate the music that defined my life and enjoy the evening. Ultimately, I did that.” The final round of standing ovations proved she certainly did. 

As a special treat concert attendees got to hear Day Wilson’s unreleased track “Good Morning My Love” before heading out into the night.

Image by Anthony Tuccitto, Red Bull Content Pool. 

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“The opportunity to do Red Bull Symphonic has come at the perfect time in my career,” said Charlotte Day Wilson. “Red Bull was one of the first companies to take notice when I was coming up so I’m really glad to get to do this event with them. I’m at a point in my career where I’m looking forward to reworking my music and looking at it through a different lens”.

“A lot of my work lends itself really well to an event like Red Bull Symphonic since it’s not unusual for me to incorporate some of these instruments into my arrangements. I’m really looking forward to being on that stage and connecting with fans in a different way as they experience a new take on familiar songs”.

This event marks Canada’s first-ever Red Bull Symphonic event, following notable events around the world including events in Atlanta’s sold-out event featuring Rick Ross and most recently at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre with Metro Boomin. Red Bull Symphonic featuring Metro Boomin saw the celebrated music producer perform hits alongside special guests John Legend, Swae Lee and more.

Tickets will be on sale Friday, December 13, 2024 at 11 am EST. For additional information and to purchase tickets please visit redbull.ca/symphonic.

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For the evening the band added two additional keyboardists, a grand piano, a string section, and horns, among other additional live instruments, to the set. What is typically a quartet came to life as a full, interpretive orchestra on the Massey Hall stage. Occasionally joined by River Tiber and Charlotte Day Wilson, while Alexander Sowinski was sharing stories about their collective experiences and love for this city. The interaction really made this show a personal one, despite the fact that people could not dance or participate much otherwise (having to be sitting down all night and all).

The band played songs from their most recent release, IV, and Sour Soul, some more popular covers. Charlotte Day Wilson played “Work,” “In Your Eyes,” and shared a brand new track about falling in love, while River Tiber touched on his more emotional songs such as “Acid Test.” Both performers generally perform with a much smaller band so having the enhanced BadBadNoGood gave a whole new dimension to their songs. A big surprise came unexpectedly when BadBadNoGood brought out Jay Electronica on stage for “Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge)” with no introduction. A few tracks after the show wrapped up with an engaging instrumental set and an interpretive dance by Sowinski.

The friendship, passion, and sheer musical dedication were an ongoing theme this evening. The set was, needless to say, a memorable one, for every single sold-out ticket that walked through the door.

Images courtesy of Red Bull.

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Toronto-based soul-pop singer Charlotte Day Wilson is a psychologist for your blood pressure.

Her lead single is about persevering through a crummy relationship. Another is about betrayal. And of course, the last is about being alone. Whatever the problem, Wilson has the vision and skill to imbue the most trying of moments with a calm and considered beauty.

Released on August 26, her not-quite-eponymous EP CDW is music from a wanderer. It opens with “Work”, a lustful yet weary track about the difficulty that goes into building a strong relationship. It’s a downer-topic often avoided in music. Who wants to talk about love’s tedious middle when you could discuss the more dramatic beginning or end? But with Wilson, the subject becomes a testament to hope and perseverance.

“Where Do You Go” is perhaps the most pop-ish track of the bunch. With its groovy undercurrents and its crafting of silence, it’s an irresistible song. The subject matter – betrayal – isn’t so rare, though Wilson’s lack of blame is. This could have less to do with a saintly temperament than the speechless dizziness that follows any betrayal. The muted trumpets seem just as lost as her in figuring out the situation.

The EP opens and closes with brief songs that are supposed to set the mood of the six tracks. But “On Your Own” and “Reprise” nearly tip into New Age and seem better suited for a yoga session in a non-denominational church. The EP would benefit from clearing the underbrush. Despite this, it’s a cohesive and memorable take on the vagaries of love.

Count on a sinuous voice and soulful synths throughout CDW to keep your head nodding through the most stressful of times.

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Since its launch in 2013, Red Bull Sound Select has hosted over 400 events to support hundreds of emerging artists in 15+ cities around the world. Sound Select’s artist lineup is incredibly tight pushing forward such promising acts as Jazz Cartier, River Tiber, Tre Mission, Frigs, The Darcy’s, a l l i e, and ShaqIsDope, among many others.

According to Nelsen, the team supports the artists by “providing performance opportunities at monthly showcases, chances to collaborate with mentors, and support at festivals like SXSW, Lollapalooza, NXNE, Austin City Limits, Manifesto, Fun Fun Fun, and Wavelength.” The artists, however well known, get to collaborate together which often opens up doors the artists couldn’t have gotten to otherwise: “I did a show in LA with Kaytranada, and while I was out there I did a three-day session with Childish Major from Atlanta” Toronto’s Tre Mission gives as an example when talking about his last few years of collaboration with Sound Select, “The [opportunity], the weather, the hotel, the show, the studio, it was all perfect.”

Miller’s friends from Red Bull came to him with the opportunity for Arts & Crafts “to bring resources to different artists [they] believe in” and since artist development is what A&C does it was an easy Yes. In parallel, Manifesto received a similar offer alongside NXNE and Wavelength as additional support. As an organization with deep insight into Toronto’s hip-hop and R&B/soul scene, Ohtake jumped on the opportunity to curate that chapter of RBSS.

“I personally had been a promotion and ambassador lead during Red Bull Music Academy’s launch in Canada back in 2006, and Red Bull had been a supporter of Manifesto since our launch in 2006, so there was a natural progression when Manifesto was asked to be involved in their next music related program.”

When asked how the artist selection is made it was clear that for curators it is all about passion and gut feeling: “I wait until something is undeniable to me, where I can’t help but try to be involved and stick my nose in. It only happens once in a while, so those are the moments where I know I have to go for it. I am not a scientific mind, my gut is all I have” he laughs.

Ohtake keeps his ear to the ground in search of promising talent, looking for “artists that have strong growth potential and can accelerate their development through the support of a program like Red Bull Sound Select is the type of act that we look to work with. Manifesto and my personal concert production already puts a focus on the selection of strong young new talent” he goes on, “So really we’re doing what we’ve always been doing through our artist selection process. Red Bull Sound Select is simply a natural next-level resource that we can provide to these key artists to perform in front of bigger audiences and improve their live show presentation.”

Although it has only been a few years, Red Bull Sound Select has plenty of success stories to share. In Ohtake’s opinion, the best success stories are “Jazz Cartier, Keita Juma, and a l l i e. To be honest, we caught Jazz Cartier as he was about to become a household name by Canadian hip hop audiences” he adds, “[Cartier’s] performance at RBSS was only a small part of a huge wave of opportunity for [him], but the Red Bull relationship has definitely created additional perks.”

“Keita Juma and a l l i e are definitely two very talented, hard-working artists who have been developed via Manifesto Festival, and provided added exposure via Red Bull Sound Select (including performance with other Toronto Sound Select curators).”

Miller is similarly proud of his finds: “It’s been amazing watching River Tiber move through the Sound Select ranks. When we started working together a couple of years back we did a show at Adelaide Hall in Toronto with BADBADNOTGOOD. A couple of weeks ago we released a track with Sound Select where he collaborated with Pusha T. What Tommy (River Tiber) is doing right now is next level for sure.”

More recently RBSS became a major support for The Darcy’s reappearance who released a new album with Grammy-award winner Shawn Everett: “It is shameless and fun and catchy and relentless. Few bands are as willing to put themselves out there as far as they do. You have to respect the hard work they put in and the sheer variety and quality of what they consistently produce.”

I clearly remember one of my favorite RBSS showcases at Adelaide Hall last year when Charlotte Day Wilson made her first live appearance. No one in the room would’ve guessed it was her first time playing most of those tracks live. “Charlotte’s is a name you will be hearing a lot of in the months and years to come,” says Miller, “She has one of the best voices I’ve ever heard.”

One of this year’s hottest RBSS tickets was Ty Dolla $ign with KEITA JUMA, Jo and Nasty Nigel. It was a full house of all sorts of cool people many of whom left with a mental note to follow up on ShaqIsDope. Having recently released his mixtape Black Frames Shaq proved to that dark sweaty room that he was only getting started. Naturally, talent like that caught RBSS’ attention and this was just one of many platforms he got an opportunity to step up on.

In addition to the annual summer festival Manifesto will be celebrating a 10-year anniversary this September for which they are looking to bring in some of the Sound Select talent. Looking over this year Miller’s focus is on the new records from The Darcys, Charlotte Day Wilson, and River Tiber who will also be performing at the Montreal’s Red Bull Music Academy festival this fall.

Reality may not be as fantastic as becoming famous is on TV but good things come to those who try hard and with as many eyes on talent as there are at RBSS you might have more than just a standing chance.

Images: 1: Jazz Cartier poses for a portrait at Red Bull Sound Select Presents 30 Days in LA, at Teragram Ballroom, in Los Angeles, CA, USA on 30 November, 2015. 2: Tre Mission-Portrait Tre Mission poses for a portrait at The Echoplex in Los Angeles, CA, USA, part of Red Bull Sound Select Presents 30 Days in LA, on 22 November, 2015. 3: Allie poses for a portrait for Red Bull Sound Select at Tattoo in Toronto, Canada on April 23rd, 2015. 4: ShaqIsDope poses for a portrait at Red Bull Sound Select at The Opera House in Toronto, Canada on April 29, 2016. All images courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool.

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The night started off with brother-sister duo Tennyson, her on the drums and him on the decks. Tennyson’s sound is similar to Ryan Hemsworth and Giraffage — it’s those low-key, downtempo electronic jams decorated with an occasional vocal sample that turns to vivid colour when performed live.

Next up was Charlotte Day Wilson, local alternative-soul musician. Wilson was joined on stage by a full band, who brought her DIY sound to an entirely new level.

“This is the first time I’ve played any of these songs,” she declared a couple tracks in. Well, none of us could tell. Wilson skillfully mixes jazz and electronic music, plays guitar and saxophone all while singing. Multitalented, check. Her saxophone tracks are reminiscent of early Sade but as she worked through the new songs, joined on stage by support singer Kaitlin (who, let’s be honest, killed it), the tracks progressed towards more R&B. Wrapping up the set with “Work”, a song about “working for the things you love,” Wilson and her “beautiful band” undoubtedly blew some minds in the crowd.

The evening’s headliner was River Tiber, the pseudonym of Toronto-based singer/songwriter/producer Tommy Paxton-Beesley, who also performs with a four-piece band. Some of you might know Paxton-Beesley for his appearance on Drake’s mixtape If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, but River Tiber is a lot more then the sample of “No Talk” Drake borrowed in “No Tellin’”.

Paxton-Beesley is known for his collaborations, and the ease with which he approaches work makes him an asset in the industry but attention must be paid to his solo work. When The Time Is Right dropped on September 16 and was the main focus of this showcase.

People clearly came out to see a River Tiber show. “Whose first River Tiber show is it?” asked Paxton-Beesley, and a small bunch of hands went up in the air. “How about second, second River Tiber show?” more hands went up and shouts started to come from the crowd. The Q&A quickly turned into River Tiber bingo: “Who’s seen all River Tiber shows!” with some of those same hands enthusiastically going back up in the air with joyful pride.

River Tiber plays dark, ambient electronic music that builds on live instruments. Paxton-Beesley told Noisey in February that his vocals are the most valuable to him — it’s a way to bring himself forward “in an honest format,” which definitely shows during live performances and on his record alike. His voice is nested in layers of ghost choruses, just one of the few things that makes When The Time Is Right a worthy listen and River Tiber’s show a must-see.

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