A local teen has gone from watching hit TV show The Launch on her recliner in Burnaby to winning the competition and setting a music career in motion.
Cassiøpeia was the winner of the first episode of CTV’s second season of The Launch, which aired back in late January, and was chosen to release Better - a song written by songwriter and lead vocalist for OneRepublic, Ryan Tedder.
How the show works is five artists from across Canada audition for show creator Scott Borchetta, singer Marie-Mai and a guest mentor each week. Of those original five artists, two singers are chosen to compete and record an original song. Ultimately, the mentors will decide on one artist to “launch.”
“I went in there and put everything that I had into the audition room and showed them who I was as an artist,” said Cassiøpeia, who has since signed with Borchetta’s label, Big Machine Records.
Cassiøpeia was born in 麻豆传媒映画but spent the majority of her life living in Burnaby. She began writing her own songs at just nine years old for her church choir. She also plays five instruments and says her music taste ranges from “Bach to The Beatles.”
She attributes her “A-Ha!” moment in music to listening to Taylor Swift’s Red album, produced by Borchetta, when she was 10.
“That was the moment where I knew I wanted to do music for the rest of my life,” she said.
She had that same feeling when she performed in-person for Borchetta on the show.
Cassiøpeia has smashed through barriers by becoming the youngest female artist to be launched and is the only artist to be chosen from Vancouver.
Cassiøpeia’s mother Dezarae (the family didn’t want to use their full name for privacy reasons) said she raised her children to work hard, adding that Cassiøpeia would babysit and walk dogs in order to make enough money to release her own music on Spotify.
“Her work ethic is crazy,” Dezarae said.
Cassiøpeia says her life has changed significantly since winning The Launch.
She recalls a time she went to a local salon to touch-up her pink locks, but was told they had run out of the colour because pink hair had become a trend for young people because of an artist from Burnaby named Cassiøpeia.
She says that besides the fact that pink is her favourite colour, she also dyed her hair because she’s a strong advocate for breast cancer and anti-bullying.
Now that she’s signed with a major label, she’s hit the ground running and is working on writing songs for an EP album and hopes to tour and meet more of her fans, of which she’s deemed her “little stars.”
