Born and raised in Deep Cove, musician Maryse Bernard (moved east a few years ago and has been making a name for herself on the Montreal music scene.
First, as a member of the , and now also as a solo project, Maryze, she had several releases coming out over the past year.
She dropped her debut single “B.O.Y.,” in April and followed that up with “Their Hearts” in the summer. She also played a few gigs, including a West Coast stop at Our Town Café in East Van on Aug. 4. She’s now put further live shows on hold to focus on writing new music for an EP release in 2019.
Maryze has recorded a new electro pop-R&B track, “Men Like You,” with Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»musician Ciele ): .
The single, a very personal take confronting sexism in the music industry, will be released today on all streaming platforms.
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North Shore News: Tell us about the new single.
Maryze: “Men Like You” is a collaboration between Vancouver-based singer/producer Ciele and me. We met in Victoria when we were at UVic, a few years ago and basically we shared some experiences that we’d both had with sexism and sexual assault and the music community. We were reflecting on that last year and I’d started working on this song. I had these lyrics and I was trying to find the right producer to link up with and she felt like the perfect fit having gone through similar experiences as me. We decided to create this song and this project that was entirely women-powered as a metaphorical way of us reclaiming our power. Making this song we thought was particularly relevant in the conversation right now with #metoo and why I didn’t report which seems to be touching every industry. There weren’t songs addressing the issue so that’s what we’re hoping to do with “Men Like You.”
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North Shore News: The song was initiated by you in Montreal and you brought Ciele on board?
Maryze: Exactly. I think I started writing the lyrics about three or four years ago and I never felt like I really had the right home for them. I usually work with male producers, lots of wonderful guys, but it didn’t really feel like this song was appropriate to be worked on with a man. When Ciele and I were talking about it I realized I wanted to be working with someone who also understood the theme of the song and she had first-hand experiences with the same story that I had so it came together really naturally. I passed the melody and lyrics on to her and then she crafted a track around it and added some vocals and some lyrics and harmonies.
There was a lot of back and forth because she’s in Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»and I’m in Montreal it probably would have been faster if we’d been in the same city but over the last few months we’ve really concentrated on it to get it the way we wanted.
Distance doesn’t really hinder the way of making music any more.
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North Shore News: How are you treating this material? Have you performed it live?
Maryze: No, I haven’t performed it live, yet. When we release it, will be the first time anyone hears it. In my music when I’m talking about personal subjects I tend to make them a bit more vague. It’s like self-protection, you don’t want to reveal too much. It’s a controversial topic and we both felt that the time was now. This is our story and hopefully the song will raise awareness for those people who are not able to.
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