Nicole Haber is a Toronto Electro-Pop artist who first emerged into
the music scene in 2018, with her debut EP, Vibes. Having been a new
artist with minimal experience and no knowledge of the industry,
Nicole lacked a sense of direction and worked hard on trying to find
her sound and image as an independent musician. Searching with
different genres, producers, and musicians,
In 2020, the artist took some time to do artist development and
relaunched herself in 2021. With clarity on her artist vision and
business strategy, she teamed up with JUNO-award nominated producer
Ryan Worsley (Matthew V, Madison Olds, Shawn Frank) and Toronto locals
Mike Tompa (Silverstein, Cindë) and Jonathan Karkar (Kyra Mastro) and
created 4 singles. Took It Too Far and How Did We Get Here (released
late 2021), Poison (most recent release), and 25 (set to be released
summer of 2022). Nicole has given herself a close team of musical
collaborators, visual content creators, and PR/digital marketing
representatives to help grow her success and plan for her next steps.
As of 2022; her audience has been expanding and has reached almost
40,000 listeners worldwide, with over 100,000 streams on all
platforms. She has been playlisted to over 600 playlists. (New Music
Friday: Indonesia & Malaysia, The Eh! List - By Exclaim) Featured on
numerous blogs and top music charts. (Tinnitist, Skope Magazine,
Lefuturewave) Rotating on local and international radio stations.
(OVERVIEW, 4680Q) And has been back at it performing for audiences at
local bars, venues, and festivals. (Axis Club, The Supermarket,
Markham Music Fest) She’s keeping herself busy with consistent music
rollouts and business opportunities. Such as sync placements, virtual
and in-person shows, and features/co-writes with artists and DJs
worldwide.
Thank you for taking this interview! How has the New Year been for you
so far as an artist?
Well, thank you for having me. My New Year's has been pretty incredible so
far. 2022 started off to be one of the most productive and fulfilling
years for me as an artist so far. And with the world opening back up,
everything has been falling into place for me music-wise. I took a
long break over the lockdown and refocused on what I wanted to do as a
creator and came up with a proper business strategy. By the time
everything started to open back up in the new year, I was set for
success and ready to go. I had rollouts planned, shows booked and I
was ready for this new journey that I was about to face. So far it's
been such an amazing year for me. We’re only 5 months into 2022 and
I've almost quadrupled my growth compared to the last 4 years that
I’ve been making music. So ya, it’s been great.
Can you tell us how you've transformed from the beginning to now as an artist?
Well to put it in simple terms, the main thing that has changed from
the beginning of my music career to now is that I'm much more focused.
I'm more driven, passionate, and overall smarter in my industry. I've
taken a lot of time to learn and understand truly what it means to
have a music career. Instead of just assuming I'm going to make it big
based on my talent or “that one hit” alone. Believe me, I know that
you can make it big off of one viral video or your talent, but I had
to learn that it's so much more than that. It’s your journey, and to
to be honest I'd much rather take the long way and learn from my
mistakes, or learn the ins and outs in detail as opposed to trying to
fast-track it. I think my mindset was the biggest thing that had to
change from when I first started making music to now though. I've
I have grown so much as a person and as an artist, and you can see that
through the development of my music. I've always said to myself, “it's
never good enough”, now take that with a grain of salt because I mean
it in the most positive way possible. I'm always trying to improve and
learn because I want someone to look at my work and say “wow that's
even better than the last thing you put out.” It's a lot of pressure
and I'm nowhere near where I wanna be, but I’m proud because it's
starting to get somewhere and I'm happy with the journey I’ve taken.
How did you come up with your latest project?
Well, my newest project is called 25, and that's coming out in June of
2022. This project is extremely self-explanatory and as soon as you
hear the song it'll all make sense. But basically, I'm living through
what I like to call a “quarter-life crisis” and I wanted to write
about it. I feel it's something that every person can relate to and
the song itself is very fun, bold, upbeat, quirky, and honest. It's a
super anthem-y tune that will have you accepting life's little
hiccups, instead of feeling like your world is ending because of them.
I can't speak too much about it, but I can guarantee that no matter
how old you are or where you're at in your life, you'll be able to
relate to the lyrics and dance along to the music.
Where are you from originally?
I'm originally from Barrie, Ontario.
Where do you live now?
I now live in Toronto, Ontario, but I go out to BC to record some of
my music. One day I hope to be out there full-time. I really love it
there.
Do you think where you live impacts how your music is made?
I personally don't think that where I live impacts how my music is
made. I'm fortunate enough to have everything I need within my
vicinity or at least just a call away. So if I want to make something
bad enough I’ll find a way to do it. No matter where I am located. A
good example for me is that I work internationally as a featured
artist with DJs and producers as well as make my own solo music. So
sometimes I have to make do, whether that means I have to travel for
my work or work remotely in a virtual setting. But Toronto for sure
has a lot of resources.
What was the inspiration to make music your career?
To be honest with you, I don't think I've ever wanted to do anything
else. I've been inspired to do music ever since I was a kid. I started
singing when I was 4 for the fun of it and I never stopped. Which my
My family always found it super weird because not a single person in my
family is in the music industry. Although my career has taken a lot of
In turn, I always ended up doing something that involves music or at
least some sort of creative art. I remember when I was really young, I
looked at my mom and said “I want to be a famous pop star one day.”
I'm still on that road, but it feels a lot more real nowadays. I think
my younger self would be really proud to see where I'm at today.
How do you want to shape your career?
That's a loaded question, I honestly couldn't tell you how I want to
shape my career. I'm very happy with the way it's forming right now
and I think I just want to keep improving and growing from that. I
find that plans changed so quickly and the things that I wanted a
a couple of years ago are not exactly what I want anymore. I definitely
want to be heard by a larger group of people. I want to do sold-out
shows and tours, I want to work with bigger artists and write for
other artists as well on a much bigger scale. I guess I want to be in
the same shape that I'm in now but just much bigger if that makes
sense.
Do you work on a tight timeline always or do you go with the flow when
it comes to your music?
I used to be very go with the flow when it came to my music, but now
I'm on a very tight schedule. I try to keep everything as organized as
possible because honestly it just helps in the long game. It saves me
a headache and a lot of stress. Ever since I started properly
organizing my releases and show dates I feel so much more comfortable
and confident when it comes to the release day or show day. I will say
this though, I wish I didn't have to do it all by myself. I'm a very
organized person but I'd much rather have somebody organize my
schedule so that I could focus more on the actual art at hand. Because
I'd rather write when I feel the inspiration as opposed to having to
plan writing sessions. It's much tougher when you're an unsigned
independent artist though. You have to wear many hats and do a lot of
the jobs yourself, so being able to organize yourself and use time
Management is an incredible skill to have.
How did your latest title of your music come to be?
Well, as I stated earlier my newest song that I have coming out is
called 25 and it is because I am in fact 25 years old. The song is all
about my life at the age of 25 and what I’ve gone through leading up
to this point. All of the trials and tribulations that I've had to
deal with, all of the things that I've had to figure out, and all of
the thoughts that I’ve had to come to terms with. Ultimately, I’ve
made it out on the other side and spun a quarter-life crisis into a
positive reinforcement that I think many people will resonate with.
Is it hard to let go of the music when it is done?
I don't think it’s very hard to let go of the music when it's done,
you just have to be okay with where it's at when you do get it out
there. I know a lot of people struggle with always wanting it to be
better or wanting to change something about it and continue to
endlessly work on a piece of music. You would think that I would be
one of those people because I'm always looking to step up my game, but
for me, once the song’s out, it's done. It's out, you promote it, you
try to get as many people to listen to it as possible, you listen to
it yourself a million times and just be proud of the work that you put
into it. You never know, the things that you thought needed changing,
might actually be the reason why the song pops off. But just let it go
and be proud of it. Use those changes or things you wanted to fix and
implicate them in your next project. But always keep moving, because
you never want to stay stuck on one piece of work. You should keep
creating and expanding your creativity because you'll never grow if
you don't. You’ll end up stuck in one spot. In my opinion.
Do you feel an emotional attachment to your music?
100%, I feel an emotional attachment to my music. Every song is a
little piece of me and has some sort of resonance in my life. I write
about real life, things that have happened to me, or things that I've
witnessed happen to others. But it's raw and it's real and it's
honest. I always had the ambition to write music that was about real
life and real situations. For lack of better words “I write about
realshit, no bullshit”. Every piece of work that I've written for
myself or others will always hold a spot in my heart, so sometimes it
is a little hard to change lyrics or take certain lyrics out. But over
the years, I've gotten better with that and I've learned that it's
more about the sentiment and less about the actual physical lyrics.
You'll notice I talk more about the songwriting and less about the
actual music, that's because I don't usually produce my own music. I
have never been very good at the production side of things. I'm an
incredible singer/songwriting and I can come up with basic chords for
the melody, but for me, I've always needed a little bit more influence
when it came to the actual music side of things. So I work with some
incredible producers, like Ryan Worsley and Jonathan Karkar to make
the amazing music I do. I'm very hands-on when I'm in the studio but I
usually let my producers do what they're good at and we create
something awesome as a team. Even though I get emotionally attached to
all my music, I also know that it's not only my music, it's everyone
that I work with, it’s everybody that listens to it and it's a shared
piece of work out in the universe. So every song may feel like it’s my
baby, but like a real kid, I have to let it do its own thing at one
point.
How would you describe your music in one word to someone who hasn't
listened to it yet?
I had to think about this one quite a bit actually, but I think I
would tell somebody who hasn’t listened to my music that it’s
powerful, and I'm going to leave that up to interpretation.
Where do they go to listen NOW?
Anywhere you can get music! You can find me on all streaming platforms
and socials. Just look up Nicole Haber!
What has been the best fan reaction to your music?
So at one of my most recent shows, I had one of the best fan reactions
that I could have ever asked for. I was showcasing a new song that I'd
never performed before. It was a very emotional song for me and I
wanted to take a little “diva moment” and do this monologue thing in
between the song, basically apologizing for all the crap that I put
people through in my life. I thought I was going to cry throughout it
because it was hard for me to talk about, but it actually just made me
feel very strong. Despite me feeling strong, I had pretty much the
the entire audience crying, feeling vulnerable. It made me feel really
good, not to make everybody cry, but to move people in such a way. I
had so many people come up to me after the show and say that my words
hit them hard and it just felt like I accomplished what I set out to
do with it. That was an incredible feeling
Is there anything exciting coming up for you?
A lot of new music and a lot of shows. I'm hopefully planning a tour
very soon as well. Fingers crossed! But I can guarantee that there's a
lot of really really good music that’s on the way and some stuff
that's super different for me that's coming out with it.
Are you performing the song anywhere LIVE?
Actually, I have tons of live performances coming up, so if anybody
wants to stay up-to-date with those, they can either stay linked on my
social media or they can opt into my mailing list on my website. The
next show that I have coming up is at The legendary Horseshoe Tavern
in downtown Toronto on May 30th 2020. This is the link for it!
I will be accompanied by my incredible band, performing tons of
originals, and some songs that aren't even out yet. It’s going to be a
fun night for sure and I hope to see as many people there as possible.
Give us all your socials and links so fans can link up with you!
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/nicole.haber.music.42
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/nicole.haber.music/?hl=en
TikTok:https://www.tiktok.com/@nicole.haber.music
Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/artist/14fZvAkyKFSsU6nagkJduz
Apple:https://music.apple.com/ca/artist/nicole-haber/1352570709
Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTGgtRcwIyhlVS7CxCU4v4Q