Canadian born artist Scott Helman will be performing at the Algonquin Commons Theatre March 19 — two days after the Junos.
In advance of the show, the 23-year-old Helman provided the Times with insight into the inspiration behind both the Hang Ups video, which is nominated for a 2019 Juno Video of the Year award, and the three songs currently on the album.
Hang Ups made a YouTube appearance four months ago. Since then it has received almost 800,000 views.
Helman said he hoped to keep the narrative of the video simple and noted there wasn’t much planning in advance of the shoot.
“We didn’t really have a plan; we went in a day before. I felt out the room and the next day we just got there early in the morning and kept doing takes all day,” said Helman.
The video’s setting is a room that rotates. With a camera locked onto the room, its contents appear to be “crawling up and all over the walls.”
Hang Ups is one of three songs available now. Helman says the song hints at a fear of personal failure and is “darker” than the other two.
A second song on the album, titled Lifeguard, relates to that fear of failure and is more “personal.”
“Lifeguard was about, I guess that fear of failure too, but it was more about another person,” said Helman.
The inspiration for the album’s third song comes with a funny story. Helman said that “as a joke” his co-writer Simon Wilcox described the kind of music they write as, “Dostoevsky, oh Dostoevsky, I just wanna have sex, she just wants to talk about Dostoevsky.”
Helman thought these lyrics were “hilarious” and encouraged Wilcox to create Dostoevsky, the third released song on this album.
The memory of the fun behind the song is important to Helman.
“It came from a place of having fun and messing around. I knew my fans would appreciate the fun of it,” Helman said.
Fans will have to wait until after the 2019 tour is completed for more music. New music is coming soon, teased Helman.
“I have a bunch of songs that I’m really excited about. I just have to figure out when I can get them all properly finished and ready for release,” Helman said.
The tour is making a stop at Algonquin’s theatre on March.19, two days after the Juno award winners will be announced.
“I think it’s important to be excited about what you’re putting out,” Helman said.
He aims to make pop music that is authentic and is no stranger to releasing emotion into his music.
“That was what I had in me at the time and I just released it and when I did I felt super passionate about it,” said Helman