Jessie Reyez

Early Life

Jessie Reyez was born in Toronto but spent her formative years in Brampton, Ontario. Her parents immigrated to Canada from Colombia. At home, she spoke only Spanish. The Reyez house was filled with the rhtyhms and melodies of Colombia such as cumbias and vallenatos. Reyez first recorded music using cassettes when she was 8 years old. At 10, her father taught her to play the guitar. Before getting serious about music and writing songs, Reyez enjoyed hip hop dance. By the time she graduated high school, she had already started to write and perform. She busked on the streets of Toronto and played in local clubs.

Early Career

In 2012, Reyez moved with her parents to Miami, Florida, where she worked briefly as a bartender. She felt the party lifestyle drained her creativity, and she moved back to Toronto after being accepted into the Recording Arts stream of the Remix Project, an artist development program for low-income students. Though the program, Reyez met Chicago-based hip-hop artist King Louie. The pair collaborated on the song “Living in the Sky.” It came out in 2014, raising Reyez’s profile.

Kiddo (2017)

At 26, Reyez released Kiddo. The seven-song EP includes the multi-platinum single “Figures,” which hit No. 58 on the Canadian Billboard Hot 100. In an interview that year, Reyez explained how the song was inspired by real-life heartache: “’Figures’ was a time capsule of a breakup that I went through. I was just going through it, and crying, and sad and happy to be away from home, because I was across the pond in Europe at that time. And I was given the opportunity to just let it out on the mic.”

To cap off her breakthrough year, Reyez received four Juno Award nominations, including for the Juno Fan Choice award and for Breakthrough Artist of the Year, which she won. She also released a short film (Gatekeeper) that addressed sexism in the music industry and signed a record and publishing deal with Island Records.

Being Human in Public (2018)

On 28 March 2018, Reyez released a reworked version of “Figures” titled “Figures, A Reprise,” featuring fellow Torontonian Daniel Caesar. On 19 October, she released her second EP, Being Human in Public. It went on to won a 2019 Juno Award for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year. The EP was also shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize and was nominated for Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 2020 Grammy Awards.

Before Love Came to Kill Us (2020)

Reyez released her debut full-length studio album on 27 March 2020. It reached the Top 5 on Billboard’s R&B album chart and has since surpassed 1.2 billion cumulative global streams. The album features the song “Coffin,” a collaboration with Eminem. Before Love Came to Kill Us was short-listed for the Polaris Music Prize and won a Juno Award for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year.

Reyez also made a cameo in Beyonce’s 2020 visual album, Black Is King. She spent much of 2020 and 2022 opening on tour for Billie Eilish, with whom she developed a close friendship. In an interview with Jimmy Kimmel, Eilish called Reyez “probably the best writer I’ve ever met besides my brother.”

Yessie (2022)

The title of Reyez’s sophomore release is a reference to her family’s nickname for her. For Yessie’s launch, Reyez had a star-studded release party at No Vacancy, a swanky cocktail bar in Los Angeles where many fellow artists, including Drake, came to celebrate. The first single, “Mutual Friend,” arrived on 12 August and the full album followed on 16 September.

As with many artists, the COVID-19 pandemic allowed Reyez time to reflect, heal and take personal inventory. This self-reflection is evident in Yessie’s 11 songs. For Reyez, this meant self-care and self-love. In an interview upon Yessie’s release, Reyez spoke about her new artistic approach: “I’ve made more of a conscious effort to be better to myself, be healthier and be kinder, extend myself the grace that I extend to other people. And I think it’s shown up in my music, too. It’s just more healing. The toxic is still there a little, because I’m not perfect and I’m still working on things. But there’s an arc.”

Collaborations and Other Activities

Reyez is known for her authenticity, vulnerability and candor, and for using her platform as a songwriter to address issues close to her heart. She has co-written songs and collaborated with such artists as Calvin Harris, Eminem and Dua Lipa. Most recently, Reyez collaborated with Sam Smith and Koffee on “Gimme,” which appears on Smith’s record, Gloria (2023). Reyez also opened for Smith on his Gloria tour in 2023.

Heading into the 2023 Juno Awards, Reyez was nominated for another pair of awards: Video of the Year for the song “Fraud” (written with Emma Higgins) and Contemporary R&B Recording of the Year for Yessie, which she won.

Personal Life

Reyez’s parents (German and Carmen) were both born in Colombia. She has two younger siblings, a brother and a sister.

Awards

Juno Awards

• Breakthrough Artist of the Year (2018)
• R&B/Soul Recording of the Year (Being Human in Public) (2019)
• R&B/Soul Recording of the Year (Feel it Too) (2020)
• Music Video of the Year (“No One’s in the Room”) (2021)
• Contemporary R&B Recording of the Year (Yessie) (2023)

Others

• Slaight Music Emerging Songwriter Award, Canadian Songwriter’s Hall of Fame (2017)
• Breakout Songwriter Award (2019)
• Billboard American Express Impact Award, Billboard’s Women in Music (2020)