Singer, songwriter and producer Breagh Isabel is ready to unveil her debut single “Girlfriends,” a pop-leaning, coming-of-age story about a very specific type of heartbreak; the kind that comes from being a lovesick teenager in less welcoming times. The song emerged from a session with one of her Canadian songwriting crushes, Simon Wilcox (Nick Jonas, Selena Gomez, Lennon Stella). Isabel offered up the lyrics, “maybe we were homophobic” and like an astute therapist, Wilcox instantly started peeling back the layers, unravelling a closely kept story that needed to be told.
Sonically, “Girlfriends” pairs thought-provoking, emotive storytelling with dynamic percussion and bouncy electric guitar that counterintuitively make the song feel catchy and calming all at once. Airy vocal swells and synths off the top of the track set the stage for the song’s dream-like reflection. In her signature smoky timbre, Isabel sings, “I wanted to be girlfriends, but we were just girl friends,” revealing the painful standstill of confusion and loss that comes from love unrequited.
“It’s a bit of a sad song wrapped up in a happy-sounding package. The lyrics don’t really tell a hopeful story,” Isabel spills. “The resolution comes from the fact that I can own the experience and re-tell it from a place of happiness.”
Knowingly or not, listeners of Canadian music have likely already stumbled upon Isabel’s creative handiwork. She has written for and performed on the records of artists like Donovan Woods, Ria Mae, BANNERS and Juno Award-winning rapper Classified. While the world was in lockdown, Isabel cut her teeth in production and signed a publishing deal with Concord Music. Her tracks have already been featured on CW’s Batwoman and Grey’s Anatomy.
Isabel’s musical knack is equal parts nature and nurture. She now calls Halifax, Nova Scotia, home, but was born and raised on a small heart-shaped island in Eastern Canada called Cape Breton. The island has a strong musical tradition and is also the birthplace of her mentor, Grammy award-winning songwriter Gordie Sampson. Isabel grew up surrounded by music - she recalls bedtime stories about the lore of “Brothers and One,” a small-town almost famous rock band formed by her father and his twin brother in the ‘70s. The pair turned down a major label record deal for college, but the romanticized tales of touring Canada in a half-gutted school bus and trading fake IDs to play in dive bars remained household classics while Isabel was growing up.
While she and her brothers longed for cable TV, her parents made a well-curated LP collection and learning instruments the focus of spare time. Her earliest favourite albums were “Venus and Mars” by Paul McCartney and Wings and Joni Mitchell’s “Blue.” Isabel’s father began teaching her piano as soon as she was big enough to reach the keys and by late high school, she had taught herself to play guitar and began penning songs of her own to perform at high school talent shows. Isabel went on to study jazz piano in university before joining forces with the Canadian band Port Cities, who successfully toured around Canada and Europe, gaining international recognition.
Over years spent jotting down ideas in a tour van and travelling to and from Nashville, Isabel fell in love with songwriting and the ability to turn everyday, mundane life experiences into something relatable. While mostly writing for others, she occasionally tucked little ideas away that seemed overly personal. Isabel shares, “I had no firm intention of delving into a solo artist project when I wrote ‘Girlfriends,’ but the song easily became the most honest thing I had ever written. I started to feel like I had something to say that might resonate.”
Arriving just in time for the celebration of Pride Month, “Girlfriends” is set for release June 4th, with Warner Music Canada.
