Rising star, Canadian country singer/songwriter Bree Taylor offers a unique perspective to her claim of having a lifelong passion for music.
As she grew up, the importance of physical and mental well being has helped her to focus on life balance while building a successful career.
In our Q & A interview, the Mississauga, Ontario resident talks about her music and what drives her to overcome adversity and not allow negativity to enter her world.
She comes across as extraordinarily kind, yet tough enough to not let anyone deter her from her goals. Read on…
Q: When did you realize you had a passion for music?
A: I was born to music in the delivery room so I truly believe that it was something I was born to do. I started having a dream and love for music as a young girl and loved writing stories, poems and lyrics.
My parents, although not musical themselves, surrounded me with music constantly and music was always there for me, especially the hard moments I endured growing up.
I was bullied all throughout school and because of (that) I lacked the self confidence to make my dream of being an artist a reality.
I did, however, join choir in grade three and stayed until the end of high school.
I also took vocal lessons at age 12 after my Aunt Nancy heard me singing up at the cottage and told my parents that she thought I had real talent; Knowing that someone believed in me was the spark I needed to start believing that my dream could come true.
It wasn’t until after I completed University that I began pursuing music professionally.
Q: Tell us about your latest single, which is nominated for a regional song of the year award?
A: I am extremely proud of my latest single, Kryptonite and how well it has done, especially with a limited marketing budget due to financial limitations from not being able to work as much during this pandemic.
It has been nominated for song of the year with the Mississauga Music Awards and went number one on the Canadian Indie Country Countdown.
(It’s) my second number one to date on the Indie charts and I am extremely grateful and proud of these accomplishments, including all the love and support that we have gotten on the music video as well.
I am just very grateful to have wonderful fans that keep supporting me and my music and who love and support what I do.
Q: How do you maintain a healthy lifestyle?
A: I try to maintain an overall healthy lifestyle by prioritizing my health and fitness through drinking lots of water, working out 4-5 times a week, eating as healthy as possible with macro nutrient dense foods and meditating.
Mental health is something extremely important to me and something that I have struggled with my entire life,
so making good choices in my life is essential to my overall well being.
This means surrounding myself with positive, supportive people, practicing meditation daily, doing positive affirmations, connecting out in nature and a lot of self care.
Self care is different for everyone, for me that is either disconnecting from social media, reading a good book, listening to a motivational podcast, or a relaxing bubble bath.
I am a huge advocate for mental health and try to live by example to my fans and am very transparent about my struggles myself because I feel that being honest and sharing my own story could help others.
Q: Describe your fitness routine?
A: I follow a program by my personal trainers with Phases of Fit, so my workouts are set out for me in their app and I follow along.
I usually do 2 days of legs and abs and two days of arms and back along with 3 HIIT cardio sessions a week.
They also set my nutrition plans for me and I have been working with them since March 2021 and it has been a godsend to have these wonderful women supporting me on my journey, keeping me accountable and guiding me along to process each step of the way.
Q: Did writing music help you with healing?
A: Music has ALWAYS been a form of therapy for me from just listening to music (especially growing up) to writing and pouring my heart into a song.
Music is a part of me and my identity and it shaped me from birth and is a huge part of my life.
Music has been a vital part of my existence to this very day and I can definitely say without it I might not be here today.
Q: Were there any obstacles in your music journey?
A: I have had to overcome my hearing disability which as a singer has been really challenging at times.
I wear hearing aids, which helps a lot but has been hard when it comes to performing live music with feedback on stage, adjusting to sounds and crowds.
I do believe however, that everything happens for a reason and I know that I learned a lot from every obstacle I have endured and they have made me a stronger, smarter and more independent person and I am a better artist because of it.
Our Fitness Friday feature is submitted and written by Christine Blanchette so please follow her on Twitter as well as her Run With It Youtube Channel.Christine Blanchette is a freelance writer for various publications such as Optimyz magazine as well as Fitness Fridays for Sportswave.
Enjoy the weekend and Stay Safe!!
