What is your first musical memory?

Probably hearing Barney the purple dinosaur singing “I love you, you love me.”

Do you remember the first album you bought? 

I remember walking into the record store and seeing a huge station dedicated to ‘The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’. I was only 10-years-old and I didn’t know who she was. I bought the cassette, took it home, put it in the player, and listened to the whole thing. Then I rewound it back and listened to it all day.

You come from a very creative family: your brothers are the musician George Nozuka and the actor Philip Nozuka. Your mother’s half-brother is jazz guitarist Mike Stern, and her half-sister is the actress Kyra Sedgwick.

I guess yes, art runs in our family. My mum is a very big believer in the arts. She wanted to show us that there was this expressive path that we could take if we wanted. We were always encouraged to follow our dreams and get into whatever we wanted.

My brothers and I are all quite close in age, and very competitive, so we were all very influenced by one another. Once my older brother got into something, we all followed suit. That said, because we had such a big family, we also had to figure out how to stand out.

You started writing songs at around 12-years-old. Where did the motivation to write come from?

I played hockey growing up. While I was on the ice I was singing melodies the whole time. Even then, I was training my creative muscle and laying the foundations for writing. I got a little notebook and started writing lyrics, then I got a tape recorder and started taping my ideas. I never really finished a full song at that point—I think I was just mimicking what George, my oldest brother, was doing. He wrote songs for an acapella group we had together with my other brothers. Later, I got a guitar and started learning how to play from some friends at school. That opened so many new possibilities for me.

You collaborated with a member of the COLORS family. I’m talking about your duet ‘No One But You’ with Mahalia back in 2020. How did you two connect and what was it like working together?

Mahalia posted a tweet in 2016 saying she liked a song of mine. After that, I dove deeper into her music. I loved and really connected with what she was doing. She’s so prolific—she puts out music so often and tours a lot. I really respect her.

A few years later I was working on a song and my friend suggested that it would be cool to offer it to Mahalia. I’d never spoken to her properly before, so we reached out randomly and she said yes! From there it all happened within a week and a half. I sent over the materials and she was so cool about it. She’s a bigger artist than me, but she didn’t seem to care about that. She’s just a sweetheart.

Do you have any other dream collaborators?

There’s so many people. I’m a big fan of YEBBA. We follow each other on Instagram and have had little chats here and there. It would be really cool to do something with her—it’s definitely on my bucket list. I also like Nick Hakim a lot, who I know is also a COLORS alumnus.

Tell us about the song you performed for COLORS. 

Last summer, I stayed at my brother’s place in a neighborhood north of Toronto. There was someone who lived down the street who I fell in love with. It was this really exciting, cute thing. We hung out a lot, went on nice bike rides, and did some pool hopping. We just had all these lovely summer experiences together. That’s what ‘Chlorine’ is about.

‘Chlorine’ will be part of a full-length project that you’re releasing later this year. What can we expect from that? 

This project’s going to be a little more wild than what I’ve done before. I’m tapping more into my creativity and trying a lot of new things that excite me.

Beyond this project, what are your ambitions for the future? 

I’m hungry for sustainability and health right now. I have incredible supporters —a lot of people who have been with me since the very beginning. I have so much love and appreciation for them, it’s really who I’m doing this for!