Forward movement Chantal Kreviazuk takes break from recording to celebrate anniversary of sophomore release By: Eva Wasney Posted: 6:12 PM CDT Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024

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Chantal Kreviazuk is still moving — she’s just taking a moment to reflect on a decades-long career that has taken her from Winnipeg to the winner’s circle of the Juno Awards to recording studios with the world’s biggest pop stars.

A deluxe re-release of her double platinum-selling sophomore album, Colour Moving and Still, is out Friday in celebration of the project’s 25th anniversary. Kreviazuk is marking the milestone with a cross-Canada tour and returns to her hometown Saturday for a concert at Burton Cummings Theatre.

The Free Press caught up with the singer-songwriter during a moment of downtime and fresh off a trip to Sweden, where she was recording her 10th studio album. During the call, she was cuddled up with her dog and preparing to make a big pot of chicken noodle soup for a household sick with a cold.

“That’s where home is — where the dogs are,” she says with a laugh.

Kreviazuk and husband, Raine Maida, lead vocalist of Our Lady Peace, have three sons, two dogs and a newly acquired cat. The couple splits their time between Toronto and Los Angeles.

Coming back to Winnipeg is an event punctuated by familiarity and reunions.

“It’s kind of meditative because that’s where peace is, knowing what comes next. When I come to Winnipeg, I know exactly what’s coming next,” she says.

A trip to Salisbury House for a coffee with her dad and long walks with her mom are in order, as are visits with extended family members.

Kreviazuk also makes a point of nurturing her “beautiful sisterhood relationships” with lifelong girlfriends from Balmoral Hall school and Charleswood, the neighbourhood where she grew up.

“We’ve been friends for 45 years. We’re really, really into each other,” she says.

Included in that sisterhood is Beverley, the mother of Kreviazuk’s former partner Samuel, who died by suicide and for whom she wrote Surrounded, a breakout hit from her debut 1996 album Under These Rocks and Stones.

“Surrounded is this incredible thing. Everything is temporary, but when you memorialize somebody, it’s strange; they live longer in a way,” she says.

While Kreviazuk, 50, has enjoyed revisiting the songs she wrote in her 20s for Colour Moving and Still, grief has also seeped into the process — specifically when performing the song Far Away, which is a tribute to her cousin Brenda’s untimely death.

“It’s painful every day; she was my person. Brenda dying at 37, that wasn’t supposed to happen, and so playing Far Away kind of feels like it does when I play Surrounded — it’s literally like the person is with you, so it’s a bit heavy,” Kreviazuk says

The re-release of Colour Moving and Still includes remastered versions of the album’s original 10 tracks. A double LP with previously unreleased live recordings and bonus tracks — such as Kreviazuk’s rendition of Leaving on a Jet Plane — has also been pressed for the occasion. Saturday’s show will include a mix of songs from the album and other hits.

The anniversary has also been cause to pause and reflect on a career that has gone places Kreviazuk never expected.

“I believe that so much of who we are has a lot to do with luck — where we’re born, the family we’re born into, our circumstances,” she says, adding her success has been the result of equal parts good fortune and perseverance.

“I am the luckiest person that I’ve ever met because I’m the hardest-working person I’ve ever met.”

Kreviazuk has been a longtime ambassador for War Child and has written hit songs for the likes of Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson and Britney Spears.

Her collaboration with Canadian superstar Drake on his record Take Care — which won Rap Album of the Year at the 2013 Grammy Awards — came about following chance conversation at a party. It’s an example of the importance of creative cross-pollination, she says.

“Nothing great that happens on this planet happens alone. You have to get outside of yourself, get outside of your head,” she says.

That mentality carries on at home, too. Kreviazuk and Maida are frequent musical collaborators and have recently launched a weekly video series on Substack, dubbed Marriage and Music, in which the couple discusses their respective careers and lessons learned over 28 years together.

Their relationship was also the subject of the 2019 warts and all documentary, I’m Going to Break Your Heart.

“When a purpose envelopes you,” Kreviazuk says, speaking about their relationship, “you feel so much passion about it and we have so much fun now with our problems.”

Visit chantalkreviazuk.com to purchase Colour Moving and Still on vinyl. The anniversary release is also available on most streaming platforms.

eva.wasney@winnipegfreepress.com

X: @evawasney