Canadian singer Chantal Kreviazuk has been releasing music for more than 15 years. She's also written songs for superstars like Kelly Clarkson, Shakira, Pitbull and Avril Lavigne.
It sure sounds like a charmed life. But the darker, more difficult moments are what inspired her latest single, "I Will Be," which touches on issues like depression and suicide.
"I think that I've done a lot of traveling around the world, which gave me access to life experiences and people's stories," Kreviazuk says in a recent interview with Headlines & Global News. "I know what my own personal struggles in my family were. I can deduce that life is harsh, life is a struggle. I think that being a teenager is really, really hard. I think there's been a shift in the very basis of how we go through society, which creates this idea that we're not good enough."
With the song not only tackling such serious themes, but also hoping to offer some solace to those who might be struggling, the singer/songwriter released the song in partnership with Kids Help Phone, Canada's only toll-free, 24-hour, bilingual and anonymous phone counseling and web counseling referral service for children and youth. She also released a video for the song, which was directed by Thomas Cobb, who has done work for "Homeland," "Orange Is The New Black" and a long list of other high-profile clients. You can view the video for "I Will Be" below.
Working with Kids Help Phone was an easy decision for Kreviazuk to make. For starters, her husband, Our Lady Peace lead singer Raine Maida, had done work with the organization in the past, she explains.
One musical act that was not on her radar before she met her husband was his band, Our Lady Peace, the long-running Canadian alternative/hard rock band which has sold millions of albums and won four Juno Awards (the Canadian equivalent of The Grammys) and 10 MuchMusic Video Awards, more than any other artist.
"I never heard of Our Lady Peace when I met Raine," Kreviazuk says. "I was from Winnipeg and, we had two stations, and I listened to the one that didn't play Our Lady Peace."
She shares that they met "at a Pearl Jam concert 20 years ago this September, and we've been together ever since."
Husband and wife have worked together, both as writers and performers, and while she says "we love every drop of time we get together," some professional space helps, because "the more we work apart, the easier it is to work together."
Next up for the songstress? A string of dates in her home country, kicking off April 15. And, of course, penning more songs.
"Always writing, writing, writing," she says. "And you never know what's next if you don't show up."
