Five Rising Stars of Québec R&B and Soul to Watch in 2025

For the second year in a row, here are five young R&B and soul artists from Québec whose careers are rapidly gaining momentum.

 

FERNIE

On his second EP, Hopeless Dreams, released in the winter of 2025, Fernie has embarked on a path of forgiveness. “I’ve spent my whole life blaming myself,” he says. “This time around, I felt like forgiving that version of me that always thinks I’m to blame for everything. I’m starting my mental health healing process, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

Born in Brazil in the late ’90s, Fernie was adopted by his Brazilian mother and German father, in Montréal. His childhood and adolescence were marked by episodes of discrimination while attending a German school there. “For years, school was just the same 15 people and me,” he says. “It was impossible for me to hide. I’ve always been queer, but I was having a hard time understanding that. I didn’t even know what that meant. And when the other people at my school started to understand what it meant, I started being the target of insults.”

To escape from this often hostile daily life, Fernie turned to music. As a huge fan of commercial pop of the 2000s – especially Shakira and Black Eyed Peas – the young artist found role models to emulate wherever he could, notably on American Idol. “There were contestants whose stories were similar to mine,” he says.

After giving up on his ambitions to become an actor, and dropping out of cégep, Fernie focused more seriously on music, inspired by the music of SZA, Daniel Caesar, and Frank Ocean. In the late 2010s, he joined the Kids from the Underground collective, an experience that would open the door to creating his first solo EP, Aurora, in 2022. “That’s when I started to have more confidence in myself,” he says. “For the first time in my life, I accepted myself, my sexuality and my direction in life 100%.”

Propelled by the success of his most recent project, which has been quite a popular success in the U.K., Fernie is currently working on his next EP. He’ll also give a few shows in Québec in the Spring of 2025.

 

SARA-DANIELLE

Sara-Danielle spent a long time singing and playing guitar alone in her bedroom before she realized her full potential. “I’m from Gatineau, which isn’t exactly a bastion of cultural activity,” she says. “It’s a city that revolves around sports, outdoor activities and… it’s civil servants. I didn’t think I had it in me to write songs. In my mind, that was something out of my reach.”

Born in 1994 into a modest family, where music wasn’t a major part of life, her first musical experience came at a very young age, while singing in church. Christian pop and the radio pop of the 2000s were equally important in the heart of the young singer, who’s a huge fan of Rihanna and Black Eyed Peas.

After exploring the sounds of emo and pop punk (like Paramore, and Fall Out Boy) during her teens, Sara-Danielle fell in love with the folk R&B of Britain’s Lianne La Havas and, eventually, with the work of the figurehead of the alternative R&B movement of the 2010s, Frank Ocean. And just like these artists, Sara-Danielle’s music is delicate, soft, and powerful.

ReRUN, her debut album, released in 2024, is rooted in a growing sense of artistic affirmation  by the singer-songwriter, who now has a B.A. in jazz singing. “I hadn’t found my own voice as a writer on my first EP, Healing [2019],” she says. “But this time around, on ReRun, I had my own musical references in mind. I wanted to have an old-school soul sound with organic instruments, but a hint of modernity in the arrangements.”

Sara-Danielle is currently working on new music, the result of several round-trips between Montréal and Toronto. “I’d like to build bridges with the scene in English Canad,” she says, “while also opening the doors for them to our wonderful scene in Montréal.”

 

BLYNK

Blynk spent most of his childhood weekends in restaurants and at Arab music events. His dad was a keyboardist for several Lebanese artists, and he initiated Blynk to vast swathes of Middle Eastern and Maghrebian music.

“It didn’t really resonate with me initially, but I now I see the immense richness of that music. I don’t like to force things, but when I do feel it has its place, I don’t hesitate to integrate those influences in my songs,” says the Laval-based singer, referring to his biggest hit, “Infidèle.”

Born in 2000, the young artist fell in love with R&B thanks to his elder sister, who introduced him to stars like Usher and Mario. This led Blynk to dive into Canada’s own R&B scene, thanks to household names such as The Weeknd and PARTYNEXTDOOR. “I was fascinated by these artists’ themes and lyrics,” he says. “It was a type of R&B that was darker than Mario or Usher. R&B generally talks about a relationship, or a break-up, but this was more complexed and nuanced. There were a lot of grey areas.”

Softboy Actif, the title of his first EP in 2024, is also the name of his collective. The six-track project is a very authentic introduction to the artist and his universe. “Softboy means a guy who falls in love very easily. Actif simply means it happens to me very often!” he says with a laugh. “The project features all the aspects of my music. The first two are melancholic and dark. the middle ones have trap influences, since I’ve always been very close to hip-hop. Then the last two are more classic R&B.”

As well as working on new music, including collaborations with artists from France, Blynk is planning several live shows for 2025.

 

CLARA DAHLIE

When Clara Dahlie writes songs, she doesn’t see notes floating around in her mind; she sees colours and backdrops. “I see bright colours and various eras. I like mixing modern and vintage stuff,” she says.

A singer-songwriter and a visual artist, Dahlie makes music that’s a perfect match for the way she imagines her stories’ settings. Her R&B has a timeless groove, rooted in her love of key American neo-soul artists such as D’Angelo and Erykah Badu, combined with soaring and ethereal textures that reveal her obsession with FKA Twigs’ experimental pop.

The ease with which she mixes the various codes and eras of R&B is intimately linked to her strong artistic open-mindedness. Born in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts in 1997, and now based in Québec City, Dahlie grew up in a socio-economically modest but culturally rich environment. She was surrounded by art from a very young age, thanks to her music-loving and history-teaching grandfather, her visual artist grandmother, and her sister, who was a dance instructor.

After intensive musical studies in her teens, and post-secondary studies in jazz singing, the singer – of French and Mexican origin  — formed an R&B group at the end of the 2010s. “Then the pandemic hit, and I couldn’t work with my musicians anymore,” she says. “I taught myself the basics of Ableton, a music creation software, and I started working on my solo project.” Last year’s Miracles des ombres EP is the cornerstone of this new musical direction.

She plans on releasing her first full-length album in 2025. Now represented by Bravo Musique for her bookings, she intends on getting onstage as often as possible, and will also take part in a musical residency in Bordeaux, France.

 

BURGUNDY

No one ever knows the impact a work of art will have on a child’s development. In Burgundy’s case, it was Christophe Barratier’s musical film Les Choristes (The Chorus, 2004) that changed everything. “I watched that movie with my parents, and that’s how my mom noticed I had a talent for singing. So, she basically made me learn all of the movie’s songs!” he remembers, with a smile in his voice.

From that point on, the singer and producer, born in Montréal in 2001, dove head-first into music, taking singing lessons and learning to play piano and guitar. His first compositions followed soon after, but we we’d have to wait until 2019, to hear his first songs – on the usual online platforms. That ‘s how we were introduced to his raw talent, and his warm, captivating, soulful voice, developed under the influence Daniel Caesar, Dominic Fike, and Frank Ocean.

It didn’t take long for Burgundy to get noticed, including by an American artist management agency. The results, however, didn’t live up to his expectations. “I was told over and over that they would turn me into a Justin Bieber. Every time I heard that, I just wanted to run away,” says the artist, who fears nothing more than being pigeonholed. “I can’t lie, it was a bit disheartening at times… But I saw that there are a lot of sharks in the music biz. It made me wary, no doubt about it.”

Now signed with No Diploma, a record label and clothing brand from Montréal, Burgundy is preparing the release of Achieving Indigo, his first EP,. Due out n April 2025. “The project is the reflection of a year that was tough for me and my family,” he says. “But it’s also a year where I was able to grow. The project embodies the importance of learning from a dark experience, rather than feeling of bitter.”