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velours worked with multi-platinum Juno-award-winning Ryan Stewart on her debut single "Tell me".
"I contacted him kind of not expecting for him to get back to me," she said. "I sent my covers and he responded really quickly and was like, 'I don't normally work with people who aren't signed, but I'd love to work with you.' So that was a big moment for me," velours said.
Ryan Stewart has written and produced songs with artists like Carly Rae Jepsen, Hedley, Simple Plan, Tyler Shaw and many more in his studio in North Vancouver, according to his website.
The Saskatoon-born singer-songwriter said she wrote her alternative-pop song, which gained 1,000 streams in one day, about her experiences of not belonging.
"I feel like the majority of society feel like they they don't belong, myself included. "Tell me"
discusses a lot of things like abusive relationships, being a LGBTQ+, being a woman and feeling like you don't belong, unless you fit this perfect image of society," she said.
Ava janzen, who goes by stage name velours, said her name originates from her french upbringing.
"It was actually kind of my mom's idea because a lot of people have told me before that my voice sounds like velvet, which I thought was really cool. And so I thought I could I call myself velvet. But it didn't sound right. But then you hear Velours and it kind of makes sense, especially because I do alternative pop music with like grunge and rock influence," she said.
Growing up, velours said she would always sing and write songs in public. At eight years-old, she started doing music theatre and decided to pursue acting in Vancouver for three years while still writing music.
"In 2019, I performed at the underground cafe and that was the first time I had ever performed as a singer," she said.
velours said she is looking forward to releasing her three-song EP Identity in August 2020.
"It sounds like 'Tell me' but I've also integrated more real instruments as well. It's kind of an introduction to the next stage of my career as a musician and as a performer."
"We're filming my first professional music video next week, and I'm really excited about it!," she said.
Stream Tell me below: