Five Minutes With: Toronto-based Electro-Pop Musician Nathalie King

Born to a French/Vietnamese mother and a German father, singer-songwriter Nathalie King is noted for its cinematic electro-pop and trip-hop style, while her sound expresses deeply rooted themes like mental health and emotional life experiences.

The Toronto-based artist is known for her sultry smooth low voice reminiscent of the true artists of the vintage jazz era.

King is currently working on her new EP PTSD with the plan to release in 2024. She has released a series of singles, “Break Away” in 2016, which landed a placement in a S’well water bottle commercial, and “Ghost Rider” of the same year, which was featured in an episode of ABC’s “The Fosters”. Recent synch placements include her song “Beautiful Soul” in Howard Hall’s underwater documentary Soul of the Ocean, distributed on PBS and European TV in January 2023 (including Servus TV in Austria). Awards include being a semi-finalist at the International Songwriting Competition 2016 and Semi-Finals at IndieWeek 2016. Outside of her own musical work, King also does voice work for Canadian commercials and NBC TV and writes /sings tracks for Universal Production Music UK for TV and film placements, which have appeared on shows like Love Island Germany and Law and Order Toronto. She just finished a 5-track EP for label/ sync library Molecular Sound in the UK, which is releasing end of this Summer.

Graduating with a B.A. (Hons) degree in film and animation, King produced and hand-animated her own music video for ‘Suckr for Love’ (2019), which was officially screened and won at international film festivals.

Nathalie King
Photo by: John Packman

Name:

Nathalie King

Genre:

Melancholic Electro Pop

Founded:

2016

# of Albums:

1

Latest Album:

Released 15th November 2024

Latest Single:

You

Latest Video:

Favourite musician growing up:

Tina Turner, Julie Andrews, Michael Jackson. My mom had cassettes of these artists and so those were my early music encounters

Favourite musician now:

Burial, Ghostly Kisses, Freya. Love artists with hauntingly beautiful voices and great atmospheric production.

Guilty pleasure song:

I play all sorts of Frequencies on YouTube in the background when I’m doing things/ working at home.

Live show ritual:

It goes like this: yoga, rehearsal at home, putting on costume, drinking throat coat tea, eat food, go to the venue for sound check, then run on the spot for 30 seconds to exhaust myself before going up on stage. It helps with feeling relaxed.

Favourite local musician:

Aarys and Joseph of Mercury. Both are super talented and nice peeps

EP or LP?

EP

Early bird or night owl?

Night owl. I love it because it’s quiet and I feel inspired and more creative, and I also hate it because it messes with my health and circadian rhythm.

Road or studio?

Studio. I love the atmo and coziness in a studio. I could live there, maybe it reminds me of acting school and dance classes, I felt at home whenever I took creative classes as a kid.

Any shows or albums coming up?

My EP ‘PTSD’ came out on November 15th. It’s a journey of healing from childhood trauma, that I am finally brave enough to write about.

Where can we follow you?

Website | Instagram | TikTok | Facebook

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Rapid Fire Local Questions:

What is your favourite local restaurant?

The Porchlight in Birchcliff

What is your favourite street in your city and why?

It used to be Portland St before the big construction, now it’s Roncesvalles and Queen St on the beaches because of its serenity and lots of little independent shops and bakeries.

What is your favourite park in your city and why?

Rosetta McClain Gardens in Birchcliff because it’s a little well-maintained forest with beautiful flowers and you can feed the squirrels and chipmunks there, with an outlook onto the lake.

What is your favourite music venue in your city?

Massey Hall is such a beautiful venue. I’d love to perform there one day.

What is your favourite music store in your city?

Long&McQuade has everything.