Entertainment
Tyler Shaw on working with Avril Lavigne, Stop Asian Hate and supporting Manchester United
Tyler Shaw is a household name in Canada with top 10, multi platinum singles under his belt, millions of streams and a black book of celebrity pals that will make anyone green with envy.
His new single, Be Like You, has just dropped and is lifted off his forthcoming third studio album set to arrive this summer.
It follows hot on the heels of Tyler’s epic charity collaboration with Justin Bieber, Avril Lavigne and Bryan Adams on the charity single Lean On Me, to raise money for coronavirus relief efforts.
The 28-year-old is also best known for the hits; With You, When You’re Home and To The Man Who Let Her Go.
Tyler’s roots may be in his native Canada but London’s got a special place in his heart too.
So let’s get to know him better… introducing Tyler Shaw:
Hi Tyler! What inspires you musically?
It’s honestly everything, inspiration comes from weird life events. I remember actually being in London where I wrote a lot of this last album and this current album I’m working on. I’ll be on the Tube and I’ll just think of an idea subconsciously, something will just pop into my mind and that’s how 90% of my ideas come to mind.
I don’t know what it is about London, I do my best writing over there and I don’t know if it’s because I grew up in Vancouver and it’s similar over there and it feels like home. But just the history and buzz of the city really resonates with my creativity.
What was it like to record new music during a pandemic?
I was actually in London in February 2020 and that’s when the pandemic really started to hit the headlines. The day after I arrived back in Canada from the UK, that’s when everything got shut down. Myself and my team really had to pivot. 80% of the songs were written over Zoom – an interesting time I guess.
That star-studded charity song is pretty epic…
It all came together in three weeks, it was such a fast-paced, heavy stress project that came together so quickly and all these incredible artists that made that happen. I didn’t get a chance to reflect until a week after when all the dust had settled. It’s an amazing thing to be a part of and I’m happy we got to pull that off.
All that money goes towards the Canadian Red Cross which in turn helps Covid-19 relief so I’m really that the project is continuing to help our country and others that need it.
If you could create the ultimate Canadian supergroup, who would be in it?
Celine Dion, Bryan Adams, Justin Bieber, Alessia Cara and myself.
You’ve been outspoken on Stop Asian Hate, do you feel the movement is seeing progress?
I do and I hesitate on that because it’s slow. Like any movement it takes time but the good thing is people now more than ever are talking about it and taking action.
It makes me upset that it took this long and this many negative things to make it happen; random beatings and racism in general for the conversation to happen. But at the very least we are doing things about it and spreading knowledge.
What’s been your craziest showbiz experience so far?
It’s been a wild nine years from touring with Selena Gomez to seeing 50 Cent randomly at a party and talking with him, to watching good friends like Shawn Mendez sell-out here in Toronto, going platinum, doing top 10 hits – I can’t narrow it down. I’m looking forward to the next nine and can’t wait to see what happens.
We hear you’re a Manchester United supporter…
My father and his family in Hong Kong, they grew up watching football quite a bit. I love football but since I grew up watching Man United, that’s my go-to team but I’ll watch a Chelsea game, an Arsenal game or West Ham.
I just love the game so much that it doesn’t matter who’s playing, I just like to see the skill and talent.
What’s your relationship status?
I’ve been married for two years and just had a daughter back in December.
Thankfully it’s nice weather now so we can get out and do things but when she was born, it was so cold and snowing that we just didn’t want to go outside. That being said, the silver lining to this whole pandemic has been the lack of travel. So I’ve been doing all sorts of things at home while also being there for my wife while she’s pregnant and seeing her grow up during that time.
Why should we listen to you?
I write my music from a raw and honest place. I don’t like to bulls**t the audience. I like to write relatable songs and songs that people can just really grasp and hold onto with a type of emotion that they’re feeling.
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