[charlene]

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KD Lang
NETHERLANDS - 1st JANUARY: Canadian singer k.d. lang posed in The Netherlands in 1992. (Photo by Michel Linssen/Redferns)
Michel Linssen/Redferns/Getty Images

Few singers are as chameleonic and casually flamboyant as Alberta’s k.d. lang. Purporting to be the reincarnation of Patsy Cline, lang filled her early work with a heady mix of country classicism and camp theatricality. She proved her Nashville bona fides with 1988’s Shadowland, and then alienated the Nashville mainstream by first coming out against meat, and then simply coming out. But rather than a career impediment, lang’s individualism enhanced her pop appeal — that, plus the fact that she could sing pretty much anything, from effervescent pop confections like “Constant Craving” to jazz standards with Tony Bennett. —J.D.C.

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PartyNextDoor
CHICAGO, IL - NOVEMBER 29: PartyNextDoor performs during the Summer's Over Tour at Aragon Ballroom on November 29, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Daniel Boczarski/Redferns)
Daniel Boczarski/Redferns/Getty Images

Emerging from the molly-drenched miasma of early-2010s Toronto, PartyNextDoor cuts a familiar figure across his first few releases: a brokenhearted lothario prowling apartment complexes and nightclubs at vampire hours, looking for any stimulation that’ll keep the pain — or at least the withdrawal — at bay. The difference is that PartyNextDoor was one of the architects of this style. Born Jahron Brathwaite, he had a songwriting deal at 18, establishing a behind-the-scenes presence across Drake’s imperial era and a handful of the best tracks on Rihanna’s Anti. He’s at his best in these contexts, but his solo LPs provide room for his rangiest productions, full of dreamlike EDM flourishes and half-remembered island percussion. —C.P.

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D.O.A.
Canadian guitarist Joey Shithead and Canadian drummer Zippy Pinhead (died 2019), of Canadian punk band DOA, after their show at Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco, 1978. (Photo by Ruby Ray/Getty Images)
Ruby Ray/Getty Images

When punk’s first wave started fizzling out, D.O.A. burst out of Vancouver playing faster than the Sex Pistols and the Ramones combined, and snarling with the same contempt for society as like-minded L.A. hardcore bands Black Flag and the Germs. Where they differed, though, was in frontman Joey Shithead’s calls for social change, which set their Hardcore 81 album apart from those of their peers; one of their mottoes was “Talk Minus Action Equals Zero.” Their music influenced everyone from Guns N’ Roses to Green Day to Pearl Jam, and their band’s DIY van tours inspired Black Flag and Minor Threat to get on the road. Drummer Chuck Biscuits later went on to join Danzig, while Shithead unsurprisingly went into politics (while keeping D.O.A. going). —K.G.

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Alessia Cara
CARSON, CA - MAY 13: Alessia Cara performs onstage during 102.7 KIIS FM's 2017 Wango Tango at StubHub Center on May 13, 2017 in Carson, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Brampton-raised Alessia Cara — the first Canadian to win the Best New Artist Grammy — made a big splash with her debut single, “Here,” a wallflower chronicle that twisted a sample of Issac Hayes’ “Ike’s Rap II” into a stormy soundtrack for teenage alienation. Her sweet-and-sour alto was an ideal foil for 2010s pop savants like Zedd and Troye Sivan, while her presence on Logic’s 2017 anti-suicide smash “1-800-273-8255” — where she played the sympathetic operator who answered the desperate Logic’s call — cemented her status as a pop hero for those who felt left behind. Cara has taken that responsibility seriously in both her soulful music and her offstage activism. —M.J.

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Broken Social Scene
CANADA - JANUARY 01: Photo of Broken Social Scene; Broken Social Scene photographed in Guelph, Canada 2005 (Photo by Wendy Redfern/Redferns)
Wendy Redfern/Redferns/Getty Images

Born out of a collaboration between Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning in 1999, Broken Social Scene’s revolving-door approach to music helped highlight a new generation of major artists from Toronto. The collective includes Feist and members of Stars and Metric, among others, uplifting all of their individual projects in the process. BSS has even recently included cameos from Meryl Streep and Tracey Ullman. The band has been touring on the 20th anniversary of its breakout sophomore album, You Forgot It in People — and over the past two decades, its music has endured. Album standout “Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl” remains a beloved indie-rock staple (and the anchor of memes); its indelible line “Park that car, drop that phone, sleep on the floor, dream about me” continues to resonate for a new generation. —A.L.

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Nelly Furtado
Portuguese-Canadian singer and songwriter Nelly Furtado, 2002. (Photo by Tim Roney/Getty Images)
Tim Roney/Getty Images

In 2000, this Victoria-born singer-songwriter broke through with “I’m Like a Bird,” a regret-tinged anthem for the liberated woman. While that chiming track was very in tune with the pop trends of the early aughts, over the years Furtado proved herself to be as free from genre conventions as “Bird” might suggest. She appeared on tracks by hip-hop collective Jurassic 5 and DJ Paul Oakenfold in 2002, and the following year she released Folklore, which touched on her Portugese heritage; Loose, released in 2006, was a forward-thinking dance-pop record produced by Timbaland, and Furtado’s sample gave an edge to beat-heavy cuts like the wistful “Say It Right” and the saucy “Promiscuous.” 2017’s The Ride amalgamated those past sounds into a slick, hooky collection that she called her “hangover album.” —M.J.

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Anne Murray
UNSPECIFIED - CIRCA 1970: Photo of Anne Murray Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Before there was Shania Twain, there was Anne Murray, who crossed over from country to pop in the early Seventies and became one of the biggest stars of Adult Contemporary radio. Born in Nova Scotia, she earned national attention in Canada through CBC Television, but it was the million-seller “Snowbird” (1970) that made her name in the U.S. Despite consistent success on the American charts in the Seventies and Eighties (notably the chart-topping ballad “You Needed Me” in 1978), Murray remained based in Canada. Her final album was a collection of duets with the likes of Celine Dion and Nelly Furtado, and she officially retired from music after a farewell concert in 2008. —J.D.C.

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Richie Hawtin
INDIO, CA - APRIL 14: DJ Richie Hawtin performs at the Mojave stage during day 1 of the Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival (Weekend 1) at the Empire Polo Club on April 14, 2017 in Indio, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Coachella)
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

Richie Hawtin moved to Windsor, Ontario, from the U.K. when he was young, a computer wiz who fell in love with the techno scene in nearby Detroit, DJ’ing and eventually releasing records on his Plus 8 label. Hawtin mixed a minimalist approach to music with a smart marketing sense to turn his Plastikman releases into international successes. Hawtin’s music can be foreboding and spartan, but tracks like his career-making nine-minute 1993 classic, “Spastik,” have a raw, pulsing off-kilter energy. “I remember when ‘Spastik’ came out, people were like, ‘It’s fucking just snares,’” he said of the track years later. “And then others thought it was the best thing they’d ever heard.” His forays into deeper abstraction (like 1998’s more ethereal Consumed) have been equally divisive, but there’s no denying his music’s subtle, almost subliminal pull. —J.D.

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Loverboy
(Original Caption) : 1981- The rock and roll group Loverboy are shown in this studio portrait. (Photo by Lynn Goldsmith/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)
Lynn Goldsmith/Corbis/VCG/Getty Images

Spandex existed long before Loverboy did, but it took these Eighties arena-rock pinup boys to perfect it. The Calgary studs knew how to work a red leather catsuit and a mega-cheese guitar riff with the high-pitched sex moans of singer Mike Reno. They won a huge audience full of girls wearing headbands and leg warmers. Loverboy rocked countless proms with bangers like “Working for the Weekend” and “Lady of the 80’s,” but their moment of genius was “Hot Girls in Love,” from the Hot Girl Summer of 1983. “We don’t pull our pants down like Jim Morrison did,” guitarist Paul Dean told Rolling Stone. He explained their music by saying, “It’s like a beer commercial.” Rival bands were jealous of the fangirl love — the singer in Quiet Riot sneered to Rolling Stone, “When Loverboy get offstage, they put on their Lacoste shirts and play tennis.” But Loverboy are still killing it on the road to this day, and still taking fans to (almost) paradise. —R.S.

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Godspeed You! Black Emperor
NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 23: Mike Moya(L) of Godspeed You! Black Emperor performs All Tomorrow's Parties Festival - Day 3 at Pier 36 on September 23, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images)
Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images

Given to abstract soundscapes, long, slow-shifting drones, and recurring clouds of feedback guitar, Godspeed You! Black Emperor are hardly the most commercial rock group to have come out of Montreal, but that’s kind of the point. According to its label, Constellation Records, the group declines to engage in self-promotion to the point of eschewing music videos and social media, and sees its lengthy instrumentals as a form of protest music, “soundtracks to late capitalist alienation and resistance.” In 2013, GY!BE won the Polaris Music Prize, for the album ALLELUJAH! DON’T BEND! ASCEND! In response, the group complained that the corporate-sponsored Polaris gala amounted to “lazy money patting itself on the back.” —J.D.C.