Aysanabee: 5 songs that changed my life
From Fleetwood Mac to Beyoncé, the singer breaks down the songs that have impacted him
Aysanabee had a breakout year that other musicians dream of. The Oji Cree singer-songwriter, born Evan Pang, started making music in earnest over the course of the pandemic, and his 2022 debut album, Watin, was the result. That album has since earned him nominations for both a Juno Award and the Polaris Music Prize, and he performed "We Were Here (It's in My Blood)" as part of the 2023 Junos broadcast.
To continue that momentum, Aysanabee released an EP of new songs this year, Here and Now, which continues to build on his towering, soulful full-band vibe.
It comes as no surprises that Aysanabee's personal taste is also quite eclectic, as we learned when he sat down to share the five songs that changed his life. From stealing his big brother's Fleetwood Mac CD to the impact of seeing Kendrick Lamar live for the first time, you can watch him talk about his five songs in the video above, or scroll down to read more.
'Dreams,' Fleetwood Mac
"It was like the soundtrack to my life when I was six years old. I'm not sure if that makes me a weird kid, but we just moved to Thunder Bay and we were living in the city for just a little bit before we moved out into the country.… It was kind of a rough little neighborhood, and I remember just being a kid, running around and there is a memory of throwing bricks down a stairwell. Kids running around, kind of wild, just Lord of the Flies, but while all that's going on, I'm listening to 'Dreams' by Fleetwood Mac."
'Could You Be Loved?,' Bob Marley
"I listened to that when I was 12, I think. And we lived off grid, there was no electricity, so we had a generator on at night. So I'd put on this CD that had a really big impact on me because that's when I started writing songs. I started writing reggae music, because of that album, because of these songs. But I remember that song in particular being like such a groove and I started writing songs. When I was 15, I moved into the city and … we started this reggae band. People are always like, 'Where did you get that tone? Your voice?' Bob Marley had a pretty big impact on the sound that I had developed."
'Pray You Catch Me,' Beyoncé
"Beyoncé put out the Lemonade concept record and I've always been a huge fan of concept records. I know we live in a world of singles now, but it's so cool when people put together a concept record, especially when there's something so deep. She was writing about the impact of slavery and American culture on Black love. It's a special thing a musician gets to do, this building of worlds and creating art and yeah, I'm glad Beyoncé made it."
'King Kunta,' Kendrick Lamar
I don't know how I slept on Kendrick Lamar for so long, but it was 2015, To Pimp a Butterfly came out that year and I went to WayHome. Kendrick Lamar was the headliner and I remember just being in the very back, they started playing and I had to fight my way to the front. We made it so close, probably like 30 metres away, and there was just something really powerful in his performance where you just see an artist and you're thinking, that person believes what they're saying. I remember just watching and being like, this is one of the greatest performers I've ever seen."
'King,' Florence and the Machine
"I've always been a fan of Florence and the Machine, this song in particular. The songwriting, it is so good and it was really relatable at the time. I remember just really kind of connecting to it, because she talks about like, what's our real worth? Then she goes on to say maybe she self-sabotages her life in order to have something to write about. Being in the music industry and trying to make it as an artist takes so much work and it takes so much of your time and it takes so much of your energy and that song, for me, directly speaks to that."