'No genre, no gender, no rules': watch Myst Milano bring a larger-than-life performance to The Intro
The Toronto artist fuses elements from ballroom, hip hop, industrial and house music
Myst Milano is a consummate shape-shifter. The non-binary multi-disciplinary artist, activist, composer, rapper and DJ wears many hats — not including the fuzzy pink number they're rocking in the latest episode of The Intro — and juggles them all seamlessly. Milano's artistry is fluid, pulling influences from '90s house, ballroom, hardcore, punk and experimental electronic music to create a wholly singular sound.
Milano brought that chameleonic power to the CBC Music studio for an exhilarating episode of The Intro, with dancers from the Toronto Kiki Ballroom Alliance to take things to the next level. The influence of their involvement in the Toronto ballroom scene cannot be understated, and it's apparent all over their Polaris-longlisted 2021 album, Shapeshyfter. "No Shade," the explosive track that Milano starts their performance with, is an homage to the magic of that scene, and you can watch it in the video above.
As a teenager, Milano watched ballroom from afar but after moving to Toronto in their 20s, they became embedded in the culture. "It's created hunger for knowing myself, and has made me a better artist and a better performer," they told Intro host Damhnait Doyle. "Ballroom is talent, and so it's made me want to be a more talented person and touch all corners of art and artistry."
Milano, who took to the stage as soon as they could walk, has had a desire to be a musician ever since they saw Madonna perform at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1998. Performance is an integral part of their creative process, and they think specifically about movement and staging and the visual messages they want to convey. Performance is the purpose.
Even while sitting down, Milano's magnetism commands the stage. In the episode, their performance of "Oh Boy," a song inspired by the murder of community activist Oluwatoyin Salau during the 2020 protests following George Floyd's murder, is charged with intensity as Milano raps about increasing police brutality, exhaustion, sobriety and contemplating suicide.
Milano composed, wrote and produced all the songs on Shapeshyfter, giving them the freedom to create music that sounded exactly how they imagined it.
"I have a super succinct vision of how I want things to play out, and what I want them to look like and how I want them to feel," says Milano.
Watch that vision come to life in the episode above.
CBC Music's The Intro spotlights emerging musicians across the country through interviews and live performances, and airs on CBC Gem, YouTube and CBCMusic.ca/TheIntro. Keep an eye out for new episodes every second Tuesday.