This Saskatoon musician talks about her first headlining tour, music, inspiration and what it actually means to chase your dreams.

Often when we look at artists with hundreds-of-thousands of listeners on Spotify we think they must come from far-away lands where musical talent grows on trees and success is handed out like candy. The insane amount of high-profile artists hailing from the east and west coasts of Canada who litter the radio-waves, and our Spotify playlists — because who really listens to the radio anymore — makes it seem as though Saskatchewan is a dead-zone for dream making… keyword: seems. 

Katie Tupper is a neo-soul singer-songwriter born and raised in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan who has been active in the city’s music scene since 2018. Described by local venue, The Bassment, as “a soulful, creative spirit who proves there’s much more to our province than grassland and grain silos,” Tupper has made incredible strides since her debut on the Saskatoon JazzFest stage with the Soulmate Collective by proving dreams can come true in this prairie province; you just have to chase after them.

Late last year I sat down with Tupper on the opening night of her ‘where to find me’ headlining tour which took her from Saskatoon, across western Canada and back, to ask her about her journey as a musician, what has inspired her songwriting over the years and if the way we talk about pursuing dreams is reflective of what it actually means to pursue them.

Back in 2019, before her music career had taken off, Tupper was completing her degree in marketing from the University of Saskatchewan. At the time, in an interview with The Sheaf, she spoke of the old adage that school is always a good “plan B” but noted that “it also kind of restricts you because you’re never put in a state of desperation where you’re like, ‘okay this is what I have to do.’” I decided to ask her this time round if this ‘state of desperation’  arose after finishing her degree, and drove her to chase her dream or forever regret not doing so.

The answer I received was one that both surprised me, but moreover endeared me. 

“I think at that point in 2019 I probably knew, okay, I have to do this, just for myself – I need to do music. But also it felt like the opposite because I graduated in 2020 [during the pandemic]. No one was hiring for jobs, so it was like, ‘okay, for the first time I feel like I don’t have a state of desperation. I just have the space, and the time and spare money because I’m not going out all the time.’” She explained. “So as soon as a few restrictions [were] lifted I went into a studio, made my EP and I got picked up by my label. So I think it was a little bit more of the space that allowed it.”

Tupper’s emphasis on peace, space and giving herself time to explore and learn, rather than be faced with the pressure cooker mentality where we grind to make our dreams come true was so different that I couldn’t help but ask her more about how her thoughts had changed since going full-time as a musician.

“[When I started] I think in my mind I had this idea of starving artists go[ing] full in and that’s your only plan,” she told me. “But now I think [because] I’m closer to the music industry it’s like, ‘no’, [some] people will go to school for music … [some people spend] the whole summer touring and then they [work as] plumbers or electricians. There’s no one way to have this career.” She explained to me reflecting on the contrast between her old and new ways of thinking: “If you love music there’s a way for it to be a part of your life all the time; it’s not just cut and dry you do it or you don’t. … I think [my old way of thinking] was a naive way of looking at things.”

This mindset that viewed her old — but moreover societies — all-or-nothing perception of creativity, artistry and dream-pursuing as naive and ill-informed was extremely refreshing to hear, especially from someone working full time as an artist.

With minds calm and old thought-patterns quelled I decided to pick her brain on how she thinks the internet has fundamentally changed collaboration, connection and the way music is made.

“I think it’s just made it really easy for me to make friends that I don’t think I would have been able to otherwise [without] the internet.” Tupper said. “I think the biggest thing has been connecting with other artists and then also being able to reach people with my music through TikTok and Instagram [that] has been really cool.” She continued, “I think it’s actually less so the creation thing. I feel you just have to do that wherever you are.”

Maintaining this creativity, and doing it ‘wherever you are’ is something that Tupper assured me did not change no matter where she travelled. Additionally, and again rather interestingly, she told me that her process of inspiration didn’t see much impact due to a growing or shifting fanbase. Her music was, and is, still totally hers.

“I think I’m just writing for myself … once it’s out it changes and evolves into whatever the listeners think. But now when I’m writing [it’s] all kind of selfishly about myself,” she told me with a laugh. “A lot of [my lyric writing] is self-reflection that I think hopefully someone will connect to.”

Tupper noted this self-reflection as a important part of music for herself and for her audience because in her words, “you realize once you put [music] out that you’ve never had an original thought in your life … and that’s what makes it beautiful because that’s why people connect to it, because everyone has experienced it.”

As for the content of her songs and interpretation of them, Tupper likes to see her audiences have fun exploring the lyrics and finding meaning in ways that are “different than what [she] was intending.”

“A lot of my songs relate to identity and being queer – my most recent EP was about that … without stamping it as specifically exploring those things.” She explained, “It’s really fun to hear how people interpret them [the lyrics] … because it’s just their projection of what they’re experiencing… I feel like I’ve been able to connect a lot with people a lot deeper than I ever expected.”

I think she is right on the money. There is something harmonious about people taking other people’s work and finding their own meaning in it and granting themselves their own experiences from it.

Lastly, on the topic of how ‘luck’ factors into the business of ‘dream-chasing’, Tupper noted a vast array of things from money, status, access, time and health that serve as factors for luck. Still though she did not discount the hard work it takes to get lucky.

“There’s so many ways that everyone gets to this certain path and so much of it is luck. But yeah, I think you can kind of stack the odds in your favour by putting yourself closer to where those opportunities happen… by posting that video or playing that show or doing that scary thing is the only way that you will be lucky.”

Moreover, Tupper was sure to express an immense amount of gratitude for the hard work of her band, producers, other collaborators and support from her parents that have helped her achieve the position she is in.

“I think I’ve gone in a direction that felt really good… where I was surrounded by a lot of friends and a lot of people that are really special to me that helped me create cool things,” she said. 

As for the meaning and spirit of her ‘where to find me’ tour and it’s conception overall, Tupper said people can find her “in her own lane” and hopefully in the future “going back to Europe, the United States, and Toronto,” where she plans to work on and put out a “handful of singles” and an album that is currently underway.

My interview with Tupper left me with answers I didn’t expect, and an outlook on passions, self-reflections and dreams that felt more matured and less societally fabricated. It has seemed for a long time that Saskatchewan has been a dead-zone for dream-making, but this just isn’t the case. Tupper showed me that in this prairie province we just have to reconsider what it means to make those dreams come true, and pursue them in our own ways, on our own terms, and with perhaps a touch less of the stress and desperation that is ‘expected’ of us.