After making her breakthrough in 2014 with the hit single ‘Hideaway’ and subsequent debut album ‘Sound Of A Woman’, Kiesza was on the path to pop stardom. She wrote songs for Rihanna and Kylie Minogue and collaborated with Diplo and Skrillex. Even Madonna was paying attention to her, having posted a social media clip in which danced to the certified pop smash.
Then, in 2017, Keisza was involved in a car crash that left her with a critical head injury. Doctors told her she might never walk again and she was left unable to, at that time, write or play music.
Three years later, the Canadian pop star is well on the road to recovery and back with her second album, ‘Crave’. No one would blame her if, after the time she’s had, she returned with a record full of frustrated or maudlin songs, capturing the uncertainty that her accident left looming over her life. But this is Kiesza, an artist most at home in the middle of the dancefloor, strobes flashing and beats bouncing.
There are moments where Kiesza’s unabashed lust for life gets the better of her – take ‘Dance With Your Best Friend, which features singer Cocanina, rapper Shan Vincent de Paul and London duo Lick Drop. Thanks to the Brits’ drawled vocals, it comes on like a pop-punk cover of a disco song. What’s wrong with that? Well, nothing, in theory – the song is fun, but the joke wears a bit thin.