"Sad in Toronto" is Lia Pappas-Kemps' melancholy realization that sadness can't be outrun. A family affair, the Anne with an E actor's new single was produced remotely in collaboration with her cousin, Elia Pappas. The atmospheric acoustic track emphasizes monument-sized anecdotal details, styled after Pappas-Kemps' songwriting heroes like Joni Mitchell and Taylor Swift.
The song finds Pappas-Kemps collecting passport stamps — from Austria to Paris to New York City — as grief follows her around the world; "blue but in a different continent." Like her own globetrotting, "Sad in Toronto" returns to its minor home-key of Toronto's grey skyline, time and time again. The relief of escape turns out to be only temporary: the sad and lonely muzak themes are playing everywhere Pappas-Kemps goes.
In a statement, the artist said: "I put a lot of weight on certain things ending or starting and how that's going to change my life, then I'll be happy. But man, being depressed doesn't change." Ugh, too relatable.
"Why did I believe the TV shows? / I've been on one of those / It's all fake," Pappas-Kemps sings with a sardonic deadpan, refusing to hold anything back. Her frost-bitten vocals begin to unspool as she exaggerates the vowels in "Toronto," pronouncing it like a proper YYZ-er. You can hear her whole heart, and of course, it's at home — even if she hates it sometimes.
The accompanying video was directed by Sabrina Carrizo Sztainbok. It's likewise set against the backdrop of Pappas-Kemps' hometown, as she stares into the camera's soul at dusk and performs some impressive hair-choreography.
Watch the video for "Sad in Toronto" below.
(Tinpot Records)The song finds Pappas-Kemps collecting passport stamps — from Austria to Paris to New York City — as grief follows her around the world; "blue but in a different continent." Like her own globetrotting, "Sad in Toronto" returns to its minor home-key of Toronto's grey skyline, time and time again. The relief of escape turns out to be only temporary: the sad and lonely muzak themes are playing everywhere Pappas-Kemps goes.
In a statement, the artist said: "I put a lot of weight on certain things ending or starting and how that's going to change my life, then I'll be happy. But man, being depressed doesn't change." Ugh, too relatable.
"Why did I believe the TV shows? / I've been on one of those / It's all fake," Pappas-Kemps sings with a sardonic deadpan, refusing to hold anything back. Her frost-bitten vocals begin to unspool as she exaggerates the vowels in "Toronto," pronouncing it like a proper YYZ-er. You can hear her whole heart, and of course, it's at home — even if she hates it sometimes.
The accompanying video was directed by Sabrina Carrizo Sztainbok. It's likewise set against the backdrop of Pappas-Kemps' hometown, as she stares into the camera's soul at dusk and performs some impressive hair-choreography.
Watch the video for "Sad in Toronto" below.