Savannah Ré - About U

Ré's musical interests began at a young age. She was born in Montreal and raised in Scarborough, Toronto, which is home to the Weeknd and Kardinal Offishall. Her father was a DJ, and her mother and sister were both singers. Whitney Houston, Brandy, and Destiny's Child were among her childhood idols. However, her visual art took precedence over her voice at first. She painted murals in elementary school while attending the Claude Watson School for the Arts.

As time went by, Ré became a regular night perfomer becoming more at ease on stage. She decided to pursue a music career. To pay for studio time, she'd work during the day at either a Shoppers Drug Mart in Scarborough, which was later featured in Drake's "Started From the Bottom" video. She released a few singles, met Yogi (now her husband), and the two formed a professional—and personal—relationship.

Now a popular singer and songwriter, she intentionaly pushes herself into creating music that conjures up feelings she hopes to pass on to her listeners. Her dicipline and hardwork led her to release debut EP "Opia". The nine rnb track album is a deep run of her critical analysis, revealing the peaks and lows she went through completing her first project. On hypbae, she reveals how she came about naming her album "Opia".

I was on Twitter one day and I saw Brent Faiyaz tweeting about the name of his group, Sonder. That word is very intriguing to me because it makes me wonder what it means. I went to Google and searched for the meaning of “sonder.” Something called the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows came up, which is basically 45 words that are words for feelings.

While I was reading through them, I stopped on “opia.” The short form of opia is basically when someone looks you in the eye and you feel uncomfortable, because the eyes are the window to your soul and they’re able to see right through you. And that’s when I knew that was the one, because that’s the feeling that I get when it comes to this music.

A 2021 JUNO Award winner of rnb, selected for the 2022 #YouTubeBlack Voices Music, Re was also nominated for the Polaris Music Prize, two Prism Prize nominations, a SOCAN Songwriting Prize nomination, and the Slaight Music Emerging Songwriter Award nomination. Savannah Ré accepted Grammy Award-winning producer Boi-1da as a mentor, and later collaborated with other well-known artists like Babyface, Jessie Reyez, Normani, and Wondagurl. Opia's sound is influenced by the R&B icons introduced to Ré by her sister: Aaliyah, TLC, Lauryn Hill, and SWV. It's short but varied, blending 90s R&B, chill pop, and spoken word.

In another interview with Complex, she also shared her jumaican heritage influences her artistic skills as she creates music,

“At the end of the day, expression is such a huge thing in Jamaica. The crazy outfits, the hair, the everything, my nails, all of this stuff comes from dancehall culture,” she says, gesturing to her long, beaded set of nails. “So I don’t know, it just it empowers me in a lot of ways. It helps me to be able to be like, yo, I can be more than one thing. I’m not a monolith.”

'About U' - released July 22, 2022, from the album About U, was written by Savannah Ré herself , Marcus James, YogiTheProducer and Jack Ro. Directed by Alex P. Smith and produced by J.P. Borchardt, the music video's visuals are captivating with very original and oftentimes unguarded lyrics, electrified to life by her graceful vocals.

Lyrics gotten from genius.com

[Intro]

Ooh-oh-oh

Ah, ah-ah

Ooh, ooh-ooh

Yeah, yeah

Yeah

[Verse 1]

Can't function

Be a lie to say it's nothin'

Back and forth like an option

Hey, don't know what to call this, you stay on my call list

I know it's comin', ah

Seatbelt while we swervin' (Skrr)

Confusion screwed us like this

You are the one that I miss

[Pre-Chorus]

Can't play this game forever

Let's get this shit together

You know I make you better

But you make it hard

[Chorus]

I got shit to do, ooh-ooh, ooh

But I'm still here

Thinking about you

Hey, hey-hey-hey

I got shit to do, ooh-ooh, ooh

I'm still here

Thinking about you

Hey, hey-hey-hey

[Verse 2]

God, I hate to admit (Uh)

Whеn you're not next to me, I start

Ovеrthinking what this shit could be for us

One night turn to two and then to three, I'm stuck

[Pre-Chorus]

When it comes to stay, I can't fake it

Everything you do, it makes me want you more

But you make it hard (Harder)

[Chorus]

I got shit to do, ooh-ooh, ooh

But I'm still here

Thinking about you

Hey, hey-hey-hey

I got shit to do, ooh-ooh, ooh

I'm still here

Thinking about you, you

Hey, hey-hey-hey

[Instrumental Outro]

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