Lowell co-wrote Beyonce's Texas Hold 'Em and has the Grammy nods to prove it. Now she's gunning for a Juno

Elizabeth Boland — professionally known by her mediate name, Lowell — is sitting successful a tiny Toronto studio. The wood-panelled country whitethorn beryllium small, but it's wherever she's crafted galore of her hits, and it shows. 

In beforehand of her sit both a Juno and a framed golden record for The Beaches' Blame My Ex, the medium she co-produced and the hit track, Blame Brett, which she co-wrote. To her close is simply a Wurlitzer electrical piano, which, she remarks, is conscionable similar the 1 she brought connected circuit for 1 of her 3 critically acclaimed albums. 

To her near is simply a PR person, bashfully telling the communicative astir the time her five-year-old asked Lowell what Beyoncé smells similar (the reply was alternatively unsurprising: she smells great). 

And successful her thigh is simply a guitar, presently being utilized to play the way that captured that kid's attention, nary little the remainder of the world: Texas Hold 'Em. The genre-melding soul/R&B/folk/country opus helped motorboat state backmost into the popular civilization stratosphere, Beyoncé finally onto the Grammys' signifier for medium of the year, and a fig of Canadians onto Canada's comparatively equivalent signifier this March. 

"I did gag that, you know, if they didn't marque this class this year, I was going to beryllium mad," Lowell says of the new non-performing songwriter class astatine the Junos.

She's up for it this twelvemonth for co-writing some Cowboy Carter's Texas Hold 'Em and Bodyguard (as good arsenic for co-writing The Beaches song Takes One to Know One). That information came soon aft she shared two Grammy nominations with Beyoncé for champion opus and champion state song. 

"Because if I got a Grammy [nomination] up of getting a Juno, that would beryllium beauteous bad. You know?"

In her 'big sister era'

The half-serious barb showcases the emblematic temperament of Lowell, a pistillate whose feminist, self-possessed lyrics mixed with occasionally heartrending, mournful arrangements person travel to colour immoderate of the biggest songs successful popular music. Those qualities are apt drawn from beingness experiences: a driven assurance paired with earthy sensitivities (she has some cleanable transportation and synesthesia, a neurological information that is not uncommon among artists) pushed her toward euphony successful a household of non-musicians. 

Then dropping retired of a stuffy classical euphony program, years of intermittent, unreliable and unrewarding enactment extracurricular of the manufacture — and a critically lauded but commercially-stunted debut medium — near her somewhat jaded. 

Her experiences with these hardships person recovered their way into her music, guiding her to what she calls her existent "big sister era." It's pushed her to support and usher the songs and careers of musicians similar Hailee Steinfeld and Madison Beer — Lowell wrote much of Steinfeld's EP Half Written Story and helped write astir each of Beer's album Life Support. And she's also developing the up and coming Nova Scotia artist Baby Nova.

When you're successful a country with her, you can't assistance but announcement that she has a spot of an iron-fist-in-a-velvet-glove sensibility. She's kind and funny, but not the benignant to beryllium delicate astir touchy issues.

When a side-conversation astir a peculiarly prickly taxable for euphony nerds comes up — whether learning euphony mentation is each that important to crafting large songs — she doesn't person to deliberation hard for an answer. 

While she's much inclined to travel much contemporary, pop-oriented schools of thought than classical techniques erstwhile crafting songs, she inactive ever has mentation successful mind. It means that portion creators who person nary cognition of mentation mightiness request to trust connected fleeting inspiration erstwhile they person disconnected days, Lowell tin autumn backmost connected her training to crank retired thing bully capable to get to the adjacent opportunity.

When it's pointed retired that immoderate musicians consciousness that academic, theory-guided reasoning gets successful the mode of an integrated transportation to the music, she finds it funny. People with that sentiment connected music, she says, astir apt don't find themselves successful moving studios arsenic often arsenic she does. 

"I'm a fighter. I emotion to conscionable disturbance the cookware a small bit," she says later, laughing. "I ever joke, like, 'I'm not needfully liked, but sometimes respected.' " 

Bittersweet victories

It's been a hard-fought-for respect. And though she presents her deficiency of Junos arsenic a joke, determination is simply a bittersweet spot of information there; it's not bitterness, she's speedy to note, but thing close. Because portion she's spent her decade-plus successful the manufacture penning songs for large names similar the Backstreet Boys, Charlie XCX, JoJo and Demi Lovato, Lowell's ain sanction has been slower to instrumentality hold. 

When it comes to established performers, particularly American ones, that's much oregon little to beryllium expected. But what was harder was seeing the Canadian artists she wrote for — Tate McRae, Bülow and yes, The Beaches — earning accolades and awards from their shared location country.

Bülow's win astatine the 2019 Junos for the EP Damaged and its double-platinum azygous Not a Love Song is a particularly difficult representation for Lowell.

"It was bittersweet … being there, meant to observe astir it, but not truly being allowed to beryllium celebrated for it," Lowell says. Because, adjacent portion stressing the joyousness she felt for her collaborator, that infinitesimal highlighted the intractably pugnacious ceiling Canadian songwriters often clang into.

"I co-wrote that full EP with her and I did consciousness like, you know, each of the creators down it needed to beryllium rewarded, not conscionable a mates of prime people," she says.

"So that was erstwhile I truly started reasoning astir this category, and whether it needed to change."

WATCH | Lowell connected her Grammy nomination: 

Changing the game

That reasoning translated archetypal into a communal strategy for Canadian songwriters — moving to L.A., wherever it seemed indispensable to spell to find enactment and recognition.

But aft the determination and dependable success, her strategy changed. Instead of accepting the bleak prospects presently connected connection for songwriters successful Canada, she thought, wherefore not enactment to alteration them?

"The mode that Canada doesn't clasp their ain endowment tin beryllium a small spot of a deterrent to sticking around," she explains. "I went down there, but I deliberation that it's successful coming backmost I've realized you tin marque much change. You can't conscionable tally distant from things each the time."

Now, the class she's championed for years yet exists. And its beingness means that arsenic chap Canadians Shawn Everett and Jack Rochon vie for their enactment arsenic producers connected Cowboy Carter, she and her Canadian Texas Hold 'Em co-writer Nathan Ferraro besides get to caput to Canada's biggest nighttime of euphony for their accidental astatine a Juno.

To beryllium fair, she already picked up Billboard Canada's inaugural non-performing songwriter grant past year. And if she wins astatine the Junos, she already has her (fingers crossed) code planned out. Like this year's Grammy-winner Amy Allen, who lamented that it's lone the 3rd twelvemonth of their non-performing songwriter award, she would admit and convey each the songwriters who came earlier her.

But much than that, Lowell wants to support warring for songwriters who don't privation to fly south.

"My anticipation is for radical to beryllium capable to enactment here," she says, portion admitting that the competitory quality she learned successful L.A. helped her backmost home. "I'm hoping I tin bring that quality here, bring up endowment present … truthful that people, astatine least, don't person to spell truthful aboriginal to find their way, you know?"