Kiesza

Biography

Kiesa Rae Ellestad (born January 16, 1989), known professionally as Kiesza ( KY-zə), is a Canadian singer and multi-instrumentalist from Calgary. She has released multiple singles, including "Hideaway×Hideaway11 April 2014 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Hideaway4:11" and "Giant in My Heart×Giant in My Heart8 August 2014 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Giant In My Heart4:30", as well as the albums Sound of a Woman×Sound of a Woman22 September 2014 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1Hideaway4:112No Enemiesz3:173Losin’ My Mind3:514So Deep4:285Vietnam3:506Bad Thing3:317What Is Love3:088Sound of a Woman3:469The Love3:5710Piano4:2811Giant in My Heart4:2912Over Myself3:3213Cut Me Loose3:53 (2014) and Crave×Crave14 August 2020 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Run Renegade4:052All of the Feelings3:383Crave3:374Can’t Be Saved3:345Love Me With Your Lie2:526When Boys Cry2:557Sky Ain’t the Limit3:168Love Never Dies4:579Dance With Your Best Friend4:0010Sweet Love3:2611You’re the Best2:41 (2020). She has also toured, both as headliner and as opening act, and she has earned several nominations and won multiple awards.

Early life

Kiesza was born on January 16, 1989, in Calgary, where she was also raised. Her middle name is Rae, but she prefers to be called by her first name only. Her last name, Ellestad, is Norwegian from her paternal side, and her grandfather is from Fagernes in Norway. In an interview with Metro in July 2014, Kiesza claimed that she can trace her lineage to someone who fought alongside Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn, elaborating, "There's a lot of Scottish people in Canada. Tons. My grandpa was of Scottish heritage—he was of the black Douglases."
At 13, Kiesza took a sailing class at summer camp and continued her interest past age 16, when she took part in the Sail and Life Training Society program. She later became a sailing instructor at the Glenmore Sailing School, in 2007. A year after, she joined the reserves of the Royal Canadian Navy, along with her brother, becoming a Naval Communicator. She taught herself to play guitar during crew singalongs in the Navy.
Meanwhile, she also entered the Miss Universe Canada pageant. She stated that her time in the Navy motivated her to give away 4,500 CDs to Canadian troops serving in Afghanistan in 2008. Kiesza took part in the Young Canadians program, a singing and dancing group that performed at the Calgary Stampede, where she trained in jazz and tap dancing as well as theatre. She also trained as a ballerina, but a knee injury at age 15 ended her ballet career. When Kiesza was 18, she said that her parents' divorce inspired her to write her first song as a way of expressing her feelings. The same year, she heard one of her songs played on the radio.

2005–2013: Career beginnings

In 2005, CKUA Folk Routes host Tom Coxworth selected Kiesza to perform for a live audience and to be broadcast live on his radio show. Shortly after, she was accepted to Selkirk College in Nelson, British Columbia, where she studied keyboard, voice, and guitar; she graduated in 2009. Next, Kiesza won a scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Afterward, she went to New York City in 2010 to advance her music career. Although she started as mainly a folk singer, after attending Berklee and then living in New York, she moved to a more "uptempo sound", on which she worked with producer Rami Samir Afuni. In 2010, she was selected to play at the Canada Day celebrations at Trafalgar Square in London, to 30,000 people.
In 2012, Kiesza released her first single after starting work with Afuni in New York, a "disco-infused pop" song titled "Oops". She labelled her style of music at the time as "SteamPop", described by ArjanWrites as "a flaming brew of bold, boisterous pop filled with tongue-in-cheek lyrics". In a 2014 interview, Kiesza said "Oops" was made as a joke. In 2013, the singer was featured in the single "Triggerfinger" by the Norwegian band Donkeyboy. She also wrote music for other artists, such as Rihanna, Kylie Minogue, and Icona Pop.

2014–2016: Sound of a Woman

In February 2014, Kiesza released the video for the single "Hideaway×Hideaway11 April 2014 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Hideaway4:11", through the label Lokal Legend. Frank Alex of Vanity Fair considered it her "breakout solo single". Idolator called it unique for having a long take throughout the entire video, as Kiesza walked and danced through N 12th Street in Brooklyn, New York City. Kiesza reported to Rolling Stone that she had trouble making the video, partly because she broke a rib just before filming and "couldn't move for an entire month afterward". The video was premiered by Annie Mac on her Mac's Special Delivery segment on BBC Radio 1. "Hideaway" debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart. The song, written and recorded by Kiesza in less than 90 minutes, achieved further success, with its music video amassing over 135 million views by October 2014, and it also took the top spot on two UK charts and peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Dance Airplay chart.
Shortly after "Hideaway" charted, Kiesza released a new video for her cover of Haddaway's "What Is Love". Mike Bell of the Calgary Herald referred to it as a "jaw-droppingly gorgeous cover". Kiesza's second single, "Giant in My Heart×Giant in My Heart8 August 2014 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Giant In My Heart4:30", premiered on Annie Mac's BBC Radio 1 show on June 13, 2014. It entered the UK Singles Chart at number four, with 33,414 copies sold in its first week. Her first studio album, Sound of a Woman×Sound of a Woman22 September 2014 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1Hideaway4:112No Enemiesz3:173Losin’ My Mind3:514So Deep4:285Vietnam3:506Bad Thing3:317What Is Love3:088Sound of a Woman3:469The Love3:5710Piano4:2811Giant in My Heart4:2912Over Myself3:3213Cut Me Loose3:53, was released on October 13, 2014, and included "Hideway" and "Giant in my Heart".
Kiesza collaborated with Skrillex and Diplo (working together under the name Jack Ü) on the song "Take Ü There×Take Ü There9 August 2014 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Take Ü There3:30", which was released as the first single from the producers' collaborative 2015 mixtape, Skrillex and Diplo Present Jack Ü. The song premiered at Diplo's Mad Decent Block Party on August 9, 2014. She co-wrote Gorgon City's "Go All Night", featuring Jennifer Hudson singing her lyrics, which was on the British duo's debut album, Sirens. Kiesza appeared as a guest on Duran Duran's album Paper Gods, on the song "Last Night in the City", released in September 2015, with a music video published a year later. She wrote several songs for Rihanna, which were considered for the Barbadian artist's eighth studio album, Anti. She also worked with Loreen on the 2015 single "I'm in It with You".

2017–present: Hiatus, Crave, Dancing and Crying

Kiesza released the single "Dearly Beloved×Dearly Beloved6 January 2017 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Dearly Beloved3:01" on January 6, 2017. An accompanying music video was posted on YouTube the same day through the KieszaVevo channel. According to Kiesza, the song and her future material were inspired by her best friend Alicia Lemke, who had died in November 2015 from leukemia. On March 17, 2017, Pitbull released the album Climate Change, featuring a collaboration with Kiesza titled "We Are Strong". At the same time, Cerrone issued the album RedLips, which included a collaboration with Kiesza titled "Ain't No Party". On June 2, 2017, she was featured in "Don't Want You Back×Don't Want You Back2 June 2017 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Don't Want You Back3:21" by Bakermat,
Kiesza was involved in a car accident in 2017 in Toronto, when an Uber vehicle she was in was struck by a taxi in a side collision. Part of her recovery, from what she described as a traumatic brain injury, required her staying in a darkened room for six months. After a two-year hiatus, Kiesza released a new single, "Sweet Love×Sweet Love21 June 2019 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Sweet Love3:24", and returned to touring in June 2019. Paper magazine referred to the new song as being a "blurring of genres unlike her other dance-pop anthems" and also reported that Kiesza was working on a musical. In 2020, she released her second studio album, Crave×Crave14 August 2020 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Run Renegade4:052All of the Feelings3:383Crave3:374Can’t Be Saved3:345Love Me With Your Lie2:526When Boys Cry2:557Sky Ain’t the Limit3:168Love Never Dies4:579Dance With Your Best Friend4:0010Sweet Love3:2611You’re the Best2:41. In 2022, she was featured in the song "Money in the Bag" from the Lights album Pep. In May 2024, Kiesza released a new EP, titled Dancing and Crying: Vol. 1×Dancing and Crying: Vol. 124 May 2024 · EPSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 6 tracks1Dancing and Crying3:182Heaven Ain’t Calling2:573I Go Dance2:564Strangers3:445The Mysterious Disappearance of Etta Place4:486Go Back3:23, which received praise from critics. It yielded her first US number one on Billboard's Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, "I Go Dance×I Go Dance22 March 2024 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1I Go Dance2:562Dancing and Crying3:183Heaven Ain’t Calling2:57". She issued its follow-up, Dancing and Crying: Vol. 2, in July 2025. In 2025, Kiesza toured the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

Other ventures

In 2014, Kiesza was selected to be the face of a new line of fashion eyewear called Color Block by retailer Fendi, appearing in a promotional video shot by Ruth Hogben. It featured Kiesza "strolling on a treadmill against a painted skyline, while singing and donning the double-framed, colourful sunglasses". She announced plans to release her own line of fashion under the name SteamPop sometime in 2014. In May 2014, she was a guest star at the party organized by Safilo and Fendi at the closing of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival to celebrate the New Color Black Eyewear collection. In September 2014, she reiterated she wanted "to put my own fashions out and just sort of make my own fashion ideas accessible to my audience. That's the idea behind Steampop."
In August 2015, Kiesza designed the latest Bad Bunch NYC latest clothing line, titled Select Surrealism. She mentioned blending Old Hollywood style with punk rock elements, as she loved "really eccentric people", citing Alice Cooper and Freddie Mercury, as well as "those with simple glamour" like Audrey Hepburn and Lucille Ball.