Move over, Bublé; there’s a new Prince of Christmas Music. Tyler Shaw is already in the holiday spirit, with a very merry concert series in full swing. The famed Canadian multi-Platinum-selling, JUNO-nominated artist – who’s best known for his chart-topping hits “Kiss Goodnight,” “With You,” and “To the Man Who Let Her Go” – gave his fans the warm and fuzzy holiday feels when he released a holiday-themed album, A Tyler Shaw Christmas, in 2021. The album resulted in a JUNO nomination for the Chinese-Canadian musician and a feel-good, Christmas-themed concert series. Shaw got Toronto fans into the Christmas mood on Sunday, November 26, when he took the stage at The Great Hall.
From hockey stick guitars to the real deal
Growing up in Vancouver, British Columbia with a mother who was a piano teacher, Shaw’s childhood home was always full of music. “There was always a piano in the house,” says Shaw. “I didn’t pay too much attention to it until I was a little bit older, but it was always there; step one was just having access to instruments and hearing music in the house. So, from a very young age, I think it’s always been an interest of mine. I was literally going through old footage of tape of my childhood and I stumbled upon a clip of me holding a hockey stick; I was probably two or three and holding one of those little hockey sticks pretending it was a guitar.” Aw.
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As the years went on, Shaw – who spent his younger years listening to bands like Metallica, Rage Against the Machine, Blink 182, Fallout Boy, and Mayday Parade – further embraced his love of music and the creation process. “I started, playing drums in the school band and really fell in love with rock music,” says Shaw. “We were fortunate enough to have a drum set at home, so me and my brother would jam and started our own little band when I was about 13 years old. I just started writing my own stuff. From the drums, I moved to the guitar and, finally, the piano.” Shaw credits music as an outlet to channel his teenaged angst, especially after his parents’ divorce.
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“That had an impact on me and the stories I was telling through music,” says Shaw. “When you’re 14 years old, you’re going through all the chemical changes in your body and you’re just trying to figure out who you are or what you are, or where you’re going, and what you want to do. I thankfully had sports – soccer, specifically – to just dump all this emotion into, but I also had music. Once I realized that you could put all this emotion and feeling into creating a song, I just fell in love with that process. So, started writing songs when I was 13.” Admittedly, he says they weren’t all great back then. “There were some questionable ones,” he shares. “The first song I ever made was called ‘The Tara Song,’ because it was about a girl I had a crush on named Tara – very original, I know.”
I started writing songs when I was 13.
Tyler Shaw
Once Shaw picked up the acoustic guitar, his influences also began to include the likes of John Mayer, Jack Johnson, Jason Mraz, and fellow Canadian crooner Michael Bublé.
In the years since, Shaw says he’s enjoyed the song-writing journey and exploring the “countless” angles this can take. “I just love that, if you give me a four-bar loop, I’ll try 10 to 15 different melodies, and it’s super fun of me to get into the production side of things,” says Shaw. “It’s been a 15-year journey for the whole process.”
A key part of this process was the 2012 MuchMusic Coca-Cola Covers Contest, which would quickly change Shaw’s life. “I was going to university on a soccer scholarship in Prince, Edward Island,” reflects Shaw. “It was kind of during the exam season at the end of April and I was in the middle of studying. My best friend and roommate at the time had heard about this contest – I don’t know how he heard about it; maybe something popped up online or on Facebook or something – and he’s like, ‘Hey, you should do this; you got some stuff so you should give it a shot. At that point, I was kind of focused on the soccer dream. Musically, I was always like, ‘That would be cool,’ but I always thought it was way too far-fetched. But, I got sick of studying one night and threw up a cover online and didn’t think too much of it.”
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The competition would be a game-changer. “I think it was five or six days that went by, and it got a lot of attention through the soundtrack,” says Shaw. “That was kind of the beginning, when doors opened up for me; I saw the light on the top – it was shining away. So, I decided to follow it and ended up posting three more covers and I got the same recognition. We ended up going all the way with it, which was very surprising. But everyone has a path; everyone has a journey that’s kind of drawn out for them and I’m really grateful.”
A quick household name
It wasn’t long before Shaw released his debut single, “Kiss Goodnight,” through Sony Music Canada in 2012 – a hit that was certified Gold by Music Canada by April 2013. In 2014, Shaw earned a JUNO nomination for ‘Breakthrough Artist of the Year.’ The anticipated release of his debut solo album, Yesterday, with Sony Music came in 2015 – something that became a celebrated success. This album featured the certified platinum track “House of Cards” and the Gold “Wicked.”
By 2016, Shaw was touring with superstar Selena Gomez – something he calls a career highlight (to date, at least).
In September 2018, a second album, Intuition, followed. The breakout hit “With You” reached Double Platinum and the romantic ballad “To the Man Who Let Her Go” also went Platinum. These accolades earned him a 2019 JUNO Award nomination for ‘Pop Album of the Year.’ Tyler’s third studio album, the eponymous Tyler Shaw, was released in 2021 and features the hit song “Remember,” which also went Gold (do you detect the common theme yet?). That year Tyler released his first holiday album, A Tyler Shaw Christmas, which was nominated for a JUNO Award for ‘Adult Contemporary Album of the Year.’
In February 2022, Tyler famously released his viral rendition of GAYLE’s number one hit “abcdefu.” “Love You Still” (abcdefu Romantic Version), which has to date over 2.5 billion views of videos using the song on TikTok; over 10 million views of user generated content videos on YouTube; more than 500,000 videos created using the song; and combined 168 million audio and video streams(!). The single was certified Gold in India, Singapore, and Taiwan and Platinum in Canada. In 2023 “Love You Still” (abcdefu Romantic Version) was nominated for a ‘TikTok JUNO Fan Choice’ award.
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No stranger to fellow famous faces, Shaw has performed for names like Prince Harry, Justin Trudeau, and Joe Biden.
Despite his quick success, Shaw doesn’t sugar-coat that the journey wasn’t without its challenges. “I think one of the biggest challenges is just navigating the music industry itself,” says Shaw. “Growing up, I think I was naïve about it. I thought that if you ever get on the radio, you get rich and retire, and you’re good to go. That’s far from the truth. There’s a lot of work that goes into it. There are a lot of people that would take advantage of you. You have to build a team that you trust, and that comes with trial and error.”
Shaw says he learned to find his way in the industry by making mistakes. “That’s where you learn the most from,” says Shaw. “So, I made a lot of mistakes and you grow from them. You learn from them and kind of move on and you’re stronger because of them and you’re more knowledgeable.” But that doesn’t mean the challenges stop. For example, there’s social media. “When my career started 11 years ago, social media wasn’t like it was today,” says Shaw. “This may sound weird coming from an established artist, but I still get really self-conscious about what I post online, and I’m like, ‘What are people going to think?’ I know that the advice to keep with me all the time is that it doesn’t matter if you’re happy. But, for some reason, I can’t get over it – the thought that I’m going to be judged for this and I don’t know how much of my private life I should give. So, that’s a struggle of mine and it sucks.”
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When it comes to lessons learned and advice for up-and-coming artists, Shaw offers a few words of wisdom. “The number one thing is to practice,” says Shaw. “This is no joke; it’s some serious stuff: practice your craft as much as you can. Secondly, fear is only going to get in the way. You have to let go of that and really go for it. I think that’s good life advice in general.”
Paving the way for Chinese pop artists
It’s no secret that there’s a clear lack of representation of Asian artists in the Canadian pop space. Shaw, says, however, that this is slowly changing.
“There are now a fair share of Asian talent coming up, for example, like Alex Porat, to name one super solid Canadian artist,” says Shaw. “Then Eric Nam is an American who is so fantastic. So, it’s coming up more as people kind of shine a light into Asia and ask, ‘What’s that talent over there?’ We don’t look too hard, because we have a lot of mixed race individuals in our own backyard who are doing amazing things. And we still have a lot of work to do, obviously not just in the music world. In acting, for example, Simu Liu broke open huge amounts of doors for Asian communities. So, it’s getting better but is still not great. But, when people realize just how relatable mixed race people – or, just Asian music and Asians in general – are, I feel like they’ll be happy with it.”
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Undoubtedly, like Liu, Shaw continues to inspire countless Asian Canadians to follow their dreams and talents into the Canadian pop music scene.
Screen time
Proving himself to multitalented – and following the footsteps of his actor brother – Shaw has also moved into the acting world. In 2017, he made his acting debut in an independent feature The Meaning of Life, which was directed by Cat Hostick.
“The acting world has been a big part of my life because of my older brother,” says Shaw. “He’s always loved that theatre stuff. So, in turn, I always wanted to be like him and always copied him when he went into the theatre. So, I took, acting in high school as an elective and theater and stuff just like he did.We would always do skits and things together growing up; like if we have YouTube channel now, I think it’d be pretty funny when we were filming all this random stuff back then. But it wasn’t until I landed the role in The Meaning of Life where I was like, ‘This is cool,’ and I fell in love with acting world even more., I want to do more though. I definitely want to be more.”
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We’re here for it.
What’s next for Tyler Shaw?
Shaw says he’s always focused on his next moves. “I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve had, but I am always thinking about what I can do next,” says Shaw. “It’s sort of like, let’s cherish things, but I’m always looking for the next highlight.”
For one, he has a fresh new album in the works. “It’s going really well and I have a lot of new original music coming out in 2024,” says Shaw. In terms of what we can expect, Shaw says his artistic development always mirrors his evolution in life.
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“My life has gotten bigger and more expansive,” he says. “My family has moved, set down new roots, expanded, changed, been through challenges, and discovered new wells of strength and inspiration. And I have poured all of that into my music. My sound is bigger, draws from more inspiration, and is richer than ever before. In so many ways this was always the sound I wanted to make and have been drawn to, but it feels, now, like the time is right to express all of this.”
He has his sights set on performing in other parts of the world. “It’s kind of like once you produce something then you can kind of have an idea what you want to do,” says Shaw. “The music will dictate what you do and where you go. I want to definitely make some trips to Europe and Asia to explore the music industry and those territories because I know that I have a good support with them, especially in South East Asia. I actually have a lot of fans there who want me to come out and do some shows. So I think it’s a matter of time before it’s only a matter of time before I get out there.”
In the immediate future, of course, Shaw has his sights in the holiday season and his Christmas shows. “I love the warm and magical feeling that comes with this time of year; I love Christmas,” says Shaw. “So, when I had the opportunity to create some Christmas music and put it out there, it was a no-brainer for me and was so much fun. It’s really just playing into my love for this time of year.”
It was back in 2017 when Shaw gave his fans their first dose of festive feels when he released a version of “Silent Night” that quickly made its way to Canadian radio. The following year, he performed the single at CTV’s Santa Claus parade alongside The Canadian Tenors and Johnny Orlando.
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So, what can festive-feeling concertgoers expect from A Tyler Shaw Christmas? “It’s all Christmas,” says Shaw. “I’ll do a couple originals but, for the most part, it’s just a lot of fun and it will get you right into the Christmas spirit.”
When people sing back the lyrics you wrote, there’s no better feeling in the world.
Tyler Shaw
Inevitably, it turns into a festive sing-a-long. “When people sing back the lyrics you wrote, there’s no better feeling in the world,” says Shaw.
Credits
Shot by, Nick Merzetti; Produced and Creative/Fashion Direction by, Steven Branco; Styling by, Sharad Mohan; Lighting assistant, Alejandro Silva Cortez; Makeup by our Head of Beauty/Grooming, Angela Lee; Hair by, Duyen Huynh; Production assistant, Francis Chang; Location, ULTRA Toronto, an INK Entertainment property. Full wardrobe curated from RW&CO, with watches from Citizen Watch, Longines and Accutron, and jewellery from BIRKS and PARIS Jewellers. A special thanks to INK PR Lisa Persaud, the Overcat PR and BICOM PR teams, for their assistance in making this all happen. A Stamina Group production.
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