Spotlight: Nuela Charles

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Spotlight: Nuela Charles is a reminder that great music always begins with truth

In this edition of Spotlight: Nuela Charles, we sit down with the soulful Canadian artist to talk about her musical journey, the stories behind her sound, and the evolution that has shaped her latest chapter. Known for blending R and B, pop, and rich storytelling, Nuella opens up about the inspiration behind her recent music, the lessons learned along the way, and what it means to stay grounded while growing creatively. The conversation feels honest and unfiltered, offering a closer look at the heart behind the voice and the work that continues to define her path.

NU2U has been described as a creative rebirth. When you look back on the process now, what did you have to let go of in order to make this record honestly?

The biggest thing I had to let go of during the creative process was the industry pressure of doing things like they’ve always been done before. I didn’t do the usual multiple writing sessions with tons of writers and producers – I took it upon myself to really go back to how I created my first album – taking a real singer-songwriter approach.

This album was written, produced, and vocally recorded largely on your own — sometimes under blankets, sometimes in a makeshift booth built with your father. How did that intimacy change your relationship with your own voice?

Honestly, one of my biggest challenges has always been the studio itself, it can feel rigid and performative. Recording on my own gave me time and freedom. I could sit with a line, experiment with delivery, and follow instinct without pressure. In that safe space, I tried things I probably wouldn’t have in a traditional studio setting, and that openness pushed me to grow in ways I hadn’t before.

Stripping away industry expectations can be both freeing and frightening. Was there a moment during NU2U where you realized you were making the music you always wanted to make?

When I started this process I created a month-long challenge of writing/producing a song per day, and that really allowed me to experiment and honestly, sometimes get out the junk, before getting to the gold. It definitely took me back to how I was writing before my debut. It was free of judgement and just authentically my voice.

The record carries a cinematic intensity while remaining deeply vulnerable. How did you balance raw emotion with the larger sonic world you were building?

When I write I’m always thinking about the visual or potential visual placement. Where could this work? What emotion is it giving or adding? So I think I was able to create the sonic world alongside the lyrics during the demo phase, which allowed us to stay true to the song overall in the production phase.

U2U explores heartbreak and ambition side by side. How do those two forces push against — and fuel — each other in your creative life?

For me, heartbreak and ambition have always existed in the same room. Heartbreak cracks me open — it strips away ego and certainty — and that rawness is where the most honest writing comes from. Ambition is what keeps me from staying there too long. It’s the voice that says, turn this pain into something that lasts.

With NU2U, heartbreak softened my need to prove anything. I wasn’t chasing validation or outcomes, I was chasing truth. That freedom actually sharpened my ambition in a healthier way. Instead of pushing harder, I listened more. I trusted my instincts, my voice, my years of experience.

Working with Matt Parad in Los Angeles helped complete the album. What did that collaboration add once the foundation of the project was already so personal?

By the time I brought the project to Matt, the emotional foundation was already there, the songs were written, the vocals were lived in, and the world of NU2U was very clear to me. What Matt brought wasn’t a rewrite of that vision, but a refinement of it.

Working with him in Los Angeles gave the record perspective. He helped elevate the sonics, create space, and add intention to the details, knowing when to push a moment and when to leave it untouched. Because the project was so personal, it was important to work with someone who respected the emotional core rather than overpowering it.

That collaboration allowed the album to feel finished without losing its intimacy. It took something that started in my living room and helped it stand confidently on a bigger stage, without compromising its honesty.

Earning a JUNO nomination for Adult Contemporary Album of the Year feels like recognition of this new chapter. How does this moment land for you compared to past nominations?

This one lands very differently. Past nominations felt like moments I had to rise to, milestones in a career that was still pushing forward, still trying to establish itself. This nomination feels more like a quiet exhale.

NU2U came from a place of returning to the love of making music, without the pressure of a traditional rollout or the need to prove anything. I let the record speak for itself, and in doing that, I found my way back to why I started in the first place. So this recognition feels less about validation and more about alignment.

It’s meaningful in a deeper, steadier way, like being acknowledged for exactly where I am, not who I was trying to become.

Your music has found its way into film and television through sync placements. How has writing for yourself — rather than for a brief — reshaped your songwriting instincts on this album?

Writing for sync taught me how to be precise, how to serve a moment, a scene, a brief. But writing NU2U for myself gave me permission to be expansive again.

When you’re writing for a brief, you’re often thinking about function and universality. With this album, I let myself sit in specificity, my own rhythms, my own emotional pacing, even the imperfections. I wasn’t asking, Where does this fit? I was asking, Is this true?

Interestingly, that shift sharpened my instincts rather than dulling them. I trusted silence more. I let melodies breathe. I followed emotion instead of structure. Writing for myself reminded me that the most powerful songs often come from restraint and honesty, and paradoxically, that’s what makes them connect beyond just one moment or one screen.

Your multicultural upbringing continues to shape your sound in subtle ways. How do those global influences show up in NU2U, even when they’re not obvious on the surface?

I think my multicultural upbringing shows up more in feel than in form. Growing up between Kenya, Switzerland, the Bahamas, and Canada taught me to be fluid, to move between worlds without needing to announce it. That sensibility is deeply embedded in NU2U.

You hear it in the way rhythm and space interact, in the patience of the songs, and in how emotion unfolds rather than rushes. There’s a natural blend of restraint and warmth, tension and release, that comes from absorbing different musical languages over time, even when there aren’t overt genre markers pointing to any one place.

Those influences live in my instincts: how I phrase a vocal, how I sit slightly behind or ahead of a beat, how I let songs breathe. It’s subtle, but it’s constant. NU2U doesn’t try to sound global, it is global, because I am.

After years of touring and sharing stages with artists across genres, how has your understanding of performance changed now that this album exists?

Touring taught me how to project, how to command a room, how to make sure the back row feels it. But NU2U has shifted my understanding of performance from projection to presence.

With this album, I’m less interested in delivering something and more interested in being inside it. The songs don’t ask for big gestures; they ask for honesty and restraint. After sharing stages across so many genres, I’ve learned that the most powerful performances aren’t always the loudest or most technically impressive, they’re the ones where the artist is fully anchored in the moment. This album invites that kind of performance. It asks me to trust the songs, trust the room, and let connection do the rest.

As you prepare for JUNO weekend and in-person moments around this release, what part of NU2U are you most excited — or most protective — about sharing?

I’m most excited and most protective of the quiet honesty at the center of NU2U. This record wasn’t built for spectacle; it was built from small, intimate moments, writing in my apartment, recording vocals in makeshift spaces, letting songs unfold without urgency or expectation.

Sharing it in person during JUNO weekend feels vulnerable in a new way, because it asks for presence rather than performance. I’m excited to let people experience the emotional subtlety, the pauses, the restraint but I’m also protective of not over-explaining it or dressing it up more than it needs to be.

I want the album to meet people where they are. If it gives someone permission to slow down, to feel without needing to fix or define anything, then that’s the part of NU2U I’m proudest to share.

Looking ahead, how does NU2U redefine what success looks like for you moving forward?

NU2U redefines success for me as alignment instead of acceleration. For a long time, success was tied to momentum, more releases, bigger moments, constant output. This album reminded me that depth matters just as much as reach.

Moving forward, success looks like making work that feels honest and sustainable, building at a pace that allows me to stay connected to myself and my audience. It’s about longevity, trust, and creating from a place of clarity rather than urgency.

If NU2U proves anything, it’s that when I honour my instincts and let the music lead, the right things find their way back to me. That’s the version of success I’m carrying with me into whatever comes next.

Spotlight: Nuela Charles leaves us inspired and eager to see where her ever evolving journey takes her next

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