Roxane Bruneau

While Roxane Bruneau is one of many aspiring singers who made the jump from viral-video sensation to IRL pop star in the mid-2010s, her leap was arguably the unlikeliest. In contrast to the legions of DIY troubadours covering pop hits in their bedrooms, Bruneau—born in 1991 in the Montreal suburb of Delson—first gained a following online for her comedic talents, as demonstrated in her character-driven sketches or guerilla vlogging expeditions to her local tattoo shop. But Bruneau’s musical ambitions were no joke—blessed with a striking, soulful voice, the singer made her proper debut in 2017 with Dysphorie, a candid collection of folky alt-pop confessionals where the singer delves into her history of mental-health struggles. The album’s restlessly anthemic single “Des p’t**s bouts de toi” would pick up the Felix Award for Song of the Year, en route to the record going gold in Canada. But Bruneau was just getting warmed up: Her 2020 follow-up, Acrophobie, cracked the Top 10 as it projected Bruneau’s signature candor onto a grander canvas of synth-sculpted arrangements.