Artist Glimpse: Kirstyn Johnson
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Kirstyn Johnson is making a tangible mark on the Canadian music scene. Alongside Bryn McCutcheon, she runs Good Grief and hosts the "Inner Circle" showcases at TD Music Hall, creating a genuine community for artists. Whether she is producing events or performing her own material, Kirstyn’s work centers on a clear commitment to unfiltered storytelling.
ROB AGUIAR - You and Bryn have built a powerful community with Good Grief. Looking back at your thriving "Inner Circle" showcases, how does that collaborative energy fuel your personal creative fire when you step out as a solo artist?
KIRSTYN JOHNSON - Finding the balance between creating for others and creating for myself has been a journey in itself. It’s a true gift to step into someone else’s process, but only when you have something to give. Inspiration is a funny thing… when it knocks you have to answer, but when you knock it decides whether or not it wants to show up. When I’m working with other artists I feel like I’m “working out” my creative muscles and trading tools with my peers that help keep things interesting. Ultimately, it’s a never ending practice of keeping my channel open and my pen ready. The lingering collaborative energy fuels me in the moments when my own inspiration strikes me.
RA - You recently wrapped up touring Europe with Forest Blakk. Looking back at that whirlwind journey, what did you discover about yourself as a performer while bringing your music to a global audience?
KJ - I learned that playing the show is the easy part! Being on stage performing and telling my stories are the things I’ve been practicing my whole life. Tour life brings a ton of unexpected twists and turns but getting on stage is the part that grounds the whole experience for me.
RA - You often lean into the "unfiltered" side of storytelling. How do you maintain that vulnerability in your writing, and is there a specific lyric of yours that still hits you harder than most when you perform it?
KJ - Writing is vulnerability for me. Being transparent in my music is the easy part for me somehow. I think I write songs about the things I’m uncomfortable talking about; which I can imagine is difficult for the people I’m writing about now that I think about it.
In my song Passenger Side, there’s a lyric in the first verse that goes “thanks for the coffee, I don't usually drink it black but nobody’s talking”. Everytime I get to that part I’m transported to that morning when I woke up in the wrong bed with the wrong person, with a terrible hangover, and started sipping the cup of black coffee he brought me because asking for some milk and sugar felt like the wrong way to break the silence.
RA - I saw you lending incredible vocals to Mike Celia when he opened for Matt Zaddy. On the 24th of this month, the two of you are sharing the stage at The Rec Room here in Mississauga to trade acoustic songs. Since you both know each other's catalogs so well, how does that deep-rooted friendship shape the way you approach a collaborative, raw live performance like this?
KJ - Mike was one of the first people I met when I moved to Toronto back in 2019. Since then we’ve worked on and off stage in a lot of different bands and a lot of different configurations. There’s a beautiful comfort that comes with sharing the stage with a good pal. Obviously we make a plan and pick a set and all that, but when I’m on stage with Mike I feel like I'm hanging out with my friend in a living room sharing songs and people just happen to be watching and listening in.
RA - Looking at the milestones you’ve already reached, what are the top three goals you are currently manifesting—both for your career as an artist and for your own personal growth?
KJ - I’m working on my listening and focus skills right now. It’s kind of a two-fold answer I guess but I have a lot of big feelings and big ideas. Sometimes I have to be reminded to slow down and focus on what’s truly needed from me to get a project from point A to point B or else I’ll just get excited and passionate for the hell of it.
I’m also trying to remember to live! You can’t be inspired by life when you forget to live life. I have a habit - again - of getting so caught up in the next thing I can do that I burn myself out and run my well of creativity dry. It’s a hard one to commit to when your work doesn’t feel like work but we all need a brain break sometimes I guess.
And my last goal is allow myself to reach more people with this music. Whether it’s online or touring or however songs get to people these days, I’m trying to become comfortable with the fact that what I make was made to be consumed. So, I’ve gotta let people consume it! I’m making a point to be less precious and more human with most things in my life. Life’s too short to look back and say “I never did it because it didn’t feel like the right time.”
With a fun European tour behind her and a clear vision for what's next, Kirstyn Johnson is navigating her career on her own terms. As she continues to expand her boundaries as both a writer and a performer, her focus remains exactly where it started: on making music that is entirely, unapologetically real. Glimpse Productions is proud to share a piece of that journey.
