Katie Stelmanis

Bio

Austra is the pop project of Canadian vocalist and composer Katie Stelmanis. Her most recent album Chin Up Buttercup is out via Domino. Stelmanis, a classically trained musician and opera devotee with four previous albums and a Canadian Screen Award under her belt, has been singing dramatic arias about tragedy for years. Her secret? She didn’t really know what that devastation felt like. She only experienced it off stage in early 2020 when her long-term partner dropped a bombshell. “I was completely blindsided … the person I loved woke up one day, told me she wasn’t happy, and I basically never saw her again,” Stelmanis says. She confesses to feeling very at odds with the world, like nothing made sense. The album’s name is a reference to the societal pressure to just paste on a smile and keep going. Stelmanis and co-producer Kieran Adams took inspiration from the Eurodance sound of Madonna’s landmark 1998 album Ray of Light, produced by William Orbit, and emerged with a mix of hypnotic dance floor anthems and elegant melodies to soothe your broken heart.