XOLOVEBO

Despite being in the early stages of her music career, there’s a chance you may already know Toronto based pop artist XOLOVEBO - you just might not recognize her anymore. That was certainly the case for her FedEx delivery man. “Don’t I know you from somewhere?” he asked Bo, who had gone through something of a transformation since she last saw him. “I changed everything...I just wanted to do it. I legally changed my name from Jennifer to Bo” she explains whilst laughing. “People think I’m crazy. I cut my hair, I bleached it. People thought I’d lost my mind!” Working as an office manager in Toronto, Bo (formally Jennifer Courvoisier), was not entirely happy with her path and where it was going. It’s the sort of thing that many of us often find ourselves wondering… “how did I find myself here?” or “This isn’t what I wanted” but unlike most of those people, Bo did something about it. “I just thought… ‘What am I doing with my life?’ I needed to change everything!” It wasn’t about being somebody else for Bo, it was about finally being herself. Something which she felt she hadn’t been doing for a long time. “Working in an office as an office manager 40 hours a week, having to be conservative and professional, it wasn’t me, it didn’t fit in with how I wanted my life to be. It sounds cliché but it’s like holy shit, I’m wasting my life… I’m not getting what I want.” To this day, Bo still has people react differently to the alterations she made to her life, with some thinking it’s crazy and others finding inspiration in it. Given that Bo has been writing songs since high school, it seemed like making this change to her life and being herself was the push she needed to make the next step in her music career. Fast forward to a year later and Bo has just released her debut single ‘Baby Come Back’. A song rich with emotion which reflects on an ex who re-entered her life when she found herself in a healthy, happy relationship. ‘I drank a lot of Vodka and there was a lot of crying when I wrote that song’ she says. Her writing is honest and inspired by previous relationships and heart break. For her debut album, ‘Wasting the Weekend’, Bo has written over 50 original songs and enlisted respected producers Howie Beck (Feist), Ben Nudds, Giordan Postorino to support with her project. Something of a seasoned songwriter now, Bo has always had a keen interest in song lyrics, citing influences from Michael Jackson to No Doubt and Dolly Parton. “I’ve always been interested in music. I performed some acoustic stuff early on, then went through my party phase and wrote a bunch of songs that weren’t really acoustic.” The change in her writing was somewhat coincidental with Bo’s life change. It was around this time that Bo was finding herself more comfortable with writing. She let go of previous inhibitions and explains ‘I felt ok being vulnerable in my writing and being more honest. Some of the songs after they were recorded… I thought “oh shit, my parents are going to hear this” but yeah, I just let go of the whole thing and went for it!’ ‘Baby Come Back’ is accompanied by a strikingly shot video which finds Bo in Las Vegas varying in scenes between town and desert. Operating on a tight budget Bo styled herself for the video and even ordered the outfits for as little as $18 on the internet whilst doing her own hair and make up. The video wonderfully captures the feeling of the song and even shows Bo sipping on some vodka, highlighting what she was going through at the time of writing. Keeping her feet firmly on the ground for now, Bo is aware of how much hard work she has to do but she’s also very proud of her songs to date. She wants as many people as possible to hear the music. ‘There’s no ceiling or limit to what I want to do’ she explains ‘I always joke about world domination but I honestly believe in the music and I believe in my own talent and ability so I just want to be put in front of an audience for them to decide if they like the music.’ Given her natural ability to write catchy pop tracks with ease and her creative flare, Bo’s joke about world domination may soon become a reality. Let’s just hope we can recognize her when it happens.