Pop powerhouse LU KALA has been honored by Billboard Canada with their Women In Music « Rising Star Award. » Performing stripped-down versions of her empowering pop anthems, including her chart-topping hits « Pretty Girl Era » and « Hotter Now, » LU accepted the award in a session with iHeart Radio Canada. Check out her sit down chat here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXBPBBej9j8) and her intimate performance of « Pretty Girl Era ».
« I’ve worked really hard, so it feels really nice when anyone recognizes you…especially Billboard, » LU said while accepting her award. « I’m just grateful to be in a place where I’m starting to have these wins that I always dreamed about growing up. »
The Toronto-raised songstress and songwriter is responsible for a string of hit pop tracks making waves across radio charts, streaming platforms and social media. Her most recent single « Who’s Gonna » follows the trending « Pretty Girl Era »-with over 25 million streams, over 340K user generated videos on TikTok including uses by Justin Timberlake, Eva Longoria and Serena Williams, and an inclusion in Fortnite-a feature on Latto’s Billboard Hot 100 hit « Lottery, » « Hotter Now »-topping Top 40 and AC radio charts in Canada-as well as her power ballad « Nothing But Love » with social media videos reaching over 1 million views.
LU has been busy this summer, performing her catalog of hits live at a number of high profile events including Pride Toronto’s Opening Night main stage event on June 28, Mississauga, Ontario’s Canada Day Celebration on July 1 and at Calgary Stampede’s Cowboy Music Festival on July 7. Looking ahead, she’s taking the stage at Vancouver’s VanPrideFest on August 4 and in Edmonton at MacEwan University’s Fall Fest on September 6, with more dates to be announced shortly.
This « Rising Star Award » is just the latest notable industry recognition. Earlier this year, LU was nominated for two Juno Awards-Single of The Year for « Pretty Girl Era » & Breakthrough Artist of the Year-as well as an Artist of The Year nomination at the 2024 Women in Music Canada Honours. Elsewhere, the SOCAN Foundation honored her at the Her Music Awards, in the US she was selected as an honoree « Industry Disruptor » for the TikTok 2024 Black History Month Visionary Voices List, in addition to being chosen to be a part of TikTok’s « Elevate » campaign, their first ever Emerging Artists Program, and dubbed one of VEVO’s DSCVR Artists to Watch 2024.
At the age of three KALA’s family immigrated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Canada, first living in Toronto’s Regent Park, and later Ajax. Gifted with a talent for writing striking pop tracks and memorable hooks, LU KALA has amassed over 100 million streams. Behind the lyrics was a voice waiting to be released, unwilling to vocally bend into the box black female performers are often expected to exist in. She’s embraced her distinctive sound, transforming her trajectory as an artist, and a woman, in the process.
« I do music that is true to me, and it would be cool to see more girls feel like they can do the same, whatever the genre, no matter their race, » she shares.
