Victoria Canal is a Spanish-American songwriter who has lived all over the world (Amsterdam, Atlanta, Dubai, Munich, Shanghai, Tokyo among others) before settling in London; the 25-year-old is also an actor who recently debuted on the Apple TV+ show Little America. She’s also a campaigner and activist for causes including child trafficking, disability and queer representation. A lovable presence when playing live – it feels like she was born on stage – she got a boost when Chris Martin heard her gorgeous ballad Swan Song and judged it one of the best songs ever written.
Now signed to Coldplay’s label, Parlophone, Canal is about to release releasing her excellent new EP, Well Well. While last year’s Elegy, a set of four songs about grief, inspired by her loss of a relative to cancer, was beautifully played and sung, its lyrics were at times too vague to fully delineate the story Canal was trying to tell. On her new record, perceptive, unflinching songs such as Shape and She Walks In are more explicit, searching her relationships with the person she sees in the mirror, and others. This year alone, she has won the Ivor Novello Rising Star award for songwriters and Attitude’s Pride Icon, as the world wakes up to her many talents.
• Well Well is out on 18 August via Parlophone. Victoria Canal tours the UK, 5-9 September
