Songwriter and performer Vicki Lovelee has created an imaginative metaphor for unrequited love. In the lyrically sophisticated “Costar”, Lovelee portrays herself as the odd woman out—the third wheel—by declaring she has a much smaller role than the lead star in her beloved man’s life. And in this angst-filled song, the performer regrets that she didn’t choose the right part in this show.
“I should be the lead / Your stage is where I’m free / Your eyes on me / I love it naturally,” Lovelee sings.
She co-wrote the highly hummable “Costar” with Grammy-nominated songwriter Anwar McDonald. Lovelee’s lyric video embodies her persona as a dramatic performer who inhabits hot-blooded and sometimes sinister characters. She reinforces the near-creepy mood of “Costar” with a deliberately distorted violin in the chorus, supplemented with bongos in the bridge.
“I grew up learning classical piano,” Lovelee tells the Toronto Spark over Zoom. “It was never a conscious decision that I wanted to be this specifically dark, theatrical, dramatic artist. I think it just naturally came with what I grew up listening to and what I grew up learning.”
She acknowledges being influenced in her formative years by Lady Gaga’s amazing performance videos. Lovelee is also impressed by how Hollywood director Tim Burton blends horror with humour in his dark fantasy films. In addition, the Toronto performer marvels over Queen frontman Freddie Mercury’s clever lyrics and sudden melody shifts in the operatic “Bohemian Rhapsody”.
“That song I could talk about forever,” Lovelee says. “It wasn’t supposed to work on radio, but it did.”
The Jade Music Fest will feature Lovelee along with two Taiwanese singer-songwriters—Cliff and Shu Chan Chiu—in a free showcase at 7:30 p.m. next Friday (November 7) at Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island in Vancouver. Lovelee promises a set that will have audience members on the edge of their seats.
Watch the lyric video for “Costar”.
Lovelee tells a story through songs
There is a reason why Lovelee employs the tagline “Join My Opera House” on her website. Like a director of a European opera, Lovelee pays tremendous attention to costumes, props, and lighting. In each song at the Jade Music Fest, she will have a different visual accompaniment.
“It’s as if you’re watching a play at an opera house where you imagine there’s the orchestra section,” she says. “There is Act 1, Act 2, and Act 3. Even though I’m not speaking in dialogue, I’m singing the dialogue in a way. Imagine you’re watching a story from beginning to end.”
Lovelee began playing piano at the age of four. In the early years, she didn’t like being forced to learn classical music. By the time she was in high school, she was embracings songs that were popular with her peers.
“I was in bands, so I think that’s when I really started to find my passion for pop music specifically, but also art and fashion,” Lovelee recalls.
She graduated in 2017 with a bachelor’s of fine arts in jazz vocals from York University. Three years later, she embarked on a career as a recording artist, dropping her debut EP, Phase 1: Shadows, in 2021. The five songs address darker themes related to struggles people face before moving on to the next stage of life.
Lovelee feels that she opened the door to her current visual and sound identity in 2022 with the song “Counting Me”. The lyrics speak of a woman whose ghostly existence torments a man who dumped her. This marked her initial collaboration with producer Jonathan Karkar.
“It was the first time I did tempo changes,” Lovelee points out. “Near the end of the song, I’m maniacally laughing because I’m basically haunting my ex-lover. I had so much fun showcasing more of a fun but still dark side.”
In the video directed by Ryan Brough, Lovelee soaks a prop representing a human heart with Pepto-Bismal.
“It’s like artistic blood, but it’s pink!”
Watch the video for “Counting Me”.
Artistry through song
In 2024, Lovelee included “Counting Me” on her follow-up full-length album, Phase 2: Power Struggle. One of the disc’s other highlights is “Double-Edged Sword”, an in-your-face and highly theatrical song calling out a performer’s hypocrisy.
In the lyric video, a sword-wielding Lovelee dresses in a costume one might associate with Xena Warrior Princess. Lovelee even includes the sound of a sword being unsheathed to complement her urgent lyrics. She has added sound effects to other songs, like chimes to make listeners feel like they’re in an enchanted forest.
One of her more imaginative offerings on Phase 2: Power Struggle is “Lacrimosa”. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote this darkly dramatic and transcendant piece on his death bed as part of his unfinished Requiem. In the lyric video, Lovelee holds an artist-created black skull as she sings the original Latin words. It’s eerie yet also sacred.
“That was a really cool challenge for me vocally to reach up as high as I’ve ever done,” she says.
The Society of We Are Canadians Too founded the Jade Music Fest in 2022 to celebrate Chinese-language music in Canada. The four-day event creates visible stages and bridges for underrepresented artists with Chinese ancestry, including many born in Canada, who have a desire to perform and write songs in their heritage languages.
The Canadian-born Lovelee grew up speaking Cantonese because her family is from Hong Kong. But it was only after performing at last year’s Jade Music Fest that she became inspired to translate choruses from some of her songs into her parents’ first language.
“It was kind of like rediscovering my own self,” Lovelee says. “I also wanted to share that with people because that was such a powerful thing to do—to not only say, ‘Here’s the music I make,’ but also to bring my culture back into my music.”
Watch the lyric video for “Lacrimosa”.
Event details
The Jade Music Fest runs from November 5 to 8 in Vancouver. The festival will present Vicki Lovelee in a free showcase beginning at 6:30 p.m. next Friday (November 7) at Waterfront Theatre (1412 Cartwright Street, Granville Island). The other two performers that night are Taiwanese Hakka folk artist Shu Chan Chiu and Taiwanese singer-songwriter Cliff. Vicki Lovelee will also perform at Net Loft at 11 a.m. next Saturday (November 8) as part of the Jade Music Fest’s “Granville Island Takeover“. In addition, Vicki Lovelee will speak about her artistic journey at a free event at the Jade Music Fest called From Story to Stage: The Power of Authentic Performance. It will take place at the Annex (823 Seymour Street) at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday (November 6).
Check out Vicki Lovelee’s website and listen to her music on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, and Bandcamp. Learn more about the communities that make up Canada on the Toronto Spark website. The Toronto Spark is on Bluesky @torontospark.bsky.social.
