Paul Woida's song Not Yours has bagged top spot for the first annual Air Miles Detour Big Break contest. The St.
Paul Woida's song Not Yours has bagged top spot for the first annual Air Miles Detour Big Break contest.
The St. Albert singer-songwriter's infectious guitar hit received top scores, and he was awarded the opportunity to open for Grammy Award winner Meghan Trainor.
“When I heard I was so excited, I yelled out and started doing a dance. I called a bunch of friends and started to text,” said Woida.
“It's a very rare opportunity to open for someone so high up as Meghan Trainor. Megan is one of the big pop stars. When I meet her, I hope to develop a connection and maybe co-write a song.”
As a fan of the international recording artist, Woida owns her 2016 album Thank You and a few of her singles.
“Her voice is unbelievable and her songwriting is so good. And her story is pretty incredible.”
The MacEwan University graduate first heard of the Big Break contest through a friend. The criterion was simply post a video performing an original song in an unusual location.
Woida submitted Not Yours cleverly recorded as a nighttime scene on a balcony. The video can be viewed at airmiles.ca/detour.
“It's a bit of a healing song. The song is about looking at a person and feeling it's over and it's OK. It's about having that amazing feeling.”
As a master looper, the sophisticated techno-savvy, one-man band records and plays back pieces of music using diverse instruments and voice in real time. This allows him to combine complex rhythms and harmonies.
“I laid down the drums and vocals, the guitars and gospel harmonies and towards the end it sounds like a gospel choir.”
The first-time competition encourages undiscovered songwriters to create, develop and challenge their artistry by creating something meaningful.
While the first part of Big Break pinpoints artistic achievement, the second portion focuses on a concert location.
Air Miles is bringing Trainor, a small town girl from Nantucket, to a small Canadian town. Music industry experts nominated five small Canadian towns, and they are now vying for the honour.
They include Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan; Morin-Heights, Quebec; Mulmur, Ontario, Nelson, British Columbia, and Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia.
The towns were selected as each holds some significance to the history, growth and development of music in Canada.
Air Miles is still tallying up the votes and a town will be named by Aug. 1.
Woida performs on Saturday, July 9 at St. Albert's Seven Music Fest between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. The festival is at Seven Hills on Mission Ave.
