TORONTO — Kiesza is feeling herself.
Nestled in the corner of a hotel restaurant, the Canadian hitmaker is grooving along to one of the lusty dance-pop songs from her new album.
Blasting over her phone’s tiny speaker, the heavy bass has been reduced to a faint tap. But it doesn't stop the singer from taking herself back to the feeling she got while recording its whispery vocal.
“I was feeling stronger, more healthy,” the 36-year-old performer asserts.
“And I think when we feel more healthy, we feel sexier.”
Sensuality comes up often as the singer of the pop hit "Hideaway" reflects on the facets of herself she's embraced after a car accident nearly ended her career eight years ago. She's come closer to understanding and loving herself, while making new spaces for joy.
“I'm getting back to my old self, slowly,” she assures with a sip of her matcha latte.
Except the way Kiesza talks seems more like a new self. This version not only feels more confident but also funnier, perhaps even a bit wacky. She's eager to participate in a photo shoot that sees her vamp against one of the restaurant's walls, crawl on the ground, and wade into the waterfall at a Toronto hotel.
Lately, she's also been dabbling in standup comedy, a move she credits to one of her fans, Ellen DeGeneres.
There's no shortage of surprises with the Calgary-raised performer whose latest album, "Dancing and Crying: Vol. 2," is a six-track collection of horny dance songs laced with an uninhibited sense of humour.
Among the standouts is "So Erotic," which features a pounding rap verse by taboo-smasher Peaches, and the equally playful "Stays in Bed," which she's chosen to crank up on her phone speaker during this interview.
"What we all crave is to be open — our wild self," she explains.
"I need to have this era before I die. It seems like the time."
After the EP's July release, she embarked on a Canadian tour that includes stops this month in Winnipeg, Pickering, Ont. and Moncton, N.B.
It's hard to ignore how much the singer and dancer seems intent on celebrating life after her brush with death. In 2017, a Toronto taxi T-boned her ride-share vehicle, leaving her with a traumatic brain injury.
At the time, Kiesza was soaring on the success of "Hideaway," known for its unmistakable "ooo-ahh-ahh-ooo" vocal hook. The 2014 house-infused single reached No. 5 in Canada, and was so hot that Madonna booked her for a songwriting session, hoping to catch some of the magic.
Kiesza says she was forced to cancel that meeting when her song hit No. 1 in the United Kingdom the same day, prompting a barrage of press commitments.
All of the momentum was dizzying, but it all sputtered out in a matter of months after the accident. She remembers trying to push through the injury, visiting the hospital and being assured she was fine. But as the weeks passed, her condition worsened.
"It wasn't just mechanical. Suddenly, I wasn't able to eat any vegetables," she said.
"I called my manager and said, 'You have to cancel everything.'"
With her career ground to a halt, Kiesza lay in bed alone in a darkened room, no longer able to dance, and in crippling pain.
"This chapter of my life is over," she remembers thinking.
What shocked the performer, born Kiesa Rae Ellestad, was how quickly her professional world fell apart.
"People were asking, 'Where did she go?' but not as many as I would have expected," she said.
"I had friends who I hung out with all the time who never called after the crash. That was a shocking insight, because it occurred to me I was prioritizing people who probably wouldn't have cared if I had passed away over people who weren't in this celebrity sphere."
As the months passed, she went through various stages of grief, depression and hopelessness. She also made decisions about her future, which included prematurely ending her major label record deal and becoming an independent artist.
"It took a while to convince them to let me go," she said. "But when they saw how injured I was, I think they realized that I wasn't coming back for a while, which makes you a liability."
As her health improved somewhat, she moved to Norway to centre herself, and for six months, she lived in a cabin on a ski hill, taught a workshop on stage presence, and starred in a student film.
"It gave me a purpose," she said.
Her return to music was less linear.
In fits and starts, Kiesza knocked out a couple of albums. Her 2020 record "Crave" was more pop-oriented than dance-floor-ready, and she made an acoustic record in Denmark that she's never released.
Her 2024 EP "Dancing and Crying: Vol. 1" found her inching closer to her high-energy roots, which she embraces even more in the second volume.
"That's why I started getting back into dance music," she said.
"I figured it would motivate me to get my body back in shape. It really has helped."
Kiesza also opened herself to dabbling in other forms of entertainment.
Last year, she made an unexpected foray into standup comedy, motivated by former talk show host DeGeneres. The American comedian is a longtime Kiesza fan and contacted her last year after hearing some of the new music.
"I wish I still had my show. I would have put you on," she said DeGeneres told her.
She asked Kiesza if she'd consider opening the Toronto stop of her retirement tour as an alternative to a big TV appearance. The opportunity was hard to pass up, Kiesza said, but she worried it might go awry.
While she was healing, Kiesza rarely took the stage in public. When she did, it was only for a few songs as she navigated how her brain functioned with such heightened stimulation. She worried her lower-key performances might not be suitable for the kickoff of a comedy night.
So she decided to pen a few jokes to slip between the songs.
"I didn't expect anyone to laugh, but (I thought), I'll show them that I'm trying," she reasoned.
The audience not only laughed, they laughed hard, and Kiesza said she felt bitten by the comedy bug. She leaned into that feeling. With friends, she would attend open mic nights at local comedy bars and hone a few punchlines.
Kiesza insists this doesn't mean she plans a change in careers any time soon, but she's also open to the possibilities of being pop music's newest funnywoman. Like her return to dance music, she is riding high on the moment, wherever it might take her.
"This process has taught me self-care and self-love on a level that I never would have imagined had (the accident) not happened," she said.
"I really see myself as a person with no boundaries at the moment," she added
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 2, 2025.
David Friend, The Canadian Press
