Jessy Lanza

Lanza grew up playing piano and clarinet before going to Concordia University to study classical and jazz piano.^[3][4][5] Her parents were both musicians, and her father ran a speaker rental business, which introduced her to synthesizers and drum machines at a young age.^[6] Before starting her career as a singer and music producer, she worked as a music teacher.^[7]

Lanza was listed as one of the best new artists of 2013 by XLR8R.^[8] In a review of her debut album, Pull My Hair Back, she was described by The Guardian as "the latest and possibly greatest of the new ethereal soul girls"^[9] and ranked No. 4 on Resident Advisor's Top 20 Albums of 2013.^[10] Pull My Hair Back was co-written and co-produced with Jeremy Greenspan of Junior Boys and released on the UK's Hyperdub record label. The album Pull My Hair Back was a shortlisted nominee for the 2014 Polaris Music Prize.^[11]

Lanza met Dan Snaith, who records under the name Caribou, in Hamilton.^[6] In 2014, she collaborated with Caribou on his 2014 album Our Love.

In 2015, she collaborated with Morgan Geist, recording vocals for The Galleria EP Calling Card / Mezzanine, and in 2019 she contributed vocals for a single titled Stop & Go.^[12]

Her second album Oh No was released in 2016, and was shortlisted again for the 2016 Polaris Music Prize.^[13]

Her third album All the Time was released in July 2020.

In 2023 she released the album Love Hallucination.

Lanza possesses a soprano vocal range, similar to Elizabeth Fraser and Aaliyah.^[14] As a child, Lanza listened to Janet Jackson and Paula Abdul.^[5] The singer said that having a background in studying jazz helped her to have "the ability to hear and lift chord progressions", which led her to an understanding of R&B music that permeates her recent work.^[7] Laced with funk, soul, R&B, and haunting high-register vocals, Lanza cites Missy Elliott and Timbaland as early influences on her songwriting.^[15] The singer has also cited such artists as Evelyn "Champagne" King and Melba Moore.^[16] She also cited Japanese synthpop artists of the 1970s and 1980s, such as Yellow Magic Orchestra members Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Yukihiro Takahashi, as key influences.^[17] She has a postmodern approach to writing music, comparing her songs to a mashup of all the pop songs over the last 40 years that she likes.^[5]