As a session singer, Michelle Creber has recorded vocals on the soundtracks for many TV shows and movies. Lead singing features include the theme song for NBCs Nina’s World; several songs during nine seasons of the hit animated series My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic (Discovery Family); multiple songs on Nintendo’s popular franchise Yo-Kai Watch; singing for Alice on Martha Speaks (PBS); Hasbro albums Songs of Ponyville, It’s A Pony Kind of Christmas and Songs of Harmony; an onscreen feature performance for the Hallmark movie Smart Cookies; and a soundtrack duet with Billy Joel for the movie Just the Way You Are.
As an actor, Michelle’s notable onscreen credits include series regular “Kelly” (Leo Award nomination for best supporting actress) in Strange Empire (CBC/Netflix); guest starring roles on Supernatural (CW) and The Haunting Hour (The Hub); a lead acting/lead singing role on Smart Cookies (Hallmark); supporting roles on Killer Among Us (Lifetime), Christmas Lodge (Showcase) and Eureka (NBC); and an acting/featured singing role on The Search For Santa Paws (Disney).
Michelle’s 6th album since 2012, On Display, containing 13 of her own original songs, sold and streamed in 65 countries on six continents, earning her a top 100 placement on the US Billboard charts. Given Michelle’s young age, since releasing her first album, she has performed her music in concerts in major cities throughout the US as well as Canada, Germany, Poland, Thailand, Australia and the UK.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Michelle about her latest release, challenges, technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
I’m from Vancouver, Canada and my sound is singer-songwriter pop with a twist of rock, jazz, and a few other unexpected genres! My goal is to bring more meaningful themes and thought-provoking messages back into the pop world. I blend real instruments with electronic elements, striving for that balance between modern and timeless. I also advocate for acceptance, equality, positivity, mental/physical health, self-confidence and standing up for the underdog!
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
I grew up in an extremely creative environment as my parents, Michael and Monique Creber, are both professional musicians. They ran a music school when I was born, so before I could even talk, I was sitting there on my mom’s lap at the piano, soaking it all in. I did countless musical theatre projects, live performances, piano lessons, drum lessons, vocal sessions etc. I learned through experience and dipping my toes in every avenue of the arts I possibly could. What drives me forward is my desire to make a difference in people’s lives and I’ve realized that one of the best ways I can do that is through writing music.
How is this new release, “Like It Never Happened,” different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
Like It Never Happened is a very familiar piano ballad sound for me but I would say most of my songs have a silver lining, and this one almost doesn’t. I was trying to capture that feeling of reminiscing about something or someone you know you can never get back. It’s a bittersweet story with no resolution. My hope is that people will relate to it in a sort of positive way because we just have to cope with those types of experiences and do our best to reflect and recover.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
I’d say my biggest challenge is the sheer amount of things I have to be constantly balancing at once. I’m not exaggerating when I say that an average week for me usually includes all of the following activities: recording, vocal editing, phone meetings, performances, writing, filming, practicing, planning, overseeing merch production, looking over finances, giving notes on mixes and masters and videos and pitches and using all social media platforms and using all digital music platforms and man, the list goes on and on! It can certainly be draining at times but in all honesty I wouldn’t have it any other way. I like being busy and being super hands-on and I also have a huge group of amazing people that work me with on a daily basis. I’d say technology presents an indie musician with an endless amount of tools, but sometimes it’s just hard to know where you should place your focus.
What was the last song you listened to?
The last song I listened to was “Hallucinate” by Dua Lipa. Although my sound as an artist is more singer-songwriter with a foundation of real instruments, I am the biggest sucker for pure, electronic pop music. The bass lines are really what get me, I think. All of my favourite songs have killer bass lines like “Dangerous” by Oliver, “Latch” by Disclosure/Sam Smith, “Firefly” by Mura Masa/Nao, that type of track.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
Since I am always listening to music in the car, I am gonna have to go with MP3s. My latest car doesn’t even HAVE a CD player, which is definitely sad for sentimental reasons. Every album I have ever done (up until this point) has always been mastered and then burned onto a test CD to do one final listen in the car before sending it off into the world. For the first time ever, I won’t be able to do that with my new Storm album!
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
I really like Spotify as a platform but I listen to all my personal music on iTunes/Apple Music. It’s just out of habit because it’s what I’ve always done. As an artist, I use Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, Amazon, my own online store, etc. because it’s easy to distribute your material to all of them and each listener has their own preferences.
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
I am usually best at responding on Twitter and my Youtube channel is the first place to hear and see all of my new material 🙂
I hear you have a full album dropping on May 1st, can you give us any teasers or information about it?
Definitely! Storm will be my 7th album overall and 2nd all originals solo album. It will include 11 tracks and is really about self-reflection, perseverance and accepting, but ultimately letting go of the negatives in our lives. In my mind, a storm can represent each human emotion in a different form. Whether it be anger, sadness, joy, despair, love, regret, frustration or confusion… a storm is powerful and cannot be controlled. However, those who fight to find inner strength, learn to wait out the weather until it settles and even start to appreciate every storm that life throws at them. Storm, like all my music, will be available on all the major platforms including Apple Music and Spotify.
Anything else before we sign off?
Given that all live appearances are cancelled for the foreseeable future, I have started doing weekly livestream concerts on my YouTube channel Youtube.com/MichelleCreber. They are happening every Saturday at 7pm Eastern (4pm Pacific) and we have a grand ol time. I perform a bunch of my songs from a set we built in our home (staying isolated!). My dog and ferrets and family are all involved and we do contests and prizes, and I do a Q&A and participate in the chat.
Thank you so much for having me and I hope that everyone is staying safe and sane during these uncertain times! All the best, Michelle 🙂
