Words / Bri Ng Schwartz
Photos / Lauren Nakao Winn
A performance at Madison Square Garden is on the bucket list of most musical acts, and one achieved by Canadian songstress Jade LeMac this summer. Having opened for Y2K royalty Hillary Duff on her Lucky Me Tour, Jade has spent the summer traveling North America. We joined Jade this past August at her Midtown Manhattan hotel exactly a year from when we first met her at Lollapalooza in 2025.
With the Empire State Building as a backdrop, I was reminded how much she has accomplished since our first meeting at the beloved Chicago festival. Between dates as the opener on Marren Morris’s in the Fall, her own headlining dates in Canada & Australia, to a set at Jingle Ball’s pre-show down the street from our hotel at Hammerstein Ballroom, Her first lead single, Constellations, made its television debut on Netflix’s My Life With The Walter Boys, and her new music will also find a home in the next season of the show.
Having gotten to know Jade during a few of these milestones, I’ve seen fans sing along to Constellations and learn the words to Running Home. These songs have also made their way into playlists of mine. With one stage bigger than the next, it’s been a joy to see her evolution as a vocalist and performer.
We join her the morning after her first Madison Square Garden performance, where Jade is beaming, having gotten to share in the special moment with her mom, brother and best friends. MSG isn’t the only legendary venue Jade has hit, with Kia Forum and Red Rocks making the list of memorable stops on the Lucky Me Tour. With a year’s worth of back to back to back touring and a newly released single, Prettier With Your Mask Off.
The video is, in part, a behind the scenes look at her summer on tour and part introduction to a new, more hip hop influenced sound. With this release, Jade is blossoming into a new artistic era, one marked by a style shift and her most vulnerable lyrics yet.
This summer, you opened for an artist that is so beloved! Hillary is a childhood staple for so many people. Did you have anyone artists you looked up to like that growing up?
Hillary did a movie called Raise Your Voice. That one changed my life. I watched it and I was like, “I’m going to be a singer. So she was a big one. I watched a lot of The Next Step, which is a Canadian show.
What was it like performing on the same stage as Hillary and La Roux this summer? Did you learn anything from watching those sets every night?
Being on this tour in general, I’m a lot younger than them and they have been in the industry for literally. Just to watch how professional, chill and confident they are with it, it’s super cool. La Roux has such a cool swag with the way she moves. She does this like a little skip on stage that is so cool. Hillary is so slight, lined up and also ripped. She looks so good. I feel like a little bit of a baby on the tour.
They’re both so different, yet they have both made really strong comebacks musically in the last few years.
Exactly. So it’s really cool to watch that and use that as inspiration for what a career could look like.
In the past year you’ve put out your EP It’s Always at Night. What have you learned from getting to perform those songs live over the last few months.
It’s been so fun. Some of my favorite songs to perform are off of this EP. I really love performing Intertwined. I’ve grown to love that one. There’s these two belting parts in it that I really enjoy doing now that I’m more confident on stage.
In our times connecting, you’ve shared a little bit about stage fright and overcoming it with every performance. What have you adapted as part of your pre-show rituals and things that you do that help you move past those feelings?
I think it’s less about a ritual. I used to think that if I did certain things before going on stage, it would help calm me down. If anything, I think it actually made me more anxious looking back at it. Now I’m a lot less nervous going on stage. I feel a lot more confident and I just realize it’s because I just gave myself time and I got the reps under my belt. I just did more shows. Once I did more shows, I got more comfortable on stage. I learned that I don’t have to be what I think people expect me to be, and I can just be myself on stage.
Constellations first got its moment on the show My Life with the Walter Boys, and songs from It’s Always At Night have their moments in the new season. Are you a fan of that romance genre? Do you have guilty pleasures when it comes to TV shows?
I totally love my cheesy little shows. Sometimes I want to go home and just watch a show that is easy. I don’t have to think. I can just be invested, enjoy it, and laugh a little. Also probably cry a little and get attached even though I’m like, “What is happening?” Those are always great to me.
If you could write music for any TV show or movie trilogy, which would it be?
The Hunger Games will always be my favorite movie series. That would be the dream. Dystopian movies are like my shit.
Are there any other genres that you’d like to pursue musically that you haven’t yet?
With the new music that I’m working on, I’m diving a lot more into R&B, hip hop, and the darker side of me, which I’m really excited about. That’s always been a part of who I am.
Do you have any inspiration sonically?
A big inspiration of mine has always been The Weeknd. His old stuff. I feel like I’m really digging deeper into that now.
You’ve had a style evolution this last year. What brought that about, and what have you learned about style while being on stage?
We’ve been doing the all white thing. In prep for this tour and the new music, I really wanted to make a brand for myself. I feel I have a certain style, but how can I make it stand out more? How can I make something very neat? White stands out, especially on a big stage as an opener, one of three people. I tested it out during some festivals with slicked back hair, and I just ended up falling in love with the look.
You’ve done some festivals now opening sets. What have you learned from crowds that are likely seeing you for the first time?
They’re similar where you know that people aren’t coming for you. Especially with the stage I’m at. People aren’t always coming for me and they’re not going to know who I am. A lot of it is trying to win them over and get your name out there and hope that they enjoy the set. That’s something that I’ve been able to intertwine with both opening and performing at festivals.
With each of these performances, you’ve been building a fan base. I’ve seen it with my own eyes! People are singing along. What can you share about the fan base that you’ve built over the last year?
They’re like the best. I catch people singing my songs and people in my merch line. It’s so crazy to me. I always try and make an effort to go say hi to them because I’m so appreciative. It’s like a little family, and the best feeling ever.
Constellations has been out for a while now. Have you built a lot of confidence when performing that song over the years?
It’s funny. It’s one of the songs where I’m not terrified to sing it, but I feel a lot more confident singing other songs, which is funny because that’s the song I’ve been singing the longest.
Yeah. What advice do you have for artists who are coming up now?
I would say to just put yourself out there. Social media is the key to it all right now. Post yourself. Don’t be scared of what other people think. It’s okay to cringe.
What is your relationship to social media and putting yourself out there with posts?
I’ve been better at it lately because I can focus on it on tour. At home, I struggle with it because I’m in such a different routine. Social media and I have a very up and down relationship all the time. So right now we’re on up, which is good, but ask me in a couple weeks, a couple months, who knows?
What are you looking forward to once the tour is over? Do you have any other plans for 2026?
I’m really excited to go home and see my girlfriend, play some golf and go to the beach. Then start continuing to finish the new project I’m working on. Prettier With Your Mask Off is an unreleased song I’ve been performing.
What can you share about it?
It’s about how attraction can come instantly, but sometimes attraction grows over time, especially when a person stops hiding who they really are. With this song, I show that through the perspective of someone experiencing Stockholm Syndrome.
END OF INTERVIEW.
Prettier With Your Mask Off and its themes around authenticity and growing comfort with oneself is a great metaphor for the artist that Jade is becoming. Just last week, Jade was named Breakout Songwriter Of The Year at Toronto’s SOCON Songwriting Awards. With more performances, style evolutions, and sonic development on the way, we’ll be at the edge of our seats waiting for her next move. Prettier With Your Mask Off is available to stream now.
CONNECT WITH JADE