Sitting with her grandma by her side as a child at the piano, Victoria Canal fell in love with the sound of music. The hills in her mind were alive thanks to that special time spent with her grandma, as well as the hours spent listening to her parents’ music. With all of that in her childhood, it wasn’t surprising that she won time at the Berklee School of Music in the past. Even though she got to spend time there, she’s planning on taking a year break when it comes to higher education soon to focus on her music career. Saying that a gap year will be it until she heads off to the Clive Davis Institute at New York University next year because she is an “advocate” of education, adding, “The human experience is so fulfilling when we use it to gain the maximum exposure to knowledge possible.”

Before she heads off to NYU, she’s working on her music and with that her debut, Into The Pull. About the debut she says, “I was so excited to just release it to the world. I always feel that way when a new baby song is cultivated and a group of people work together to package it the best way possible. I couldn’t have been prouder. And I think I’ll be even prouder of the next record, and the next one.” On the record listeners can hear this strong sense of maturity. Still so young, Canal believes that her way with words comes from traveling a lot while growing up, noting how all the various people she encountered, she drew from. Also though, “I’m just writing to express myself and just hope that someday others respond to that expression of emotion.”

“Not Afraid”

What most will be drawn to though is the fact that she approaches the teen experience in her writing and does so with an earnest sense of honesty. When the idea of being a teen came up, we asked her for her opinion on what she thought was the one part of being a teen do people often forget once they’re older and her response shows how grand her mind is, “I think it’s not so much that we forget as we get older as it is that we don’t realize something while we’re young: this is the last time I will be seventeen, with this mind, this body, this life. After high-school, life ceases to have the same sheltered structure; that’s terrifying to me but it’s also pretty magical. The fact that what teenagers are doing is a once-in-a-lifetime experience is something I don’t think many people realize, at least not until they get older.”

In a year’s time we’ll find Canal on likely spending most of her time on the NYU campus, while she works her way through the New York Music scene. After that, this young, rising singer will be doing her music again full time because she’s got a plan and appears to be the type of person who does not give up. What she’d like to be doing is dropping a full length, collaborating with the likes of Troye Sivan and Kevin Garrett and touring nonstop from here to there and everywhere in between. Also, note that Sivan and Garrett aren’t the only artists she has her eyes set on as far as duets are concerned. When playing “Duet with, Cover and Open For” with Tori Kelly, James Bay and John Mayer she said, “This is my favorite question ever. I would cover Tori, because we’re both female artists and I love her vocal parts; I’d do a duet with James because he’s a male vocalist and our styles would marry really smoothly; and I’d definitely, no doubt, tour with John Mayer as his supporting act because, well, he’s John Mayer.”

“City Shoes”

Games aside, Canal has a co-headlining east coast tour planned for July and possibly putting together and releasing an acoustic record. We’ll have to wait and see, but for right now, note that when things look dim, think about her personal mantra she tells herself during those times, “What really satisfies me?” For her, “Though it may be different for others, I know that for me, spending time with family, gaining new knowledge, trying new things, and playing music are all things that keep me fulfilled regardless of social media, popularity status, or the music industry. And the things that truly fulfill me are also the things that are forever constant and unwavering in my life. That’s what inspires me.”