Exactly one year ago, NOW magazine named Jayd Ink one of the “Toronto artists to watch." Today, she’s an artist everyone will be listening to.
At the end of Wednesday’s episode of The Launch, Ink was chosen by record mogul Scott Borchetta, singer-songwriter Julia Michaels and songwriter Ian Kirkpatrick to release “Codes.”
The song is now available to buy and stream everywhere you get music, including at iHeartRadio.
“Launching ‘Codes’ is going to open up so many doors,” Ink said on the show. "The world can expect some great music that it can vibe to and just get happy to and dance to.”
Born in Jamaica, Ink grew up in Toronto writing poetry and singing in church. A friend convinced her to pursue music – but she wanted to be a songwriter, not a singer. Finding it difficult to get her compositions heard, Ink decided to sing them herself.
She released a six-track EP, Invitation Only, and honed her live performing skills.
“Being a woman in the industry, and being a dark-skinned woman, can be a struggle,” Ink explained on The Launch.
Ink’s cover of Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” (co-written by Michaels) impressed the mentors. “Your tone is so unique,” Michaels said. After Ink performed the original “Deep Under,” Michaels declared: “You’re a star. You’re a damn star.”
Ink was selected to released “Codes” after the mentors narrowed the field down to her, 16-year-old Noelle Maracle, and 19-year-old Zack Lane.
Maracle bravely auditioned with Michaels’ own “Issues” and the Kirkpatrick-penned Dua Lipa hit “New Rules.”
Borchetta was impressed (“You sure are a bright light,” he noted) but not certain that Maracle fully knew who she was as an artist yet.
Lane, of New Brunswick, was immediately chosen as one of the two artists who would go on to record “Codes” after he performed Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect” and an original called “Tell Me.”
Michaels, in particular, was smitten. “Dear Diary. I’m in love,” she quipped, after advising Lane to keep his eyes open more while singing.
“People want to see your beautiful face and your beautiful eyes,” she said.
Lane, who said he performs more than 200 shows a year, recognized the opportunity The Launch provided. “I want to go big,” he said, describing the feeling of performing on stage “like a drug.”
Not surprisingly, the singer was disappointed with the final decision. “It’s not the end and I’m not going to stop,” vowed Lane.
Also auditioning for the mentors was James Marshall and Nicky MacKenzie.
Ink is the fifth act to benefit from The Launch. She follows POESY ("Soldier Of Love"), Logan Staats (“The Lucky Ones’), Elijah Woods x Jamie Fine (“Ain’t Easy”) and The Static Shift (“Wide Awake”).
Next week’s episode of The Launch features celebrity mentors Boy George, Alessia Cara and songwriter Stephan Moccio. They’ll pick from Elequen, Ethan Young, Grace Bakker, Raymond Salgado and Victoria Azevedo.