WATCH / SHARE “MARRIED BY ELVIS” HERE
BUY / STREAM “MARRIED BY ELVIS” HERE
BEGONIA RETURNS WITH NEW LP, POWDER BLUE, OUT FEBRUARY 24 ON BIRTHDAY CAKE RECORDS
ANNOUNCES MORE NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES
PRE-SAVE POWDER BLUE HERE
PRE-ORDER POWDER BLUE HERE
"Is it too early to call Powder Blue a contender as one of the year's best albums? We may only be in the early days of 2023, but Begonia, a.k.a. Alexa Dirks, has an undeniable gem on her hands." - CBC Music, Most Anticipated Albums of 2023
"Begonia's music is big — big vocals, big charisma and big feelings. Shuffling gospel, funk, electro-pop and icy R&B, Powder Blue should solidify Begonia as one of the most joyful and exciting pop artists that Canada has to offer." - Exclaim!'s most anticipated albums of 2023
[Powder Blue is] a riptide of emotional expression and dynamic production through which Dirks processes her journey of self-discovery, all propelled into the world by her strident, arresting vocals" - Line of Best Fit
"With a rich sound and unshakeable confidence, Canadian-born Begonia is a force to be reckoned with." - Wonderland Magazine
"A funky, lurching and euphoric single from her forthcoming album Blue Powder makes up for all the phone calls and birthday parties the apologetic singer was too busy to attend to." -
The Globe & Mail's Top 10 Songs of 2022 (Right Here)
“Primed for global success with the bombastic “Right Here,” which is one part Bond tune to two parts Amy Winehouse classic.” - Daily Star (UK)
Photo Credit : Calvin Lee Joseph // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
Today, Begonia (Alexa Dirks) is announcing more North American tour dates that commence in Canada on February 23, and is sharing the new video for “Married By Elvis”, from her upcoming album, Powder Blue.
“This song started two years ago with a little guitar sample the guys of Deadmen (producers Matt Peters and Matt Schellenberg) played me during a writing session. As soon as I heard it this tender, strange song just spilled out of me. All in all, I think we wrote it in a couple hours. At first, it just amused me but then after the session I couldn’t get it out of my head and I started becoming obsessed with picturing the music video I wanted to make for it. I’ve always been fascinated by tribute artists, and I wanted to just be in an Elvis Tribute Artist club for a day. I held on to the idea for two years and then finally decided to make it happen with beautiful freak director Ryan Steel. We hired some of the top tribute artists in Western Canada and Ryan totally captured the earnestly absurd joy I was after. I don’t really believe in marriage and I’m not even really an Elvis fan but I do believe love can make you do some strange things and that’s what this song is all about.
WATCH / SHARE “MARRIED BY ELVIS” HERE
BUY / STREAM “MARRIED BY ELVIS” HERE
MORE ABOUT POWDER BLUE
On the album’s name, Dirks says, “Powder Blue is more of an emotion. It makes me think of my baby blanket, the colour of the virgin mary’s shawl at the church Christmas play, the airiness of clouds on a summer day, chlorine filled water in a hotel pool, Elvis in the 70s wearing an ill-fitting jumpsuit, the wallpaper in my room growing up, the collection of faded denim jackets in my basement.”
“The name of this album needed to be something that encompasses all of the feelings that these songs give me when they are put together,” Dirks continues. “When I listen to them as a unit, they send me back to the words, the colour. To me, this album holds a muted nostalgia, musings on childhood, the complexities of new love, self love, religion, virginity, and sexuality. There’s an indulgence in emotional depth and pain yet also an indulgence in love and a poppy lightness—two sides I’ve always tried to balance. I feel like I let my guard down even more with this record and decided to not hold back on either end.”
WATCH / SHARE “RIGHT HERE” HERE
BUY / STREAM “RIGHT HERE” HERE
MORE ABOUT BEGONIA
As Begonia, Alexa Dirks is bold, brazen with her florid, surprising pop that is tempered with sensitivity and wisdom. In her music, Begonia leans hard into a sense of arrival. Whether it’s learning to come into her own or processing a brutal heartbreak, Dirks’ intimate lyrics and audacious sound allows for her audience to relate to the messiness of life with an honesty that is refreshing.
Her debut LP, Fear, was nominated for a JUNO Award for Adult Alternative Album Of The Year and was longlisted for The Polaris Music Prize. It was one of Exclaim!’s Most Underrated Albums of the Year, made end of the year lists from CBC Music and Dominionated, and saw both “Beats” and “Hanging On A Line” named as CBC Music Top 20 Fan Favourites of the year. Fear also spent 10 straight weeks as the #1 album in Canada on Earshot’s Top 50 chart.
WATCH / SHARE “COLD NIGHT” HERE
BUY / STREAM “COLD NIGHT” HERE
Fear was written and co-produced with a familiar team of Matt Schellenberg (Royal Canoe) and Matt Peters (Royal Canoe) along with Marcus Paquin (The National, The Weather Station, Julia Jacklin).
Dirks' first solo EP, Lady in Mind, was well-received, being listed on NPR’s 10 Artists You Need To Know in 2017 and single “Juniper” reached #1 on the CBC Radio 2 Top 20. Noisey wrote that, “Begonia has one of Canada’s most extraordinary voices, and thankfully she uses it to obliterate the misery from this world one live performance at a time.” NPR wrote that Begonia is “the place where synth-pop meets old soul and scrappy meets sexy."
PRE-SAVE POWDER BLUE HERE
PRE-ORDER POWDER BLUE HERE
TOUR DATES
2/23/23 - Kitchener, ON - The Museum
2/24/23 – Toronto, ON – The Great Hall
2/25/23 - Hamilton, ON – Mills Hardware
2/28/23 - Ottawa, ON – Club SAW
3/1/23 – Montreal, QC – Bar Le Ritz
3/2/23 – New York City, NY – Mercury Lounge
3/4/23 – Harrisburg, PA – Stage on Herr @ Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center
3/5/23 – Philadelphia, PA – Milkboy
3/7/23 – Richmond, VA – Richmond Music Hall
3/9/23 – Charlotte, NC – Evening Muse
3/10/23 – Nashville, TN – The Basement
3/15/23 - Austin, TX - SXSW Festival
3/16/23 - Austin, TX - SXSW Festival
3/18/23 – Oklahoma City, OK – Beer City Music Hall
3/19/23 – Hot Springs, AR – Valley of Vapors Festival
4/11/23 - Chicago, IL - Schuba’s
4/13/23 - Detroit, MI - Parliament Room at Otis Supply
4/16/23 - Pittsburgh, PA - Club Cafe
4/18/23 - Columbus, OH - Rumba Cafe
4/20/23 - Milwaukee, WI - Shank Hall
5/2/23 - Denver, CO - Globe Hall
5/3/23 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
5/8/23 - San Diego, CA - Soda Bar
5/10/23 - Los Angeles, CA - Hotel Cafe
5/11/23 - Sacramento, CA - Scarlet Room
5/12/23 - San Francisco, CA - Amado’s
5/16/23 - Bend, OR - Volcanic Theater
5/18/23 - Portland, OR - Hawthorne Lounge
5/19/23 - Seattle, WA - The Sunset Tavern
POWDER BLUE TRACKLIST
01 Chasing Every Sunrise
02 Heaven
03 Married By Elvis
04 Right Here
05 I’m Not Dying
06 Marigold
07 Butterfly
08 Cold Night
09 Crying
10 Bleeding Heart
11 The Only One
12 NYE2013