BEGONIA ANNOUNCES NEW EP, SHARES NEW SINGLE, “GET TO YOU”

BEGONIA TO RELEASE OPEN SWIM EP, JULY 17, 2024 VIA BIRTHDAY CAKE RECORDS

LISTEN / SHARE “GET TO YOU” HERE
BUY / STREAM “GET TO YOU” HERE

PRE-SAVE OPEN SWIM EP

“Alexa Dirks has always felt fully formed, but on Powder Blue, she transcends.” - Exclaim!

“[Begonia] conjures charming vintage soul and lays on the richly layered choruses. But she’s also enormously distinct in her crystalline delivery, which pairs perfectly with songs about starting down doubt and anxiety.” - NPR

“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

Open Swim EP Artwork // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Begonia, aka Alexa Dirks, is not slowing down after celebrating the one year anniversary of her critically acclaimed sophomore album, Powder Blue, which secured a spot on the coveted 2023 Polaris Music Prize Shortlist and earned her a 2024 JUNO Award Nomination. Powder Blue explored self discovery and challenging personal beliefs; in her upcoming EP, Open Swim, she continues that journey by exploring communication with candour and sincerity. Alexa describes the EP as a project that “encompasses the feeling of working through conflict and the elation that can surface when you’re honest with others and ultimately yourself. Sometimes in the process you can feel like you’re swimming for your life through choppy water but on the other side there is the feeling of relief, like floating on your back in the sun.” The Open Swim EP was co-written and produced by Begonia and Marcus Paquin (The National, The Weather Station, Arcade Fire, Julia Jacklin) along with contributions from her frequent collaborators and producer duo, deadmen. Open Swim will be released July 17, 2024 via Birthday Cake Records. 

“Get To You”, the first single from the EP, begins by unspooling a story about longing to connect with someone. As each instrumental component builds, the song fills with emotions underpinned by the Poly 6 and Prophet 8 synthesizers working in tandem with Alexa’s sensitive, breathy vocal delivery. Alexa states “this song is about trying to get through to someone you can't seem to get through to. When you feel like you're constantly showing someone who you are and they can't or don't want to see it.” The single is rooted in R&B grooves and showcases a different side to Begonia’s abilities. While she maintains her signature relatability, charisma, and vocal prowess - which are foundational to her sound, there is a reserved maturity to the composition of “Get to You” that feels distinct. 

LISTEN / SHARE “GET TO YOU” HERE
BUY / STREAM “GET TO YOU” HERE

Begonia heads back to the UK this May to perform in Wrexham for Focus Wales, Brighton for The Great Escape, and London to perform at Strongroom. Her summer is packed with festivals including Toronto Pride, Rochester International Jazz Festival, and Salmon Arm Roots & Blues Festival among others. Begonia’s past year has included a massive headlining tour in North America, supporting Leith Ross on their UK/EU tour, a breathtaking performance at the Polaris Music Prize Gala, and her standout performance for the In Memoriam portion of the JUNO Awards Gala. While on the road, fan favourites from Powder Blue became clear, one of which turned into The Marigold EP, released in September, 2023, an extended exploration of “Marigold” and included 3 remixes. To celebrate the album, the EP, and her fans, Begonia did a two sold-out nights “Vegas-style residency” at Club Regent Casino in Winnipeg, MB. Powder Blue received worldwide recognition and radioplay in Canada, the United States and Germany, the album also hit #1 on the earshot! charts. 

WATCH BEGONIA’S POLARIS MUSIC PRIZE GALA PERFORMANCE

WATCH BEGONIA PERFORM “BUTTERFLY” AT THE 2024 JUNO AWARDS

MORE ABOUT BEGONIA
Pegged as Canada’s breakout alt-diva, Begonia has built a legion of fans online and at her legendary live shows. Between her debut EP & album, Lady in Mind and Fear respectively, she was named on of NPR’s Artists You Need to Know, had two #1 songs on Canada’s CBC national radio chart, were nominated for a JUNO Award for Alternative Album Of The Year and longlisted for the Polaris Music Prize. Fear spent 10 straight weeks as the #1 album in Canada on Earshot’s Top 50 chart and had songs synced to numerous Netflix and Oprah Winfrey Network shows.

PRE-SAVE OPEN SWIM EP

Photo Credit: Calvin Lee Joseph // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

OPEN SWIM EP TRACKLIST
01 Get To You
02 Stay Forever
03 Feel It

TOUR DATES
May 9 - Wrexham, UK @ Wrexham University (Focus Wales)
May 10 - Wrexham, UK @ Tŷ Pawb (Focus Wales)
May 11 - Wrexham, UK @ Queen’s Square (Focus Wales)
May 11 - Wrexham, UK @ St Giles Church In Wales (Focus Wales)
May 14 - London, UK @ Strongroom
May 16 - Brighton, UK @ The Hope & Ruin (The Great Escape)
May 17 - Brighton, UK @ The Green Door Store (The Great Escape)
May 18 - Manchester, UK - YES (Pink Room)
May 19 - London, UK - Colours
Jun 2 - Winnipeg, MB @ Pride Winnipeg
Jun 8 - Uxbridge, ON @ Springtide Music Fest 
Jun 15 - Brandon, MB @ Keystone Centre 50th Anniversary
Jun 21 - Ottawa, ON - Ottawa Jazz Festival
Jun 22 - Beaumont, AB @ Beaumont Music Fest
Jun 28 - Toronto, ON @ Toronto Pride
Jun 29 - Rochester, NY @ Rochester International Jazz Fest
Jul 19 - Yellowknife, YT - Folk On The Rocks
Jul 27 - Salmon Arm, BC - Salmon Arm Roots & Blues
Aug 9 - Ear Falls, ON - Trout Forest Music Festival
Aug 24 - Toronto, ON - Budweiser Stage

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BEGONIA RELEASES NEW MARIGOLD EP, PERFORMING AT POLARIS GALA NEXT WEEK, NEW TOUR DATES NOW ANNOUNCED

BEGONIA RELEASES MARIGOLD EP, INCLUDING AN EXTENDED VERSION AND REMIXES BY DEADMEN, SUN SUN, AND MA BWE

LISTEN / BUY / STREAM MARIGOLD EP HERE

WATCH / SHARE “MARIGOLD” EXTENDED VERSION HERE

LATEST LP, POWDER BLUE, SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 POLARIS MUSIC PRIZE - PERFORMING AT THE POLARIS GALA SEP 19 AT TORONTO’S MASSEY HALL

FALL TOUR DATES BEGIN WITH ‘FAKE VEGAS RESIDENCY’ IN WINNIPEG SEP 22
TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE

BUY / STREAM POWDER BLUE HERE

“Powder Blue presents Begonia in vulnerable pop-music poses, at turns bubbly, fancy, funky and intimate.” - The Globe & Mail

"Begonia’s signature smooth vocals drive the tender and soulful pop songs with an R&B flair that touch on every corner of her life.” - CBC Music

“The record puts Begonia's internal world on full display, a complex and beautiful diorama dressed by her impeccable vocals and sparse, inventive production — Alexa Dirks has always felt fully formed, but on Powder Blue, she transcends.” - Exclaim!

Photo Credit : Calvin Lee Joseph //  DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Next week, Begonia will be performing at the Polaris Music Prize Gala where her latest album, Powder Blue, has been shortlisted for the prestigious award. Whittled down to 10 nominees from over 200 Canadian albums considered, the prize will be handed out at the event which will also be televised courtesy of CBC on Tuesday, September 19.

Today, Begonia (aka, Alexa Dirks) is dropping a new EP that explores a few different iterations of “Marigold”. In addition to an extended cut of the song, the EP also features a guitarmony-laced upbeat reimagining from deadmen, a trip-hop vibe-dive with SUN SUN, and a French House reimagining for the dancefloor from MA BWE. "Marigold is basically a short story about my teenage life,” says Dirks. “A passing reflection that has confirmed for me that all the questions and uncertainties I had as a kid, have value. 

WATCH / SHARE “MARIGOLD” EXTENDED VERSION HERE

“I think It's the shortest song I've ever written yet it always felt like such a big song to me. Sharing parts of myself that I haven't really shared in my music before...mainly the relationship I have to my queerness and my loss of religion. I think subconsciously part of me kept it so short because I was a little afraid of it. Once the album was mastered I had a panic and felt like I had to send a mass email to any person that knew me before like ‘to whom it may concern, I am not straight and I don't believe in the same God anymore. We good?’ Haha, I can't fully describe it but it was like I had a fear of being ‘exposed’ or people questioning me or being disappointed in me. I don't love that I felt that way but it's the truth. 

“A song ALWAYS takes on a new meaning to me once we play it live and so we started playing it on tour and all my fears melted away. I watched people singing…and sometimes screaming… the lyrics back to me every night and it lit up something in my brain and my heart honestly. The more I sang it the more I felt like I could say more, I wanted to say more. That I feel so lucky be accepted and loved by all of you special people and that the takeaway is more like...puberty is fucked, life can be fucked but in spite of it all flowers keep growing and so do we."

LISTEN / BUY / STREAM MARIGOLD EP HERE

This Fall, Begonia will be taking Powder Blue from a fake Vegas residency in Winnipeg to the clubs of Europe. Beginning with her hometown release show on September 22 and 23, Begonia will host her own ‘Vegas Residency’ at Winnipeg’s Club Regent Casino and follow up with a run of dates throughout Canada before joining Leith Ross overseas. Full tour dates can be found below and tickets to all dates are available here.

If you haven’t yet had the chance to perform a track from Powder Blue at your local karaoke establishment, Begonia is here to help. Recently, she shared a few interactive videos via her socials produced by Nick Luchak for “Marigold”, “Butterfly”, “Right Here” and “Married By Elvis”. "I used to host karaoke at a bar called The Good Will before I felt confident enough to start this project 6/7 years ago,” says Dirks. “Watching other people experience so much JOY and just the beautiful comradery/absurdity of it all...IT IS MY FAVOURITE. So naturally we had our pal Nick Luchak make some sweetly unhinged karaoke videos for some tracks from Powder Blue." Begonia is inviting fans to remix them/duet them/sing along and to tag her so “I can admire and cry and repost!”

POWDER BLUE KARAOKE VIDEOS 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.”

WATCH / SHARE “MARRIED BY ELVIS” HERE

“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.”

LISTEN TO BEGONIA TALK WITH TOM POWER ABOUT POWDER BLUE AND MORE HERE

WATCH / SHARE “MARRIED BY ELVIS” HERE
WATCH / SHARE “RIGHT HERE” HERE
WATCH / SHARE “COLD NIGHT” HERE

BUY / STREAM POWDER BLUE HERE

DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

MARIGOLD TRACKLIST
01 Marigold (Extended)
02 Marigold (Album Version)
03 Marigold (deadmen Remix)
04 Marigold (SUN SUN Remix)
05 Marigold (MA BWE Remix)

TOUR DATES
Sept 22 - Winnipeg, MB @ Club Regent Casino
Sept 23 - Winnipeg, MB @ Club Regent Casino
Oct 10 - Edmonton, AB @ Starlite Room
Oct 11 - Calgary, AB @ The Grand
Oct 12 - Regina, SK @ The Artesian
Oct 15 - Saskatoon, SK @ Broadway Theatre
Oct 28 - Rotterdam, NL @ Rotown ^
Oct 29 - Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso THT ^
Oct 30 - Brussels, BE @ AB Club ^
Nov 1 - Birmingham, UK @ Institute 2 ^
Nov 3 - Dublin, IE @ Vicar St. ^
Nov 5 - Manchester, UK @ New Century ^
Nov 6 - Glasgow, UK @ St. Lukes ^
Nov 7 - Edinburgh, UK @ Summerhall ^
Nov 14 - Berlin, DE @ Berghain Kantine ^
Nov 15 - Hamburg, DE @ Nachtwache ^
Nov 16 - Cologne, DE @ Arttheatre ^
Nov 19 - London, UK @ KOKO ^

^ supporting Leith Ross

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BEGONIA’S NEW LP, POWDER BLUE, OUT TODAY, SHARES NEW VIDEO

WATCH / SHARE “THE ONLY ONE” HERE

BUY / STREAM POWDER BLUE HERE

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES CONTINUE TONIGHT

“The record puts Begonia's internal world on full display, a complex and beautiful diorama dressed by her impeccable vocals and sparse, inventive production — Alexa Dirks has always felt fully formed, but on Powder Blue, she transcends.” - Exclaim!

"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
[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, is a busy day for Begonia (Alexa Dirks). Her new album, Powder Blue, is released everywhere via Birthday Cake Records and she opens the second night of her North American tour dates at Toronto’s Great Hall. And to throw more fuel on the fire, she’s also sharing the new video for album track “The Only One”.

“This song is about party culture anxiety,” says Dirks. “You know that feeling when you think everyone around you is having more fun in their lives than you, so you force yourself out of bed and into the world only to realize you just want to be at home back under the covers? That feeling of running up to the club doors like you are about to enter the best night of your life, but then you end up waiting at the back of the line freezing cold wishing you’d never gone out. I love going out and losing myself, but I’ve also learned as I’ve grown that I can’t do it all the time and sometimes my anxiety takes over and I just shut down. So basically I wrote this being like…’I can’t be the only one, right?’.

“Deadmen (producers Matt Peters and Matt Schellenberg) and I wrote this song as an exercise to try and get me out of my head and write a fun dance pop song. But then it ended up just being a dance pop song about how much I’m in my own head all the time, lol. So I didn’t totally nail the brief, but I'm proud of it nonetheless.”

WATCH / SHARE “THE ONLY ONE” 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.”

WATCH / SHARE “MARRIED BY ELVIS” HERE

“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

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

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."

BUY / STREAM POWDER BLUE HERE

TOUR DATES
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
6/16/23 - Beaumont, AB - Beaumont Blues & Roots Fest
7/9/23 - Calgary, AB - Calgary Stampede (w Lord Huron & Wild Rivers)

DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
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

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