Justine Blanchet

Where are you currently based?

I am currently based in Montreal but often travel to Nashville to continue working on my music.

How did you first start playing music?

I grew up in a musical family and learned a variety of instruments. I then went on to begin singing classical crossover at 11 years old. I moved on to singing country music when I was 15 and started to write my own songs as well.

What’s been happening recently?

A lot has been happening! I’m in the process to finishing the recording for my upcoming EP and filming more music videos.

Your latest single ‘Hard to Love’ is out now, what influenced the sound and songwriting?

This song was written by Courtney Cole, Derrick Southerland, and Kelly Archer. This song was pitched to me in a playlist of about 12 songs, but I picked it because it was very personal to me.

What does this single mean to you and how did the writing process take place?

Even though I didn’t write this song, the lyrics and meaning still hold a lot of significance for me because I went through a toxic relationship with a partner that was very emotionally unavailable.

Where and when did you record/produce/master and who did you work with?

I worked with Danick Dupelle in Nashville for this song! I recorded it back in Montreal and had the tracks sent to Danick for production and mastering.

How did you approach the recording process?

I was in Nashville when we started building the track. Because the song already had a good demo, we went ahead and used it as inspiration. The track begins with a simple acoustic guitar and synthetic drums, but we chose musicians to come into the studio and record the different instruments that we wanted on there.

Please tell us about your upcoming EP, the writing influences and what this EP means to you:

The EP is coming in the spring of 2023 and will be comprised of 5 songs all written by amazing people. I didn’t write any of the songs and that’s purely because we wanted the best of the best on the album while I keep developing my songwriting skills. This EP means a lot because it’s a three year long project and lots of money and time was poured into this creation. I hope it leads to great opportunities.

How’s the Nashville music scene at the moment?

The scene is great! There are a lot of people in Nashville but the town is small when you think about it. Everybody knows everybody and the community is tight knit and supportive of each other.

Please tell about living and recording in Nashville:

I love that the weather is so nice in the fall! I come from up north, where t-shirt weather doesn’t last very long. The neighboring cities are so pretty and there is so much scenery and history in Tennessee. There is always a concert or show somewhere in Nashville so it’s very hard to get bored in this town.

Who are you listening to at the moment?

Lots of artists – namely Lainey Wilson, Morgan Evans, Bailey Zimmerman, Elvis Presley, Olivia Newton-John, and The Lettermen. I really appreciate all kinds of genres.

What’s planned for the remainder of 2022 going into 2023?

I’m in Nashville at the moment and then I will go home for the holidays and save up some more money to come back to Nashville in 2023.

Favourite food and place to hangout?

I’m not a picky person but I love a good apple crisp especially at this time of year. I love the Elliston Place Soda Shop here in Nashville! Super cute little retro diner.