Timmins singer nominated for Capital Music Award

Céleste Lévis is nominated for a Capital Music Award for her single, Ça Passera, a French-language song meant to offer a sense of reassurance and support during the strain of the pandemic. The awards are centred around Ottawa's musical community, where the Timmins-born singer and songwriter lives and works.

Up for Single of the Year, this isn't Lévis' first brush with the awards, having won Virtual Performance of the Year in 2021 amidst a record four nominations.

"That would be a fun streak to start, that's for sure," said Levis on her chance to win in successive years.

While the award itself will ultimately be chosen by a recently concluded popular vote, the entries were first nominated through a jury evaluation process. Lévis is enthusiastic about the recognition being given to the French-language single.

"I know especially being a francophone artist as well I think it's important that we're represented. For me it was amazing. We always say 'it's an honour just to be nominated', but it goes through a jury and everything. I know there's a lot of artists here that have the Spotify plays, the millions of streams and everything. On the francophone side you can have that success as well, but it's a lot more through radio, through promotion and shows. It's nice that they didn't just base things on if a song fell into a playlist. It's nice to see they saw the whole picture of what this song has become over the year," she said.

Lévis is hopeful that the recognition she is achieving can encourage other budding musicians in the francophone communities of Northern Ontario.

"I started in high school in Timmins, doing music. And my biggest inspiration was other francophone musicians that were there, that were present for workshops, for different festivals that we had at school. And I of course aspire to be one of those artists as well one day," she said.

Lévis has already put in effort to encourage that sense of identity, recently doing a virtual consult with the high school musicians of Touz en flammes for their own concert. She returned to Timmins for a performance of her own in December 2021, singing alongside the Timmins Symphony Orchestra.

"I still have my grandparents there, both my brothers came back. You see familiar faces wherever you go, and I think that's what I miss the most but also what feels the best when I go back home," said Lévis on the sense of community that has remained with her.

That spirit and strength of the personal connection is something she worked to instill in Ça Passera.

"When I write songs I always stem from a place that's more personal. I try not to get too into detail so that people can create their own link with what I'm saying. Still, there are certain moments and certain things that I've lived through every day with people that I love and that have always been there for me, or stories that I've heard of things they're going through, just to say that it will be OK," said Lévis.