Q: The Podcast From Cbc Radio

With viral hits like “Pretty Girl Era,” LU KALA has proven that she might just be the next big Canadian breakthrough artist à la Justin Bieber, Carly Rae Jepsen or The Weeknd. Her catchy songs about loving yourself and knowing your worth have amassed millions of streams all over the internet. Back in May, on the heels of her new EP, “No Tears On This Ride,” LU joined Tom Power to tell us her story, how she became more confident after being bullied as a kid, and what it felt like to see Serena Williams and her daughter lip sync to her music.

Kat Sandler is an award-winning Canadian playwright, screenwriter and director who’s known for her way with words and her wild imagination. She was just a kid when she fell in love with the story of “Anne of Green Gables,” so it was a dream come true when the Stratford Festival — one of the most renowned theatre festivals in North America — asked her to reimagine the story for their 2025 program. Kat joins guest host Garvia Bailey to talk about her acclaimed adaptation of this beloved Canadian story.

When Kristin Scott Thomas (Four Weddings and a Funeral, The English Patient) was six years old, her father, a Royal Navy pilot, died in service. Then her mother remarried another Royal Navy pilot, who also died in service when she was 11. Now, the Oscar-nominated British actor is playing a character inspired by her twice-widowed mother in a new film called “My Mother's Wedding.” It’s also Kristin's directorial debut. She joins guest host Garvia Bailey to talk about the film, the unreliability of memory, and how she got her big break thanks to Prince.

d'bi.young anitafrika knows that it takes a lot of nurturing and mentorship to become an artist of any kind. They credit their mom, the pioneering dub poet Anita Stewart, with inspiring their passion for storytelling. Now, d’bi is celebrating a major milestone as a playwright, performer and director. Their “Sankofa Trilogy” is in its 20th year. The three solo plays of the trilogy follow three generations of Jamaican women from their experiences of growing up to motherhood. Ahead of the anniversary stagings of the plays, d’bi is doing a little experiment — they’re putting on the plays as multi-cast productions to test out new ways to tell these stories. d’bi sits down with guest host Garvia Bailey to talk about 20 years of “The Sankofa Trilogy,” getting their start in theatre in “Da Kink in My Hair,” and how they bring Black stories to the Canadian stage.

Acclaimed Canadian folk singer-songwriter Dana Sipos just dropped a new love song devoted to her friends. It’s called “Soft Feeling” and it’s her first new music since 2021. Dana joins guest host Garvia Bailey to tell us what inspired the track and why we need more love songs that celebrate the intimacy of friendship.

Ebonnie Rowe is a champion for Canadian women in music. As the founder of Honey Jam — Canada’s first artist development program for female musicians — she’s helped launch the careers of Nelly Furtado, Jully Black, Haviah Mighty and more. Ebonnie joins guest host Garvia Bailey to talk about being appointed to the Order of Canada and creating a “neverending sisterhood.”

About a decade ago, Anjulie found huge success writing catchy pop songs that were all over Canadian radio and MuchMusic. She won a Juno Award, she was writing songs for the likes of Lady Gaga and Kelly Clarkson, and there was a bidding war between some of the biggest labels in the world who were desperate to sign her. But then, at the height of her success, Anjulie walked away from music to focus on healing some internal wounds she’d been avoiding. Now, she’s re-emerged as a more centered version of herself — and with that comes a new sound and a hit single. Earlier this year, Anjulie sat down with Tom Power to share her story.

The Toronto-based DJ and producer BAMBII melds electronic music with her Caribbean roots — but the path to making her own songs hasn’t been clear cut. First, she started her own rave series as a way of getting better at DJing while also hearing the music she wanted to dance to. From there, she learned how to produce her own music. In 2023, she released her debut EP, "Infinity Club,” which won electronic album of the year at the 2024 Juno Awards. Now, she’s back with her follow-up, “Infinity Club II,” which digs deeper into her songwriting, production and world-building. BAMBII joins guest host Garvia Bailey to talk about her new EP, growing up in Toronto as an only child, and what it’s like to navigate the music industry when you’re Black and queer. 

Tired of her blindness being seen as tragedy, Toronto theatre maker Devon Healey designed an immersive stage show to take audiences into her experience. The production, “Rainbow on Mars,” is based on her own journey into blindness at age 21, and it features a cast of performers with varying levels of vision. Devon sits down with guest host Garvia Bailey to talk about reframing blindness as an invitation to relate to each other more intimately, and to become more comfortable with uncertainty and exploration.

The hit series “Severance” managed to knock “Ted Lasso” out of its place as the most-watched show on Apple TV+. That’s partly due to its unique premise, which explores a nightmarish experiment to enforce work-life balance by splitting a person’s consciousness into two. There’s the you that goes into work (your “innie”) and the you that lives outside of work (your “outie”). A few months ago, actors Tramell Tillman and Zach Cherry — also known as their characters Mr. Milchick and Dylan G. — sat down with Tom Power to discuss all things “Severance.”

You never know who you might meet at a Canadian gas station. Back in March, AHI sat down with Tom Power to tell us how a chance encounter at a truck stop in Thunder Bay inspired him to pursue music full-time. He also sets up a song off his new album, “The Light Behind the Sun.”

Back in 2023, Debby Friday won the prestigious Polaris Music Prize for her debut album, “Good Luck.” When she sat down to write her next record, it would’ve been easy to stick with what worked the first time, but instead, Debby made a conscious decision to do things differently. The result is her most ambitious album yet, “The Starrr Of The Queen Of Life.” From dance floor bangers to intimate ballads, Debby joins Tom Power to take us inside the emotional and artistic journey behind her new record.

Amar Wala is a Canadian film director and writer whose debut film, “Shook,” follows a South Asian man named Ash who’s navigating issues of love, family and identity in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough. Amar joins guest host Garvia Bailey to talk about the challenges of transitioning from documentary to narrative film, the personal parallels between the main character’s journey and his own, and why the racially-diverse and economically-challenged Scarborough is such a fantastic setting for a film.

Abraham Anghik Ruben is a world-renowned sculptor who’s been creating groundbreaking and genre-defining work for the last five decades. The Inuk artist is best known for his multidimensional sculptures, which he carves out of stone, ivory, bronze and bone, but more recently, he’s also taken up painting. With an ongoing solo show at the Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq, Abraham joins guest host Garvia Bailey to look back on 50 years of creativity. Plus, he shares what needs to happen to ensure that art from the North continues to thrive.

When Canadian musician Charlie Houston was a student at NYU a few years ago, she took a weed edible that gave her a really bad trip. It was so bad that she quit music, dropped out of school and moved back in with her parents in Toronto. Earlier this year, Charlie released her debut album, “Big After I Die,” which explores the precarious and often surreal experience of transitioning between phases of life. She sat down with Tom Power to tell us the story of the edible that changed her life and how she got back into music. Plus, she sets up a track from her new album.

World-renowned fashion designer Prabal Gurung grew up in a turbulent household, with an abusive father at home and bullies at school who teased him for being too feminine. It was only when he moved to New York City to work with designers like Donna Karan and Cynthia Rowley that Prabal began to embrace the things that made him different. His new memoir, “Walk Like a Girl,” is a tribute to the women who made him the fashion designer he is today, from Anna Wintour, who championed his work, to longtime clients like Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama, Kamala Harris and Kate Middleton.

Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth, The Aviator, Tár) is one of the most respected actors of our time. She's an on-screen chameleon who transforms into whatever role she plays, taking on whatever accent is required of her — so much so that she says it’s easy to forget what she actually sounds like. At last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Cate sat down with Tom Power for a thoughtful conversation about two of her most recent projects (the unique political satire “Rumours” and the psychological thriller series “Disclaimer”), plus, her voice work.

Heather and Arizona O'Neill are more than just mother and daughter — they're creative partners, storytellers and travel companions. Their latest collaboration, a novel called “Valentine in Montreal,” is already an instant bestseller. Heather wrote the book, which was first published in weekly installments in the Montreal Gazette, and Arizona illustrated it. The mother-daughter duo join Tom Power to tell us what it's like working together and why the Montreal subway system plays a special role in their relationship.

Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta, Causeway, The Book of Mormon) has become one of Hollywood's busiest actors. On the new series “Dope Thief,” he plays Ray Driscoll — a complex character who’s dealing with generational trauma, addiction and grief. Back in April, Brian joined Tom Power to talk about the role, the epiphany he had that reframed the way he looks at his career, and how he put his imposter syndrome in the rearview mirror.

Mo Amer's comedy career couldn't be going any better right now. His semi-autobiographical TV show “Mo” is a big success and he’s currently on a massive stand-up tour. But even though his professional life is thriving, certain things in his personal life are a bit more complicated. Mo joins Tom Power to talk about the pressure he’s feeling as a Palestinian American comedian, the emotional conversations he's been having with his fans, and how his life in comedy all got started.