L.A. no life for Prairie songstress
Diana Pops finds strength in her Christian faith
Over the past three years, Diana Pops has had opportunities that would make most musicians jealous.
The singer-songwriter divided her time between Nashville, Los Angeles and Winnipeg, where she was born and raised. Working under the tutelage of Walter Afanasieff, a Grammy Award-winning songwriter and producer known for his work with Mariah Carey and Celine Dion, Pops co-wrote and pitched songs to internationally known recording artists like Josh Groban, Il Divo and Miley Cyrus.
She also worked closely with Adrian Bradford, a fellow Winnipeg expatriate now working full-time in L.A. with a variety of recording artists including Kenny G and Darren Hayes, as well as Canadian contemporary Christian artists like Amanda Falk and Jodi King.
Pops also showcased for publishing executives and major record labels, including Epic and Sony.
Now, the 25-year-old has returned to Winnipeg and put out For Bright Minds in Dark Corners, her second release.
“Finally!" is the word that came to mind when I received this disc, as it's been four years since Pops' first CD.
That stunning self-titled album, released on Steve Bell's Signpost record label, showed incredible promise and marked the debut of someone with song writing and singing abilities that belied her age.
With a taste for the melancholy, Pops writes beautiful, piano-based pop songs that fans of Sarah McLachlan, Norah Jones, Tori Amos and Fiona Apple will adore.
For Bright Minds in Dark Corners is a four-song EP that starts with “Light My Cigarette," a ballad Pops wrote about how conflicted she felt when faced with the prospect of signing a record deal.
Pops' voice and piano on that song, mixed with Tyler Burkum's tasteful guitar playing and Bradford's programmed rhythmic landscapes, set the tone for the rest of the EP.
“The End Begins" is another ballad, this one about the end of a romantic relationship. “Mother Nature" is more upbeat, and “Silver Ship" starts slow until building into a crescendo of strings and impassioned vocals.
The only thing wrong with For Bright Minds is its length. Listeners will no doubt be left wanting more after the 18-minute EP is over.
But the short running time also means that there's no filler. The vibe is consistent throughout, and the EP is perfect for listening to on a rainy day or during a night-time drive when you're deep in thought about life and love.
Pops released the album independently in February. The release follows a period of soul-searching, when Pops was deciding whether she wanted to keep living in L.A. or return to Winnipeg to recharge.
Ultimately, she chose the latter.
“It just kind of got to me–the politics of the industry and sort of always having my nose to the grindstone," Pops recently told me about her time in L.A. “It ended up being just a little much for my personality. ... I was feeling jaded and really disillusioned with the whole thing."
There was even a period of more than six months when Pops didn't sing or play piano unless she was in a song writing session, working for a different artist. That was difficult, considering she had “lived and breathed music" since she was 12.
But no matter how dark her time in Los Angeles got, Pops always found strength in her Christian faith.
“I think my eyes were opened to a lot of stuff in Los Angeles," she said. “There's a choice that you get when you go to a place like that. It's easy to get swept up, and the harder [option] that will hopefully save you pain is sticking to your guns.
“But I struggled in the beginning, and in the end, when I was at my lowest, [what saved me was] the realization and remembering that there was a plan for me, and that it was God's plan and that if I followed in the steps He laid before me ... it was going to lead to good things."
Now that she's back on track, Pops is looking forward to making more music.
With any luck, it won't be another four years before we hear from her again.
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