Meet ‘hyper-intuitive’ artist Saya Gray

Saya Gray’s musical journey began in Toronto while playing in a house band for a Jamaican Pentecostal church. Eventually, she started touring with international acts like Daniel Caesar and Willow Smith as a bass player. She’s released several EPs, now she’s set to release her official debut album, Saya, on Feb. 21.

“I move fast,” she says. “Transition quick, hit change! My documentations have barely kept up.… My mind & body caught up for this album. I had to calm down for this record. I had to document the clean up. Remnants as I move from places, people & patterns we only have ourselves at the end of it all!”

I had to calm down for this record. I had to document the clean up.

Saya Gray

Gray was born in Toronto to a Japanese mother and Scottish-Canadian father. They introduced her to music right away. Her father, a trumpet player and producer, had worked with Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, and Tony Bennett. Her mother, a pianist, ran a music school in their home.

“I’ve been hyper-intuitive—extrasensory perception—from the moment I was cognitive,” Gray told Pitchfork. “I could see through people. I could hear things other people couldn’t. I was composing really young and had perfect pitch. People say that when I was a kid, I was like a 40-year-old woman, holding eye contact and watching people. It was weird.”

Gray’s first single from her upcoming album, “SHELL (OF A MAN),” features soft dreamy vocals, shaky basslines, and vulnerable lyrics that describe grief and losing control of your life and the world around you. What more could you ask for from an indie artist?

Besides her sweet bass lines – “my BN5 is the most versatile bass I’ve ever played,” she says, “it suits my every need from the studio to the stage” – she also has a sense of style when it comes to her onstage persona. “It also matches every outfit. I love it!”

If the rest of Saya is as beautiful as “SHELL (OF A MAN)” than we’re in for a great debut album from Saya Gray.