Serena Ryder touring in the Okanagan

Canadian singer-songwriter Serena Ryder has scheduled tour stops in the Okanagan

Canadian singer-songwriter Serena Ryder has scheduled tour stops in the Okanagan with music from her new EP, Electric Love.

The six-time Juno Award winner will perform in Penticton at the Cleland Theatre on July 17 and the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre on July 19.

Ryder said music is medicine for her and it is why she is compelled to write songs.

“The worst thing in the world is feeling along and feeling like somebody doesn’t relate to you or that people don’t understand,” she said in a press release. “If I can make somebody feel like I know how they feel that’s such an amazing thing. You can hear a song and feel, ‘that song was written for me.’ I want to give that to people so they don’t feel as alone.”

Electric Love contains six songs, written and recorded over the course of three years in Nashville, Los Angeles, Toronto and London. They were chosen out of nearly 100 that Ryder has created since her hit record Harmony was released. Since then she was dealing with a bad breakup and wondering what to do next. It was during this time that Ryder said she realized she loves her job and loves writing.

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The six tracks on Electric Love come from her next album, which is expected to follow later this year. The title track of the EP is an anthemic pop song, marrying a catchy hook with its subject matter of the undeniable connection between two people.

“It’s that spark that you can’t explain,” she said. “I wanted to play around with that idea because it’s exciting when you feel that first spark and curiosity. It’s so alive and it’s such a blessing to experience it. It’s a song about the magnetic energy between two people. It goes beyond race, religion and sexual identity. Whether you like it or not, the force it out of your control and it’s up to the individuals to decide if they should act on it or not — and I would.”

Ryder has proved herself as a strong live performer, having shared the stage with OneRepublic, Kanye West, Sara Bareilles, HAIM, Pitbull and Melissa Ethridge. She has had her songs placed in over 50 TV shows and commercials including Grey’s Anatomy, VEEP and Suits. Her single Stompa is four-times platinum in Canada and she’s sold over one million singles from her previous releases. Stompa also hit No. 1 in the U.S. radio stations for eight weeks — the most weeks at No. 1 since Adele.

Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday at 10 a.m. For more information on ticket prices and tour dates visit www.serenaryder.com.

stompa video

Penticton Western News