In “Big Time Roller Coaster Feeling” Mia Kelly leaps from her roots in folk and blues to a foray into pop territory.
At only 23 years of age, Québec-based singer-songwriter Mia Kelly has released her third album, Big Time Roller Coaster Feeling. After the critically acclaimed and Capital Music Awards-winning To Be Clear (2024), which was co-produced by singer-songwriter Jim Bryson, whose roster of collaborations includes Canada’s own The Tragically Hip and Kathleen Edwards, Kelly has moved on from more traditional structures into pop territory with roots elements.
A bilingual songwriter, in both English and her native Canadian French, Kelly was named Emerging Artist of the Year by Culture Outaouais, represented Canada as a finalist at the 2023 Jeux de la Francophonie in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and was awarded both Young Performer of the Year and Emerging Artist of the Year at the 2024 Canadian Folk Music Awards.
Big Time Rollercoaster Feeling’s sonic change can perhaps be attributed to producer Connor Seidel, whose work can be heard in previous collaborations with Leif Vollebekk, Charlotte Cardin and Half Moon Run. And the change is noticeable. While To Be Clear featured pared-down arrangements, leaving room for vocals where Mia’s vulnerability came across, occasionally kicked up a notch by a full backing band, Big Time Roller Coaster Feeling feels like a Beyoncé-like foray into roots: a Top 10 effort interweaved with instrumentation occasionally grounded in folk, at times still with an indie sensibility. The title track especially showcases this tendency, with a glossy pop-like production interspersed with indie-folk arrangements: be it an arresting synth, as in Sea to the Moon, or the occasional strings.
There is, at times, a sense that the album’s sonic identity, though cohesive, doesn’t quite know what it’s aiming for, or is shying away from fully committing to a pop transformation. But overall, though her voice is very much front and centre, Kelly’s lyrics and clear abilities as a performer seem partly clouded by gloss and pop structure.
Overall, a polished, attractive effort for those who like their folk and country on the glossy side, or their polished pop with just a little bit of grit.
