For soul artist Tanika Charles, 2022 was a year of reassertion. After a couple years of relative inactivity, it was time to reemerge with new music the exemplifies her as one of the best soul singers this country has to offer. Following the success of 2019’s The Gumption and 2016’s Soul Run, Tanika released her third album, Papillion de Nuit: The Night Butterfly, in April of 2022. Papillon was Tanika’s first time receiving FACTOR Juried Sound Recording funding for an album project. Not only was the financial support critical to completing the album, the structure that came with these funding obligations helped usher the project through it’s stages during a period of ongoing uncertainty about what came next.
The album was released in Canada through Tanika’s own Unique Applause label, but was licensed through the Italian label Record Kicks for international distribution. The two entities led complimentary marketing and promotional campaigns for album leading to significant coverage on both sides of the Atlantic. Papillon de Nuit received glowing reviews and praise in numerous publications including Canada’s Exclaim!, UK’s Uncut magazine, and was named Bandcamp’s album of the day upon it’s release.
A FACTOR-assisted promotional campaign in Canada converted into many performance requests. As such, what was expected to be a slow easing back into live performances instead became a jam packed summer of over a dozen festival appearances across the country. Since two years had gone by with very little summer festivals, the mentality within Tanika’s team was to say “yes” to as many opportunities as possible and then find a way to make them feasible. The availability of FACTOR tour support funding reduced the financial gamble involved, leaving only logistical gambles to contend with (side note: FACTOR please consider expanding your mandate to also bend space and time, thanks).
Thanks in part to FACTOR’s ongoing support, Tanika has been able to tour and showcase her new material across Canada. Plans are already in place to continue expanding her international reach into 2023 and beyond. Getting back into the saddle so soon wasn’t easy, and certainly wasn’t guaranteed. But with support programs like FACTOR’s Juried Sound Recording, Tanika Charles was able to jump back into the mix and remind the world that some of the best soul music comes from Canada.