Kiesza

Kiesa Rae Ellestad, better known by her stage name Kiesza, is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Calgary who has most recently worked out of New York City and London. She is best known for her debut single "Hideaway".
Kiesza was born and raised in Calgary. Her last name Ellestad is Norwegian from her paternal side. Her grandfather is from Fagernes in Norway. When she was 16 she took part in the Sail and Life Training Society (SALTS) program and a year later she joined the reserves of the Royal Canadian Navy along with her brother, with whom she became a NavCom (Naval Communicator). It was whilst she was at crew singalongs at the Navy that she taught herself to play guitar. Meanwhile, she also entered the Miss Universe Canada pageant. She attributes her time in the Navy as a reason why, in 2008, she gave away 4,500 CDs to Canadian troops serving in Afghanistan.
Kiesza took part in the Young Canadians, performing tap and jazz dancing, as well as theatre. She also trained as a ballerina. However, a knee injury at age 15 ended her ballet career. When Kiesza was 18, she says that her parents' divorce caused her to write her first song, as a way of expressing her feelings. The same year, she heard a song of hers played on the radio.
In an interview with the Metro, Kiesza revealed that she can trace her lineage to the Battle of Bannockburn to someone who fought alongside Robert the Bruce, elaborating "There's a lot of Scottish people in Canada. Tons. My grandpa was of Scottish heritage - he was of the black Douglases". CKUA Folk Routes host Tom Coxworth selected her to perform for a live audience and to be broadcast live on his radio show. Shortly after, she was accepted to the Selkirk College in Nelson, BC, where she studied keyboard, voice and guitar. Next, Kiesza obtained a scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, New England. After attending Berklee, she went to New York City in 2010 to advance her music career. Although Kiesza started as mainly a folk singer, after attending Berklee and then living in New York, she moved to a more "uptempo sound" for which she works with producer Rami Samir Afuni. In 2010 she was selected to play at the Canada Day celebrations at Trafalgar Square in London for 30,000 people.
In 2012, Kiesza released her first single after starting work with Afuni in New York, a "disco-infused pop" single titled "Oops" about a couple that had unprotected sex. She labelled her style of music at the time as "SteamPop", described by AjanWrites as "a flaming brew of bold, boisterous pop filled with tongue-in-cheek lyrics". In a later 2014 interview, she said "Oops" was made as a joke.
Kiesza was featured in the single Triggerfinger by the Norwegian band Donkeyboy in 2013. She has also written for other artists, such as Rihanna, Kylie Minogue and Icona Pop.