BACKSTAGE WITH XANA

By Resonate | June 23, 2026

WORDS BY RHYS HARDMAN

XANA’s music is ‘predominately for the queer kids of the world’, and is opening an outlet where she can express emotions entangled with forbidden love; encompassing longing, nostalgia, heartbreak, infidelity, sex-positivity, self-reflection and female empowerment. She’s a Canadian indie icon ‘rooted in pop’, who can’t help but blend genres like rock, electronic and acoustic folk into the mix. Her strongest ballads come as a momentary release of visceral, raw emotions. Unapologetically embracing her sexuality with provocative tracks like Complex, Homewrecking Era and Better Kind of Best Friend. Her Until it Wasn’t UK tour concluded in February, where I was lucky enough to be invited backstage to have a little chat about what it’s like on her first international tour. 

To start, can you introduce yourself and give me a little premise of what your music is about and who it’s for?

My name is XANA, I am an artist from Canada, I write music about my own personal experiences and relationships. I also love to throw some storytelling and fiction in there as well. I make kind of pop rock music, but I like to dabble in different genres, though it’s all rooted in pop. I make music predominantly for the queer kids of the world, but for anyone who just feels that they have some emotions they want to express and be in touch with, yeah, it’s for everybody.

What have been your favourite moments on the tour so far? And do you have a favourite location you’ve been to here in the UK so far? 

Everybody has been so welcoming, so excited, and so kind, and it’s been really sweet meeting everyone who have been waiting so long for me to get here to perform, so that was very rewarding. I got to go and plan a tattoo with a fan on my day off in Somerset, and that was really special. We had a really fun time, so that was cute. But yeah, even the travelling part has been enjoyable; it’s so beautiful out here. It’s hard to choose a favourite [city], I think they’re all so cute. I explored Brighton the most, and then I’ve only seen bits of everywhere else. I don’t usually get to be a tourist in the towns, but I get to meet everybody, and everyone has been lovely.

What’s your tour essentials?

For this tour, it has been my journal and my favourite makeup that I wear pretty much every night. The thing I have to have every night are ginger shots as it’s a preshow tradition. I don’t drink when I’m on tour, but we always take a ginger shot together; it’s just juice. I have to take my vitamins with me, and I have to take my sister. 

Do you have an unpopular opinion about something from the UK? I know you’re loving Greggs, but have you been recommended something you don’t like?

Not really, like Greggs was a fun little snack, but I feel like it’s the UK equivalent of Tim Hortons, which is basically the Canadian version, with snacks and coffee. It’s not the greatest, but it does the job. I haven’t been misled so far, but I am still looking for a good fish and chips.

What’s some advice you’d give to your younger self; personal or professional?

I would say keep writing about everything, even if it’s bad, just always write and trust your intuition a little bit more. I feel like we always like to know the answer, but we may not wanna believe it, you know. Trust your intuition. I’m still learning how to do that.

Can you tell me about your songwriting process? How did you develop your sound?

I think with Tantrums, I really wanted to be loud and I really wanted to be heard. I thought it was going to be the only album I was going to make and I didn’t know if I’d be able to do it again and I was lucky enough that people enjoyed it, so I got to go again. With the second one I leaned a bit more into a rock version. I was trying to scratch all those itches. It’s a lot more fun and almost video gamey, with a lot of weird sounds happening. I wanted to do something that felt a lot lighter and fun after TSWGUIW. But one I hope everyone will still enjoy!

Can you tell me anything about this new project/song you’ve been working on?

I don’t have a release date yet, but it will be coming out sometime this year. It’s just a really fun, bratty pop song. The next era we’re stepping into is just very bright, fun, and a little bit happier than the last one. 

Where did you record and who produced the song?

Liam Moose and Shane Stevenson are the producers. We recorded it in a couple of different spaces in Canada, but it was mostly at Shane’s house, drums at HIPPO, guitar at Liam’s. It was at a bunch of places in Canada.