Debby Friday: Five Essential Albums
Debby Friday (photo by Katrin Braga, PR)
Women's history is world history, but care is taken in March to elevate the message and mission of Women's History Month. We've asked some of the "Women We Love" to write about their "Five Essential Albums" for FUV.
Debby Friday's debut album, GOOD LUCK, drops on March 24 via Sub Pop and it's the start of an exhilarating ride for the Toronto-based musician. A shape-shifter, she has long experimented with her own artistic identity, segueing from clubbing to DJing to releasing two EPs, 2018's BITCHPUNK and 2019's Death Drive. She revamped her life too, getting an MFA at a Vancouver university and finding focus within sobriety.
Friday, who was born in Nigeria but moved to Montréal with her family as a child, brings her life's journey to GOOD LUCK, as well as her perspectives on poetry, psychology, and the power — and pride — of being a queer, Black woman. Her songs reflect the mutability in her music, leaping from the gentle, loping R&B grooves of "So Hard to Tell" to the grinding, rave-ready throb of "I Got It," featuring Uñas.
Friday marks her album's release with an extensive North American tour (including a stop at Brooklyn's Baby's All Right on April 19), but ahead of that road trip, she told FUV about the eclectic "Five Essential Albums" on her mind these days.
Debby Friday: Five Essential Albums
The Runaways, Live in Japan
I love this album because it’s got all their hits and it was the soundtrack to a lot of my formative years. I like watching the concert DVD along with it. Cherie Currie is such a baddie.
Big Brother and the Holding Company, Cheap Thrills
Janis Joplin’s voice is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of phenomenon. She was completely tapped into that space of pure emotion and translated it beautifully. I listened to her a lot while writing
Kanye West, The Life of Pablo
I have nothing good to say about what he’s been up to lately but I always thought this was his best album. It’s somber, thoughtful, and beautifully produced.
Santigold, Santigold (aka Santogold)
Another formative album for me. From beginning to end, this album still sounds as fresh as the day it was released. Santigold is one of the architects of hybrid music. She’s always had future-vision.
Colin Stetson, New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges
A friend introduced me to Colin Stetson and I remember listening to this album for a week straight. I didn’t know horns could sound like this. Life-changing.
- Debby Friday
March 2023
