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Saya Gray

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Saya Gray
Born1995 (age 30–31)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
GenresAlternative pop
LabelDirty Hit
Formerly ofQuincy Bullen Band
Websitesayagray.ca

Saya Gray (born 1995) is a Canadian musician. She has four albums or EPs, starting with her debut in 2022.

Early life

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Gray was born in 1995[1] and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada,[2][3] growing up in the Beaches neighbourhood of Toronto.[4] Her mother is the founder of the Discovery Through the Arts music school in Toronto.[2][5] She is of Japanese-Canadian descent.[3][5][4] Her mother's family moved from Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan to Canada when her mother was ten years old.[4] Her father is a Scottish-Canadian[6] jazz trumpet player who studied at the Berklee College of Music.[2][5] Her brother, Lucian Gray, who plays the guitar, appears on her album 19 Masters.[5] She began playing the piano at a young age,[5][4][6] eventually deciding around the age of ten to play bass.[5]

Musical career

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Gray began playing music in a house band for a Jamaican Pentecostal church.[7] At the age of eighteen, Gray was a music teacher and a member of the Quincy Bullen Band.[8] After dropping out of high school in order to take night classes instead, she moved to London in the United Kingdom at the age of nineteen.[4] She worked as a touring bassist for over ten years prior to releasing music.[5] She previously played as a bassist in Canadian singer and songwriter Daniel Caesar's touring band.[2][3] She has also been a musical director for American singer Willow Smith[2] and a bassist for English singer and songwriter Liam Payne.[5]

In 2019, Gray began releasing original music.[3] Her debut album, 19 Masters, was released on 2 June 2022.[3][5] In 2023 and 2024, she released the dual extended plays QWERTY and QWERTY II.[4][9][10]

Her second album, Saya, was released on 21 February 2025.[2] The album was shortlisted for the 2025 Polaris Music Prize.[11] She received a Juno Award nomination for Breakthrough Artist or Group of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2026, and Saya was nominated for Alternative Album of the Year.[12]

She appeared on Charlotte Day Wilson's 2026 album Patchwork, performing on the song "Lean".[13] The song was longlisted for the 2026 SOCAN Polaris Song Prize.[14]

Personal life

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Gray has lived in Toronto, Japan and the United Kingdom.[3][4] She was living in Tokyo as of March 2024.[4]

Discography

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Albums

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EPs

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Mixtapes

  • SAYA DEMO MIXTAPE (2025)[15]

References

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  1. ↑ "Album Of The Week: Saya Gray 'SAYA'". Stereogum. 18 February 2025. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Lapierre, Megan (19 February 2025). "Saya Gray Is Remaking Pop in Her Own Image". Exclaim!. Archived from the original on 25 February 2025. Retrieved 24 February 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Wickes, Jade (18 March 2022). "Saya Gray on finally releasing her own music". The Face. Archived from the original on 25 February 2025. Retrieved 24 February 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Monroe, Jazz (21 March 2024). "Venture Into Saya Gray's Alt-Pop Wonderland". Pitchfork. Retrieved 24 February 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Haver Currin, Grayson (19 April 2022). "Saya Gray Pulls Music From Her Bones". Uproxx. Retrieved 24 February 2025.
  6. 1 2 Kasambala, Natty (17 March 2022). "Saya Gray's music is for people asking 'what the fuck is going on?'". Dazed. Archived from the original on 25 February 2025. Retrieved 24 February 2025.
  7. ↑ Freid, Ben (16 January 2025). "Meet 'hyper-intuitive' artist Saya Gray". The Colorado Sound. Archived from the original on 25 February 2025. Retrieved 24 February 2025.
  8. ↑ Beker, Jeanne (2 August 2013). "Saya Gray: tomboy teen turned style sophisticate". Toronto Star. Retrieved 24 February 2025.
  9. 1 2 3 Mitchell, Matt (24 February 2025). "Saya Gray Makes Heartbreak Bizarre and Bold on Saya". Paste Magazine. Archived from the original on 24 February 2025. Retrieved 24 February 2025.
  10. 1 2 Lapierre, Megan (15 February 2024). "Saya Gray Announces New 'QWERTY II' EP, Shares Single". Exclaim!. Archived from the original on 25 February 2025. Retrieved 24 February 2025.
  11. ↑ Gregory, Allie (10 July 2025). "Polaris Music Prize Reveals 2025 Short List". Exclaim!. Retrieved 10 July 2025.
  12. ↑ Holly Gordon, "Here are all the 2026 Juno nominees". CBC Music, January 27, 2026.
  13. ↑ Megan Lapierre, "Charlotte Day Wilson and Saya Gray's "Lean" Is a Stabilizing Force". Exclaim!, January 14, 2026.
  14. ↑ Natalie Harmsen, "2026 SOCAN Polaris Song Prize long list: Begonia, Cadence Weapon, Charlotte Day Wilson and more". CBC Music, June 24, 2026.
  15. ↑ "SAYA DEMO MIXTAPE, by Saya Gray". Saya Gray. Retrieved 24 April 2026.
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