Q with Tom Power

The Canadian director Ron Dias describes his new film “Morningside” as a love letter to Scarborough — the district of Toronto where he grew up. The film follows a group of Scarborough residents as they grapple with violence in their community, a rapidly changing city, and the loss of their local community centre to gentrification. Ron sits down with guest host Talia Schlanger to talk about the fil...

Calgary's Tate McRae is back with five Juno nominations and a brand new album, “So Close To What.” The reigning Canadian pop princess talks to Tom Power about her skyrocketing career, growing up on social media, and how she’s learning to slow down and appreciate the present moment.

Sebastian Gaskin is a musician from Tataskweyak Cree Nation in Manitoba who fuses his culture with R&B, rock and pop music. Now, he’s released his debut album, “Lovechild.” Sebastian joins Tom Power to talk about his path in music, how he came around to embrace his Indigenous identity in his art, and why writing joyful and hopeful songs is just as important to him as writing political songs.

The musician Will Oldham, also known as Bonnie "Prince" Billy, is more than 30 years into his career with no sign of slowing down. With the release of his new album, “The Purple Bird,” Will joins Tom Power to reflect on his life and music. He tells us about the time he met Johnny Cash, how he ended up conducting Cash’s cover of his song “I See a Darkness,” and how that memorable recording session...

Matt Wright is a Canadian comedian from Newfoundland and Labrador who’s just released his first stand-up special, "Live at the Majestic.” He drops by our studio to chat with Tom Power about his life in comedy and why he says it's his human right to be a goof. Plus, Vivian Chong is a Dora-nominated performer who’s blind in both eyes. She lost her vision a few years ago after she had a toxic reactio...

Matthew Rankin is the Canadian director and star of the film “Universal Language.” It’s an absurdist comedy set in an alternate version of Winnipeg with two official languages: Farsi and French. During the Toronto International Film Festival last fall, Matthew dropped by to chat with Tom Power about his vision for this film and why he wanted to collaborate with Winnipeg’s Persian community.

When the Canadian musician Charlie Houston was a student at NYU a few years ago, she took an edible that gave her a really bad trip. It was so bad that she quit music, dropped out of school and moved back in with her parents in Toronto. Now, she’s released her debut album, “Big After I Die,” which explores the precarious and often surreal experience of transitioning between phases of life. Charlie...

The Canadian singer-songwriter Jann Arden joins Tom Power to talk about her new covers album “Mixtape,” the time she was called a one-hit wonder, and why she thinks the ‘90s are making a resurgence in 2025.

Avan Jogia is a Canadian actor, author and director who spent his teen years in the spotlight as one of the stars of the hit Nickelodeon series “Victorious.” Now, Avan’s new book of poetry, “Autopsy (of an Ex-Teen Heartthrob),” takes a critical look at the culture of celebrity and the sinister side of fame. Avan tells Tom Power about how starring on a Nickelodeon show felt like he was “performing...

When the award-winning author Jason Reynolds was visiting a juvenile detention centre, he asked what kind of books young boys checked out the most. The answer really surprised him: romance novels. Jason realized that young men have a real hunger to learn about love, sensitivity and intimacy. That sparked the idea for his latest book, "Twenty-Four Seconds from Now,” which follows a Black teen boy w...

A few years ago, the musician Tia Wood moved to Los Angeles from her home of Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Alberta. Though she comes from a musical family (her mom is in a drum group, her sister is a Juno winner, and her dad is a founder of the award-winning group Northern Cree), Tia has managed to find her own sound. Now, she’s the first Indigenous woman to be signed to Sony Music Canada, and she’s...

The Grammy-winning Canadian singer-songwriter Alessia Cara has a unique talent for capturing the inner life of someone growing up in the digital age as they deal with love, acceptance and rejection. On her fourth and latest album, “Love & Hyperbole,” she opens up about her feelings of being an introvert in an extrovert’s industry. Alessia sits down with Tom Power to talk about the record and h...

They say never meet your heroes, but don't tell that to Brandi Carlile. The 11-time Grammy winner has teamed up with Elton John on a new album, “Who Believes in Angels?” Its title track is all about the realities of working with someone you admire. Brandi joins Tom Power to introduce us to the song and tell us more about her collaboration with Elton.

The Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Neko Case has written her first memoir, titled “The Harder I Fight The More I Love You.” It traces her upbringing in the Pacific Northwest to moving to Canada and starting her career as a professional musician. Neko sits down with Tom Power to look back on her life, how music (specifically Canadian music) gave her a home, and why she wanted to write honestly...

For his first headline tour from Ontario to Atlantic Canada, the Juno-winning singer-songwriter Aysanabee is shining a light on local First Nations, Métis and Inuit artists in each of the small communities he’s visiting. Aysanabee joins Tom Power to talk about his call out for openers. Plus, he plays us his new single, “Edge Of The Earth.”

When the filmmaker and animator Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon) decided to adapt Peter Brown’s kids’ book “The Wild Robot” for the screen, he threw a lot of modern animation conventions out the window. Chris decided to use hand-painted images instead of CGI and he centered the story on motherhood when mothers are mostly absent in kids’ movies. Now, “The Wild Robot” is n...

There’s a new production in Toronto that explores the very first musical instrument: the voice. “The Wolf in the Voice” features three singers, including the acclaimed Canadian soprano, dancer and performer Neema Bickersteth. She joins Tom Power to talk about the show, how it investigates the relationship between singing and the human voice, and the joy — and deep anxieties — faced by professional...

After decades stealing scenes as a supporting actor, Colman Domingo generated Oscar buzz for his first lead role in the Obama-backed Netflix film “Rustin.” In this conversation with Tom Power from a little while back, Colman talks about the weight of playing the civil rights leader Bayard Rustin (advisor to Martin Luther King Jr.), what he learned about vulnerability when he was a professional clo...

When Darcy Michael started a TikTok channel with his husband Jeremy Baer, he was a retired stand-up comedian who had spent nearly 20 years trying to find an audience. After Darcy and Jer (as they’re known online) started posting candid videos together from their home in British Columbia, millions of fans across the internet found them. Now, in two new streaming specials — “No Refunds” and “Happily...

Bob Geldof is a musician, activist and one of the organizers of Live Aid, the massive 1985 benefit concert that raised millions for famine relief in Ethiopia. Some of the biggest artists and bands of all time came together for that concert — but how did Bob convince them all to give up their time for free on the same day? Ahead of the Toronto opening of “Just For One Day,” a new jukebox musical ab...

Jully Black is a powerhouse singer-songwriter from Toronto who’s often called Canada's queen of R&B soul. Now, she’s embarking on her first cross-country tour in almost 17 years. Jully sits down with Tom Power to tell us how singing in church at age six put her on her artistic path, why she feels speaking out is always the right thing to do, and how this upcoming tour celebrates connection, re...

West Coast glam rocker Art d'Ecco joins Tom Power to set up the title track off his new album, “Serene Demon.” The song is an epic seven-and-a-half minute play about existentialism in four acts.

Rufus Wainwright is a difficult artist to categorize at the best of times. As a musician, he’s recorded pop songs, folk music, operas and stage musicals. But his new album, “Dream Requiem,” is a little different, even for him. It’s a religious work inspired by a range of subjects, including a poem by Lord Byron, the music of Giuseppe Verdi, and his beloved late dog Puccini. He also managed to recr...

The Toronto singer-songwriter and actor Lia Pappas-Kemps (best known for her role as Jane in “Anne with an E”) recently released her debut EP, “Gleam.” She calls the record a fragmented love letter to her teenage years, which isn’t surprising seeing as she wrote it all between the ages of 16 and 19. Lia joins Tom Power to discuss the EP and she introduces us to a track called “Switchblade.”

Tom Rooney is one of Canada’s most beloved stage actors. Over the last three decades, he’s taken on some of theatre’s most memorable roles, from Romeo in “Romeo and Juliet” to Henry Higgins in “My Fair Lady.” But Tom has also played a big part in contemporary Canadian theatre, which is where we find him now. Currently, he’s playing Majnoun in Mirvish’s remount of “Fifteen Dogs,” based on the Gille...