Watch Valley 'soften up' the Shawn Mendes hit 'In my Blood'

The 2020 Junos have been cancelled since this article was first published.

As part of our coverage of the 2020 Juno Awards, we've been inviting some of today's hottest Canadian acts to cover a past winner in the single of the year category.

For their Junos 365 session, Toronto pop quartet Valley, nominated for breakthrough group of the year at this year's Juno Awards, opted to cover Shawn Mendes' "In my Blood," which won single of the year in 2019.

"In Shawn's version, he does it so raw and beautiful, his voice is cracking and it's so emotional," reflects Rob Laska, lead vocalist and guitarist of Valley. "But since we're doing a stripped-down thing, I was like, 'Oh, maybe I can go in the falsetto range and kind of soften it up.'"

While he does take a new approach to the vocals, Laska says he and his bandmates were unanimous on the potency of Mendes' lyrics.

"We're actually in the process of making our second album, and just taking a second to read over the lyrics [of 'In my Blood'], they talk about anxiety, being unsure, un-confident — and those thoughts go through our heads when we're making an album. 'Cause it's just us, holed up in a basement," he explains. "It's the best job in the world and we're so thankful to have it, but I mean, you're constantly evolving, you're growing, and part of creating is changing ... and with that comes a lot of anxiety.

"I think it's important to remind yourself that, 'No, I'm meant to do this, and it's in me, and there's no way I could stop.' You know, we make music 'cause we have to, not 'cause we chose to."

We're throwing so much paint.- Rob Laska

With this cover of "In my Blood," Valley stays true to its signature mix of organic and electronic components. "We grew up on singer-songwriter but we also grew up on house music and what have you," says Laska. "And this time, we sat down and we were like, 'What would Coldplay do in, like, the Ghost Stories era?' Or something like, 'How would we involve all these really beautiful drum samples that Karah [James] has? And how could I bring in an acoustic element and use our OP-1 synthesizer to put vocals in and chop them up?' We're always searching for that kind of blend — organic with inorganic."

Finding that balance is a collaborative effort for Laska and bandmates James (drums), Alex DiMauro (bass) and Michael Brandolino (sampler, backing vocals). "We're four producer-songwriters in everything, so when we get in a room it's a lot of ideas at once. We're throwing so much paint," Laska explains, adding, "Sometimes the challenge is like, OK, how does everyone feel heard here? How can we take the best of every idea and make it one cohesive thing? 'Cause we work as a unit. It's fun, but it can be challenging. But I feel like we always get the best results, so, it's super great that way."

Watch Valley's cover of "In my Blood," above.