'I was just in shock': R&B singer Savannah Ré looks back on winning her 1st Juno

The Block34:39Juno winning, RnB/Soul singer Savannah Ré stops by The Block to speak on her decision to become an independent artist, the challenges that come with being married to her main producer and her new project titled FORMED.

After releasing two new singles earlier this year, Glory and Nine Lives, Juno-winning R&B singer Savannah Ré announced her new project, Formed, which was released on May 14.

Formed, which is "longer than an EP but shorter than an album," will be her first project since 2020's Opia.

Ré joined The Block's host Angeline Tetteh-Wayoe for an interview about her new music, working with her husband and more.

You can hear the full interview above and read an excerpt below.

That was Solid by Scarborough singer-songwriter, Savannah Ré. Can I say you're from Scarborough? You still claim Scarborough?

Hell yeah, period. Forever.

That track won her [the] first of three back-to-back Juno wins for traditional R&B solo recording of the year, making her the first artist to win the award back in 2021 and the only artist to win it three times. She also has two nominations in the contemporary category, bringing her total to five Juno nominations. Her [EP] Opia, was long listed for the Polaris Music Prize. She's a Prism Prize nominee: that's the one for music videos. And she has grabbed the attention of the likes of Babyface, Timbo, SZA, just to name a few. Savannah Ré is getting ready to release her new project, Formed. And I'm happy to welcome Savannah Ré to The Block.

Wow, what a nice intro. Thank you, thank you guys for having me.

People react differently when they hear all of this stuff. That's not all of it, but that's some of it.

Ah.

Really? Why?

Yeah. I don't know. It's so weird. I don't know if it is an R&B thing, I don't know if it's a me thing, it's just it's always weird to hear stuff all together.

[Let's] celebrate you. Let's swing on back to your first Juno award. This is when the R&B category was kind of split in two.

Yes.

And you won that first one. How were you feeling? What was your reaction?

Genuinely, there was no part of me that thought I was gonna win. I was like, "No," because the category was so, so, so stacked, you know? And as much as I'm an artist, I'm a fan too. So I was a fan of everybody in the category, so I was just excited to be nominated. And I was sad. Genuinely, and I was so sad too because we weren't able to be there. That was [during] COVID. So I'm like, "Dang, we gotta do the stuff."

I was literally in New York at the time, at this dope hotel, but I was like, "This is just so lonely." I would have loved to have been there, but yeah, they [contacted me] because I was maybe 10 minutes behind, and they're like, "No, no, you gotta be there." And then, the light bulb in my head [went off because] why do they care if I'm there [on the livestream]?

Okay.

[I thought] maybe I do have a shot. And then still, even when I'm sitting there, I'm like, "There's no way." And then it happened and I was just in shock. Very clearly. [I was] reading from my phone. 

I think I remember that.

[I thought] girl, they can see you reading from the phone!

That's okay, that's how we do it these days.

I know I was in shock, and obviously it'll just be a moment forever for me. The first one, the first of all the things.

Did that bring any pressure into your life, like in terms of as a songwriter, as a young, aspiring musician, [as an] emerging artist? Did you feel like, "Okay, well I won this Juno, now it's time to step up?" Or was it kind of like, "You know what, this was nice, I'm just gonna keep doing me."

No, the opposite. I feel like it was affirming to me. It was like, "No, this means you know what you're doing and what you've done thus far, which is be yourself and make the music that you wanna hear." Clearly, it's resonating with somebody, you know? Or the right people.

I hate putting value or too much value in accolades, because [music] should be [made] because it makes you feel good. But it is nice to be seen. And it is nice to be acknowledged. So, that's how I took it. I didn't take it as like, "Oh, I gotta do more." I more took it as, "I did the thing. I'm doing the thing, for real." It was like, "Okay, I'm an artist now."

This interview has been edited for clarity and length. To hear the full interview, listen to The Block on CBC Music.