Moose Jaw's Emily Orescanin to Sing Duet with Hedley and Release New Single.

(Photo: Jared Robinson, Nebulus Entertainment)

Nick Murray

Emily Orescanin has accomplished some pretty cool things for a 17 year old girl from Moose Jaw; and she's about to accomplish a few more.

In 2016, she became a recording artist, and her song, "LaDiDa", was a semi-finalist in the 2016 International Songwriting Competition. That's a contest that was presided over a pretty impressive panel of judges including Tom Waits, Ziggy Marley, Lorde and the late great Chris Cornell, among others, not to mention execs from Warner, Sony and Atlantic Records.

On February 9, she will be releasing her new single, "Head Strong", internationally and then, on the Feb. 15, she will be playing onstage with Canadian rock icons, Hedley at Mosaic Place.

"Mix 103 announced a contest where you would submit your cover version of the lead single from Hedley’s newest album, Better Days, The winner would get the opportunity to perform with them" she said. ” I already knew the song because I love the entire album, submitted my video on Twitter, and was fortunate enough to be the lucky winner!"

"I kind of grew up with Hedley all my life" she added. I watched Jacob (Hoggard) on Canadian Idol with my mom way back in 2004. I was only 4 at the time so I admittedly don’t remember much about the season, but from that point on I always remember a Hedley song from many stages of my life growing up, and I still listen to them now".

Emily has played in musicals with up to 400 people in the audience, and in 2015, at only 14 years old, she did a solo performance, recorded live for Telemiracle in front of almost 500. So, she's no stranger to playing in front of people. But the crowd that Hedley attracts is another beast altogether.

She admits the opportunity makes her nervous, but also excited. "I’ve loved concerts ever since I was 10" she said, "and I always wanted to try doing something like this but never had an opportunity. I think that my fears are helpful in a way because they keep me motivated to practice and are kind of what fuels performances."

Emily started playing piano at 2 years old and has since branched out into other instruments. "My dad has always played music around my house and there’s musicians on both sides of the family, so it was a very natural thing."

""Head Strong" is like an angry letter to social media and how it seems to change people. It is so easy to put yourself out there with the internet that many people become wrapped up in social media and getting ‘discovered’ or becoming famous. Most of us, myself included, I think, have been guilty of wanting more likes, or more follows, at some point in the past. I wrote the song with the idea of people becoming so obsessed with what the world thinks of them that they begin to spread lies and how it really doesn’t get them where they want. I hope people can take different things from it and ultimately use it as an anthem for feeling confident in yourself and sticking to what you want from life," she said.

"Head Strong" she claims, has a pop/soul vibe. "Expect Saxophone" she said; adding, "Jared was fantastic with helping this song come to life".

Emily will be done high school at the end of the month and plans on jumping right into the songwriting world. I hope to be performing, or studying songwriting in a post-secondary setting," she said. "There are so many musically charged and artistic projects that I’d love to start or be a part of in the future, and I hope people enjoy ‘Head Strong’ as part of that journey."

"Head Strong" will be available for download via iTunes, and you will be able to hear it through services like Spotify, Apple Music and Google Play.

But listen for it first on Mix 103, 8am, Friday.

Listen to Emily's first single, LaDiDa