advertisement
Awards

LU KALA Wins Billboard Canada Women In Music Rising Star Award

The Canadian singer performed stripped-back versions of empowering pop anthems including chart hits "Hotter Now" and "Pretty Girl Era" for a session that will be released later this summer in collaboration with iHeartRadio Canada.

LU KALA at a Billboard Canada Women in Music session with iHeartRadio Canada on July 4, 2024

LU KALA at a Billboard Canada Women in Music session with iHeartRadio Canada on July 4, 2024.

Marc Thususka Photography

LU KALA has won the Billboard Canada Women In Music Rising Star Award.

The Canadian pop artist has been all over the charts this year in both the U.S. and Canada for empowering hits like "Hotter Now," "Pretty Girl Era," the ballad "Nothing But Love" and her guest turn on Latto's "Lottery."


"I've worked really hard, so it feels really nice when anyone recognizes you," said LU KALA while accepting the award in an interview with Virgin Radio host Sam East last Thursday (July 4). "Especially Billboard."

"I'm just grateful to be in a place where I'm starting to have these wins that I always dreamed about growing up," she continued.

advertisement

LU KALA, who splits her time between Los Angeles and Canada, played an exclusive acoustic performance co-presented by iHeartRadio Canada at its headquarters in downtown Toronto. Her high-energy and empowering pop hits are rarely stripped down, but the live versions emphasized the singer's colourful stage presence and undeniable charisma. "'Pretty Girl Era' acoustic?" she joked at one point. "Ok!"

LU KALA radiated confidence throughout, especially during the bounce-back breakup anthem "Hotter Now" which has the line she called her favourite: "You missed this booty ever since it bounced / but it's not coming back / I'm not coming back."

In the interview, she said she learned to be self-possessed at a young age.

"I've always been a plus-sized girl, and in a time where that wasn't really being reflected in the media or anywhere else, I had to channel my confidence early," she said in the interview. "I literally was a kid and I felt like I was running the world."

Her rise has been quick, but it's not over yet. Recently, Katy Perry publicly announced that one of her upcoming singles was co-written by LU KALA, which she says came as a surprise.

advertisement

"I was in disbelief when she said it. I was keeping quiet!" she says. "It was definitely a dream come true. Not many people can say that they've worked with their idols."

LU KALA's Rising Star award follows Billboard Canada Women in Music awards for The Beaches for Group of the Year and Allison Russell for Breakthrough Artist of the Year.

LU KALA will perform at Billboard Canada's Women in Music celebration event in Toronto on September 7, 2024. Tickets are available here.

advertisement
ROSÉ and Bruno Mars
John V. Esparza

ROSÉ and Bruno Mars

Chart Beat

ROSÉ & Bruno Mars’ ‘APT.’ Notches Ninth Week at No. 1 on Billboard Global Charts

Plus, more holiday hits make joyful jaunts up the surveys.

ROSÉ and Bruno Mars’ “APT.” tops the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts for a ninth week apiece. The song debuted as the stars’ second leader on each list.

Plus, six seasonal songs light up each chart’s top 10.

keep readingShow less
advertisement