Charlie Houston

Charlie Houston, a singer and songwriter, blends close-knit acoustic pieces with slower electronic pop while concentrating on the common challenges faced during young adulthood. On her initial EP titled I Hate Spring from 2021, she explored issues such as mental well-being, sexual orientation, and emotional pain, choosing to omit any third-person pronouns from her song lyrics. Her profile rose significantly the following year after contributing vocals to ODESZA's track "Wide Awake," after which she issued her follow-up EP called Bad Posture. She maintained her distinctive lyric style in later releases, for instance the 2023 tracks "All Night" and "Cranberry."

Born in Toronto, Houston spent a short period studying music at New York University prior to switching to Queen's University located in Kingston, Ontario, where her focus shifted to non-artistic disciplines. Despite this, she continued developing her music independently, merging her soft, R&B-tinged singing style with both acoustic and ambient electronic elements for I Hate Spring. The EP, which drew from her NYU experiences, featured Chris Yonge as its sole collaborator across its five tracks and came out via the Arts & Crafts imprint during April 2021. By year's end, she put out the standalone track "Bitches in the Bathroom," which depicted revelers monopolizing restrooms for creating TikTok content.

Midway through 2022, her appearance on an ODESZA rendition of "Wide Awake" garnered tens of millions of streams, coinciding with her joining the duo onstage during their North American tour's Canadian stops. Building on that momentum, Houston released her second EP Bad Posture in October 2022, again produced by Yonge and containing a Charlie Burg remix of "Bitches in the Bathroom." She then embarked on a tour the next month backing Juno recipient Charlotte Cardin. Throughout 2023 she continued sharing fresh material such as "All Night" and "Cranberry."