Malachi

The Canadian R&B artist known for his adaptability and smoothness crafts songs blending romantic themes with confident attitude, frequently set to innovative hip-hop productions. Born in Whitby during the closing years of the 1990s on the fringes of Toronto, Malachi joined his grandmother’s gospel choir at age four. His Trinidadian father built a professional reggae career while his mother supplied a steady stream of 1990s R&B in the family home, experiences that later proved essential to his songwriting. Starting in his late teens, he devoted the bulk of a three-year period to studio sessions, which drew the interest of Chris Smith, founder of 21 Entertainment and the manager behind the trajectories of Nelly Furtado and Alessia Cara. Backed by Universal Music Canada, Malachi issued his debut single “Right Now” in January 2019. Together with the February follow-up “San Fernando Wine,” the track positioned him as a polished romantic stylist, yet March’s “I Got You” revealed his playful pop sensibility and broad vocal range. After the festive atmosphere of April’s “We Don't Mind,” he stepped away for the summer and resurfaced in November with the Bread Winner mixtape, where the longer format let him expand and foreground his rapping. His first 2020 release arrived on Valentine’s Day as the piano ballad “Soul Is Mine,” followed in April by the nimble and energetic “Aquafina.” Both tracks appeared on the Right Now EP in May, a project otherwise drawn from earlier material except for the inventive “Out of My Reach,” which brought a yacht rock flavor into his sound.