Nova Scotia’s Goldie Boutilier Is Kicking Doors Down, and She Doesn’t Care Who’s Watching
“I’m like a cat. I’ve had nine lives,” Goldie Boutilier says with a sweet, friendly smile. The Cape Breton-born singer and songwriter has taken the independent music scene by storm thanks to a now-iconic show at Toronto’s Horseshoe Tavern, but she isn’t quick to forget the journey that led her to that stage, and to the ones she shares with the likes of Shania Twain and Maren Morris at bars.
Boutilier’s upcoming album, Goldie Boutilier Presents Goldie Montana, is an exploration of her growth, taking her trademark brand of cinematic music to a new level. The record still represents the same self-love and self-exploration that’s become characteristic of her art, but it’s more daring, more bold, more unapologetic than her previous works. It draws inspiration, she says, from Tony Montana, Al Pacino’s brazen character in Scarface.
“When I was watching the movie, I was like, why not me? Why can’t I pop on this all-cream suit and walk into the room and say, ‘This is how it’s going to happen, and you’re going to listen to me.’ Who says? So I think it’s about finding the courage within yourself to be that extra version of yourself, like, who cares? I mean, I’ve already done the other version, so why not?”
The other versions of herself, some of those other nine lives, include a stint modelling in Paris, a brief stop in British Columbia, and a period in Los Angeles when she was in a cycle of being signed and dropped from record labels. Each phase, each life, Boutilier says, contributed to the person she is now, the free-spirited singer-songwriter who uses music to work through things in her mind. Life in British Columbia got her used to the feel of cities and communities bigger than Cape Breton, and life in Los Angeles helped her discover previously unearthed corners of her essence.
“In L.A., you can be more anonymous, which sometimes is nice when you’re trying to figure out who you are, and just to kind of get away from everyone who knows you and kind of rediscover yourself,” she says. “So in that respect, I think it was such a chapter of growth for me.” It led her to a French producer, which led to her Parisian move, which led to her modelling career, which informs her on-stage performances, each life bleeding into the one she’s currently living, the one inspired by Tony Montana.
The Goldie Montana album is different from anything else Boutilier’s done so far. “The past couple of years have shown me what it’s like to have some success, to get to tour and see people sing my songs,” she says.
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“I feel so motivated and excited by it. So this album is really like, You know what? I understand myself now. I don’t even need to be understood. I’m kicking down the door.”
Music, from Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton to Cher and Stevie Nicks, has always been a cornerstone of Boutilier’s life. It is something she can count on to feel safe, to feel understood, to feel not alone. To represent anything she was feeling, to represent anything she wanted to feel. To make her feel like the fearless main character in the story of her life.
Still, Boutilier is conscious that she’s not alone on the journey through the album. Growing up in Cape Breton gave her a deep understanding of community. It was a place where no one locked their doors, where people invited strangers to dinner and to stay in their homes, and she hopes to bring that openness and visibility to her art.
“I hope that, when people listen to the songs, they feel empowered to do the same thing in their life. I’m like, quit the job, break up with the asshole, tell that family member you’re not going to talk about it. Whatever it is in your own life. That’s the Goldie Montana evolution.”
Photographs by Greg Swales.
