Northern Dial Artist Profile

Puma June

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Toronto-based Puma June is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter and producer whose alt-R&B sound pulls from pop, jazz and hip-hop while treating visual presentation as part of the same creative practice. A classically trained violinist who grew up in and around Barrie, Ontario, she later studied independent music production at Seneca College. That technical background helped her approach songwriting and production as interconnected disciplines rather than separate roles, while a feminist perspective became a recurring frame for songs about autonomy, desire and the expectations placed on women.

Momentum accelerated through 2024 as Puma June received the RBCxMusic and Prism Prize MVP Project Grant, joined the RBCxMusic First Up program and was selected for the SOCAN Foundation's EquityXProduction initiative. Her video for "My Body, My Problem" was also selected for the Canadian showcase at the Toronto International Music Video Festival, reinforcing the importance of image and multidisciplinary presentation to her work. Those development opportunities fed directly into her debut EP A Woman That They Want, released in March 2025.

By 2026, Puma June was moving from emerging-artist programs into larger showcase stages, including JUNOfest, Departure Festival and Billboard Canada Live at NXNE. Her importance is still being written, but the trajectory is already clear: she represents a generation of Canadian independent artists who are expected to write, perform, produce and build a visual world around their work at the same time. In alt-R&B specifically, that combination gives Puma June a distinct identity rather than simply placing her inside an existing Toronto sound.