New Singles in the Deck · September 26, 2026
New Singles in the Deck: 12 Tracks in Rotation Right Now
From Montréal R&B and francophone pop to Toronto indie, Afro-house and Okanagan pop, these are 12 recent additions getting spins on Northern Dial.
Northern Dial artwork
The latest Northern Dial adds stretch from artists returning after years away to musicians still building their first project. The common thread is simpler: each record earned a place in rotation, and each opens a different route into the Canadian music library.
01 Monsune · “Sure”
Scott Zhang has released very little music as Monsune since the 2019 EP Tradition, but he did not disappear from record-making. His production credits since then include Drake's “Race My Mind,” while “OUTTA MY MIND” and “Mountain” kept his own small catalogue circulating well beyond its release cycle.
“Sure,” released Aug. 24, puts Zhang back at the centre of a Monsune record after several years focused on production and songwriting for other artists. The song runs a little over four minutes and carries the layered pop and soul instincts that made Tradition stick without trying to recreate that EP.
02 ANJXLXE x Raccoon · “Rêve un peu”
ANJXLXE and Montréal rapper Raccoon approach ambition from opposite sides on “Rêve un peu.” ANJXLXE frames the record around continuing to dream when comparison and outside judgment make shrinking yourself feel easier, while Raccoon's verse turns toward online hate, rage bait and the impulse to resent somebody else's progress.
Da-P produced the 2:27 track, giving the pair a light R&B and pop foundation without sanding down the rap element. Anne-Julie Lemieux and Shamyr Daléus-Louis share the writing credit, with Pharenz Abellard credited for the music.
03 Colin Léo · “Mêmes habitudes”
Colin Léo built “Mêmes habitudes” around the Penrose staircase, an impossible structure that appears to keep climbing while eventually returning to its starting point. The Montréal singer-songwriter uses that loop to describe a relationship repeating the same failures while the arrangement keeps moving around it.
Pavel Navarro composed and produced the track, while Félix Paul of Rau_Ze contributed violin and synth arrangements. The production moves through ambient synths, sharper hyperpop sections and a Wurlitzer-led finish, extending Colin Léo's mix of rap writing, R&B, pop and Québec alternative music.
04 KARABA x KMNI · “LMHYS”
KARABA came to DJing and production after working professionally as a dancer. That background still makes sense inside the Montréal-raised artist's Afro-house records, where rhythm and physical response do much of the work.
“LMHYS,” her 2026 collaboration with KMNI, keeps that focus on the dance floor. The track is built for movement first, with a compact arrangement that leaves the groove at the centre.
05 Mulan · “What Am I”
“What Am I” opens Angelic Crashout, the five-track debut project Montréal singer-songwriter Mulan released on Sept. 18. The EP moves from the opener into “Supermodel Boy,” “Butterfly,” the title track and “Outgrew You,” giving Mulan enough room to move between R&B and brighter pop writing without locking the project into one sound.
“Supermodel Boy” leans more melodic, “Butterfly” is built around a more immediate hook and the title track pushes into darker territory. “What Am I” works as the front door, but the rest of Angelic Crashout gives a broader picture of where Mulan is starting.
06 Rosabell · “Flowers”
Nigerian-Canadian singer-songwriter Rosabell centres “Flowers” on the point where patience stops being generosity. The song turns a relationship stuck in repetition into a decision to stop measuring self-worth through somebody else's attention.
The Arkeyys-produced track is the title song from Rosabell's three-song debut EP In Bloom. Its brighter, dance-leaning production gives the record movement without softening what Rosabell is actually writing about.
07 AHSIA · “SO NICE”
“SO NICE” is AHSIA's latest single, extending a catalogue that moves through R&B, soul, hip-hop and jazz without treating any one of them as a permanent box.
The arrangement gives itself room to settle rather than rushing toward a hook, with live-feeling instrumentation and a slower build that suits AHSIA's vocal approach.
08 KAYAM · “Singing In The Rain”
“Singing In The Rain” has already moved beyond KAYAM's own channels into Canadian radio programming. The single is polished enough to read quickly on air while still functioning as an introduction to an artist whose wider audience is being built in real time.
The track sits between pop and R&B, with a bright hook and clean arrangement that make its radio appeal easy to hear.
09 Olivia Penalva · “Distance Makes a Love Story”
Olivia Penalva has been releasing music since her teens, which gives “Distance Makes a Love Story” a different context from a typical emerging-pop single. The Vernon singer has more than a decade of public catalogue behind her even though she is still in her mid-20s.
Released Feb. 13, the song was written by Penalva and producer Tavish Crowe. It looks at the way distance can clean up a relationship in memory, leaving the version you miss competing with the one you actually lived.
10 AVIV · “Mind Candy”
AVIV builds “Mind Candy” around the difference between being loved as a person and being easier to love as an idea. The Toronto artist keeps returning to the version of somebody that exists inside another person's head, where attraction can stay uncomplicated because the real person has not interrupted the fantasy yet.
The September single pairs that idea with a lighter surface than the subject suggests. Its official visualizer gives the song a straightforward entry point into AVIV's current run of releases.
11 Ada Lea feat. MEGGO · “the evergreen, the birch”
Ada Lea, the recording project of Montréal songwriter and visual artist Alexandra Levy, released “the evergreen, the birch” as part of the seven-track EP the end is a wave.
MEGGO adds layered harmonies to “the evergreen, the birch,” while the acoustic arrangement leaves space for Levy's free-associative writing. Levy has described the song as a watery collage and a walk through the woods, which is about as close as the track gets to explaining its own logic.
12 TÖME · “MR MONEY”
“MR MONEY,” released Aug. 14, continues TÖME's Afrofusion approach, with R&B, pop and hip-hop moving through the track rather than sitting in separate lanes.
The single leans on a compact groove and melodic phrasing, fitting naturally beside the genre mixing that already defines much of TÖME's catalogue.