Ana Golja

When the pandemic put the planet on pause last spring, Ana Golja had plans. Yes, we all had plans. But the 24-year-old former Degrassi star was weeks from the theatrical launch of her award-winning movie The Cuban, which she produced, when forced to flee LA back to her family home in Toronto. With studios off-limits, Golja recorded the demos for Strive in her bedroom—and unlike Billie Eilish, whose music she absolutely adores, Golja has no music-genius sibling to help out, just advice via Zoom before emailing the results to her producers. “I'm not a tech-savvy person to begin with, so it was definitely an obstacle and a learning curve for me, but I did what I had to do to get these songs made.”

On top of the lockdown, Golja was also recovering from a break-up, and emotionally dealing with that led back to music. “That's why this release is very much a party release, and you hear it in the production. It's a celebration of life and every moment that we get, even the bad.”