Tedy has forged an interesting path in life. Ted Andreville was born in Haiti in 1991 and immigrated to Florida with his parents and sisters when he was 10. After moving a lot, they eventually settled in Montreal when Tedy was 17. A year later he began making YouTube videos and eventually amassed over a million followers.
His larger-than-life personality made him immensely popular and relatable as the ‘Reaction King,’ despite his real-life experience of loneliness.
“It felt like a collection of unpopular kids making stupid stuff to be themselves. All of a sudden all the weird kids became popular.”
However, the glare of the spotlight and the pressure of constantly making content and chasing engagement took a heavy toll.
“I said to myself ‘I am either gonna end it right now, or I am going to follow my dream and write a song’.”
That’s why he began songwriting in 2014 to explore his mental health struggles and loneliness, and people took notice. His 2016 single Can I has been streamed almost 9 million times to date. He’s heading towards 40 million audio streams in total, and he has a million TikTok followers.
After releasing his 2020 EP Boys Don’t Cry, Tedy moved to Toronto and began working on his next record. During that time, the pandemic hit and he came out publically. Therefore, his songwriting developed in the introspective context of reflecting on what it means to be a gay, Haitian-Canadian, performer of colour.
Tedy’s latest single is powerful and thematically interesting. Instead of the usual trope of being heartbroken forever, Tedy explores what it means to get over ‘the one.’ His EP, Manic Party, is due out later this year on Sony Music Canada.
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