When you picture the life of a popstar, you might envision all things glitz and glamour. But for Toronto dance-pop artist Ceréna, things that sparkle aren’t always as shiny as they appear.
From the outside, all things are coming up Ceréna–her highly successful Club Quarantine (a virtual queer dance party) saw performances during the lockdown from Rebecca Black and Lady Gaga, and it’s returning for Toronto Pride. She also released her debut album Resurrection in 2021, and then went on to score her first Juno nomination for her song “see” in 2022.
“It’s been an absolute rollercoaster,” she says. But while rollercoasters have their ups, they also have their downs. And despite all that she’s achieved while releasing bop after bop, the downs can be depressing. She recounts a recent gig she was hired for, which ended up placing her alongside her dancers in a basement with the caterers before a performance. “The light goes out because the fuse breaks because you have the whole catering team down there making food out of an Easy-Bake Oven,” she explains.
“The mirror almost falls on me,” she added. To top it off, she was beside the bin for people’s used drinks, which resulted in her getting splashed. “So all of people’s spit and everything is going on my foot, and then I’m supposed to go out there and just, like, give you stardom? Give you popstar diva?”
The toll that “making it” takes on artists isn’t something that Ceréna shies away from discussing. She wants people to know the chaos that goes on behind the scenes—such as the incident in the basement—and the hard work it takes to succeed when you’re trans and not signed to a label. “If I’m going to have the opportunity to be in spaces that other people like me don’t have access to, then how the fuck am I going to shake shit up to make sure that that doesn’t happen anymore and ever again? Because it’s unacceptable,” she says of the event.
“We’re all down here, the trans people and the people of colour, we are all in the basement.”
“And to me, that’s the key. It’s no more,” she says. “We can’t keep doing this because it’s… the premise of exposure and doing things for exposure.”
“Everyone just wants a piece of you for their own fucking good,” she says. “It’s like, there’s a reason why I’m overworked this month from June 1st to June 30th,” she says of Pride month. “And then I go to this fucking event where there’s all this money and wealth and all about making the rich people come through and feel so good about themselves. And yet, we’re all down here, the trans people and the people of colour, we are all in the basement.”
“The more resources that I gain access to, the more I want to be able to uplift, because especially here in our city of Tkaronto is flooded with such talent.”
That unpleasant incident further solidified her dislike of tokenism—especially when it means the queer community is used and then tossed aside. It’s that sentiment that drove her to found ASE Inc., which has the goal of ending artists’ exploitation “and the bastardization of art to control the masses.”
“I originally founded [ASE Inc.] so that I can act as my own label and music, which [was] the initial first intention of it. And the reason why it’s those letters is because it’s using my deadname,” she explains.
“So Ceréna is the initial flagship artist and it’s like, the more resources that I gain access to, the more I want to be able to uplift, because especially here in our city of Tkaronto is flooded with such talent. It’s insane,” she says. “I can confidently say that I have so many besties that are all pop stars and rock stars [who are] just sickening in their art and continue to be overlooked and underpaid.”
“And that to me, I can’t live my life really knowing that that exists. You know, it’s like I can’t live my life [knowing there’s this much] suffering in this world. It’s just not fair,” she says.
Advocating for change is top of mind for Ceréna. Making the world better is part of the reason she was inspired to create new music, and her new track is aptly titled “(dreaming of...) WHOLE. NEW. WORLD.” The song is being released at her Toronto Pride x Club Quarantine performance on June 25 at Toronto’s Yonge and Dundas Square. As a teaser, she’s released the hyper dream version which is out today exclusively on Complex Canada, to align with her Club Quarantine performance.
As one of the co-founders of Club Quarantine, Ceréna has been working away to put together rave after rave on Zoom. Club Quarantine celebrated its two-year anniversary in March, which was when the last large-scale event took place.
“We fight tooth and nail to make that shit happen,” she says of the online club. “Something else that people don’t realize how much time, work and energy it goes behind it and doing the absolute most with the very least.”
“It’s literally just me praying for a new world, one where we’re no longer afraid, [have] equal opportunities to thrive and [are] no longer fighting to survive.”
Being a nonprofit organization and not getting funding and relying on grants makes her role at Club Quarantine a challenging one. She mentions not being able to take home a paycheque as a co-founder but still having to find ways to pay artists and moderators out of the necessity for these events that give visibility and support to the community.
Her new track signifies this need for fairness. Created in collaboration with producer D V D, Ceréna says “(dreaming of...) WHOLE. NEW. WORLD.” is a trance-pop song that’s full rave. “It’s literally just me praying for a new world, one where we’re no longer afraid, [have] equal opportunities to thrive and [are] no longer fighting to survive,” she says.
“I really wanted to get that out for Pride and just have a celebratory moment for the dolls,” she adds.
The song process took a toll on Ceréna–at one point, she felt it had lost its magic and hated it. “I was starting to get self-conscious of the song, the context of the song and whether or not it’s going to work,” she says.
She assessed her process and remembered she was making the song for herself, instead of trying to appeal to the industry. That’s when she had a breakthrough moment. “So I went back, I rerecorded the vocals, I recorded them just on my knees and [with my] eyes closed and just bring myself back. And then finally got to the place where I’m really happy with it and I can’t wait for it to come out.”
“Literally up until the Juno nomination it was like, why am I doing this?”
A popstar and a businesswoman, it seems like Ceréna is just getting started. But the multi-hyphenate has been working since she was young. Although she might seem new to the music scene, she’s been involved in the arts for years.
“I’ve been an ACTRA member since I was like 11,” she says. She got started on the Canadian TV show Ricky’s Room, which she hilariously describes as “a budget [Barney & Friends].”
“It’s funny because I’ve been at this for so long, right?” she says of her many years in the entertainment industry. “I get impatient with myself, even now that I finally see the fruits of my labour being harvested,” she says.
“Literally up until the Juno nomination it was like, why am I doing this? What the fuck am I doing? Is it always going to be this hard to feel seen, you know? And then that was really a life-changing moment.”
“I’m really—now, as I gain access to more spaces—solidifying my boundaries because I love what I do and these are incredible things that I’m getting to do and I’m so grateful for all these opportunities,” she explains. “But at the same time, people still don’t see the kind of work that it takes to create art and that needs to change.”
