Canadian country songstress Justine Blanchet grabbed our attention with her beautiful song “Hard to Love.” The minute we heard Justine’s voice, we fell in love with it and couldn’t get it out of our heads. She has one of the purest and most charming voices we’ve ever heard and her performance on this record is on another level. This record is packed with energy and it’s been one of our favorite songs to date.
“Hard to Love” is the first collaboration between Blanchet and hitmaking Nashville producer Danick Dupelle (Emerson Drive, Tebey, Tyler Joe Miller, Matt Lang). Written by a trio of first-rate country songwriters – Courtney Cole, Derrick Southerland, and Kelly Archer, “Hard to Love” offers an inviting country flavour with flourishes of modern pop in its honest examination of love that feels just out of reach.
This song shows off all the melodic tones of Blanchet’s stunning voices and shows how talented she is when it comes to singing and writing songs. The atmosphere of this song is catchy and the melodies are beautiful and mesh perfectly with the lyrics. The instrumentation is outstanding and the production is polished and brought this song to a new level. “Hard to Love” is a great experience from start to finish, we hope you love it as much as we do. Justine Blanchet is a talented artist and her music is amazing and sets her apart from the crowd.
WHAT THE ARTIST SAYS ABOUT THIS SONG:
“This song is about wanting to love someone but because of their emotional unavailability, they don’t realize what’s in front of them. While I didn’t write this song, that feeling of falling for someone – who in turn makes it so difficult to truly love them – resonated with me.”
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
From Nashville’s legendary Bluebird Cafe to the Festival Country de Lotbinière in Quebec, Justine Blanchet is bringing her own brand of sophistication, fearlessness, and culture to country music world.
Drawn to country music for its lyrics and history, along with her mother’s interest in Shania Twain, Lady A, and Reba McEntire, Justine grew up in the Montreal area but visited Nashville at 14 and returned within 2 years to play an open mic session at the Bluebird Cafe with dreams of relocating there.
Seeing music as a vessel for telling down-to-earth, relatable, and inspirational stories, Justine developed her strengths as a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist and began releasing her own music in 2017. Over the course of 8 single releases, she has earned over 300,000 Spotify streams (including over 175K for 2019’s “Strong”) and reached the #4 spot on CBC Country/Sirius XM for 2021’s “Get Out of the Mud”.
Justine has also matched her release efforts with a plethora of notable live shows that have included Gatlingburg Songwriter’s Festival, Théâtre Gilles-Vigneault, Diamonds in the Rough at Canadian Country Music Week, Big Valley Jamboree and RBC Bluesfest. Staying true to her bilingual roots, Justine’s songs and stage shows have consistently found both English and French audiences as she has continued to release and perform in each language.
While charting her own path as an independent artist, Justine has developed a notable passion for music marketing and strategy. Along with a Bachelor of Communication/Marketing degree, Justine has worked for both Global Music Entertainment and RGK Entertainment, consulted with fellow artists on conceptualizing and executing effective release strategies, and spoken at master classes presented by Musical Celebration Musicale (MCM), a Canadian-based non-profit that creates performance opportunities for independent musicians.
Away from music, Justine can be found enjoying the outdoors and creating with her hands, whether it be building a new piece of furniture or cooking. She is also an avid reader.
Now splitting her time between Montreal and Nashville, Justine has joined forces with CCMA award-winning producer Danick Dupelle (Emerson Drive, Tebey, Tyler Joe Miller, Matt Lang) for the 2022 summer single, “Hard to Love”, which will set the tone for the release of her debut EP in 2023 – another significant stride towards reaching her initial country music ambitions.
