Journalist to Musician: In Economic Uncertainty, Is Following Your Dream Possible?

AltYeg speaks to rising star Aysanabee on career shifts and taking risks ahead of his Double Dragon show.

By Josalynn Lawrence

It’s no secret that in today’s economic climate, chasing dreams can be something of an outlier; a steady paycheck, food on the table, and a roof over one’s head is now the goal for most young adults. Keep it safe. Keep things stable. And there’s nothing wrong with that – when you factor in that Alberta leads the country with the lowest minimum wage rates on top of the province also carrying the dishonor of having the country’s second highest unemployment rate of 8.4%, it’s almost a given to go for the safer option when job hunting.

In today’s climate, is it difficult to chase your dreams? Absolutely. But when you look at the case of Indigenous musician Aysanabee, you’ll find that it’s not altogether impossible. There’s hope.

Ahead of tonight’s Double Dragon bill alongside locals ASKO opening, AltYeg had the chance to catch up with the musician.

Before he was Aysanabee, he was Evan Pang, a journalism student at Centennial College in Toronto. Prior to Journalism school, he grew up primarily in the small northern Ontario community of Kaministiquia (about 45 minutes outside Thunder Bay). Those familiar with Aysanabee’s story will note that he worked on a few different types of labor gigs, one of which included mining, to pay the bills.

However, it was one particularly frightening experience that changed his perspective on life. While out snowshoeing across a snowy lake, he fell into the frozen waters when the ice broke. Temperatures around that time (late January) were around -40C. Eventually, he made it out and survived. But that close brush with death pushed him towards reconsidering music as a viable career path.

But Pang was pragmatic. While music was his passion, he still felt like having a back-up plan was necessary.

And so, he enrolled at Centennial College for Journalism, completed his degree, before landing positions at Huff Post (formerly Huffington Post) and CTV.

So why leave?

“That was a massive decision,” Pang recalls on a quick phone call. “I remember I was working in journalism and working in music, both full time jobs. I think there was a big fear on leaving journalism and to pursue a career in music.”

Pang was the first artist to sign with Ishkode records, an Indigenous and women-led label created by musician Shoshona Kish (Digging Roots, also signed with Ishkode) and solo artist Amanda Rheaume. It marked a pivotal moment in his career.

“You know, I think I was definitely worried. I was like, ‘oh, am I going to be able to pay my rent?’ You know, all those kinds of concerns. But you know, at the same time I signed a record deal in 2021. I’d gotten like an agent, and you know, had this team around me, and we were gearing up to kind of put out the record (Watin, released in November 2022) and yeah, I didn’t know what was going to happen.”

I think it was a leap of faith.

As more gigs lined up, balancing both his full time role as a journalist and musician forced the question of whether or not to leave to pursue music full time. Eventually, he decided to leave the world of journalism and work on his craft as a musician with full attention.

“I think it was a leap of faith. It kind of felt like I was doing a disservice to them [his management team] by having one foot in music and one foot out of it. So, a leap of faith and just save some money.”

Three years later, much has changed for Pang once the initial fears wore off. Shortly after the release of his debut album Watin, Juno nominations followed suit; critics enjoyed his work; festival organizers kept calling. But Pang takes all this in humble stride.

“You know, so much has happened.” One career highlight had Aysanabee as the first Indigenous artist to get a number one single on commercial radio for ‘Nomads’. “I’ve been reflecting on that a little bit as of late. Like, just thinking about becoming like the first indigenous artist to get songwriter of the year [2024’s JUNOS for his EP Here and Now] which is kind of wild to me.”

“But just to think of who else is in that group of people who received that award before is kind of wild because you’ve got Alanis Morissette, Gord Downey. You got Leonard Cohen, Shawn Mendes, the Weeknd. It was a very small group of people, and I get to be a part of that kind of incredible club.”

When you look back at Pang’s decision to leave journalism to the highs of his musical career as it currently stands with numerous accolades and critical acclaim, it’s hard to not see the initial decision as anything but serendipitous.

We’re all kind of shaped by our experiences and the things that we do with our lives and the way we spend our time.

“I think that we’re all kind of shaped by our experiences and the things that we do with our lives and the way we spend our time.” Pang reflects. “So sometimes, I don’t know, I used to be like, you know, everyone’s in control of their own fate. But sometimes I’m like, ‘wow! Sometimes things happen the way they need to happen.’"

The songwriting for both his first album and his second [Edge of the Earth released earlier this year in June] drew on past experiences growing up in Northern Ontario and the skills obtained in his career path as a journalist in Toronto. Watin came about through a curiosity about Pang’s grandfather and his experiences, a creative process that occurred early on during the COVID pandemic. The album blends instrumentals and interludes of his grandfather’s voice during conversations with Pang. It’s an album that feels like it blends Pang’s strongest attributes as Aysanabee – his musical talent in artistic creation alongside a hardworking, curious drive to piece together a story.

Meanwhile, Edge of the Earth has Pang leave parts of his self behind while striving toward a new future. It’s got everything you could want in an Aysanabee album – great sound production, earnest storytelling, and the risk to do something new with his sound. But that signature drive in telling a story is there.

The debut album is a unique marker in Pang’s journey to working as a musician. However, there is one moment during this time that stands out.

“I remember I put in my notice, I kind of left the job and was like, ‘all right, here we are, full time music. I have a little bit of savings and let’s see how this goes.’ And I remember I finished the record, and we were thinking about doing all the different visuals for it, like creating music videos and creating artwork. I remember I had this idea of the single for the first album and like a music video idea which involved getting a portrait done of my grandfather.

“And it was like I’d never gotten artwork commissioned before, so I didn’t actually know how much it would cost when I got a commission. It basically cost almost all my savings, I was like, ‘okay.’”

Did Pang regret the painting commission?

In short, no.

“I quit my job, pursued music, bought fine art and a nice pair of shoes, and was almost kind of broke,” he laughs. “And I was standing in my living room, looking at the wall while I was on the phone [in discussions about album covers for Watin] and there was just like this five foot portrait of my grandfather that I had commissioned for a song that never actually ended up getting picked up as a single so that even the music video didn’t even happen.”

“But it ended up becoming the beautiful album artwork of that whole record, which always gets a lot of looks and a lot of nods. People kind of see the vinyl or see the postering, or anything like, ‘oh, wow, that’s actually so incredible.’” A friend of Pang’s painted the portrait.

Evan Pang has had one hell of journey to becoming Aysanabee. What advice does he have for other artists out there, hoping to make a splash in pursuit of their dreams?

“I think at the end of the day you just really have to work so hard at it and like, you really have to steer the ship.” He pauses. “I think one thing too is, is I think a lot of people look at my social media and just kind of see the wins. It’s hard to see what happens behind those pretty pictures, which is just like the hours of work and dedication.”

What does that working hard look like for the young artist?

“It’s just really like how we spend our time. Like, sometimes even myself, I’m like, ‘oh, I wish I had time to go and work on this one thing, but I just ran out of time.’ But in reality I’m like, ‘oh, wow, I totally just binged watched this TV show online.’ I think just being authentic to yourself and being really proud of the work that you do and knowing that success is going to be different for everybody. And I think the worst thing I can see artists doing, and I’m guilty of it myself, is just comparing yourself to other people. I think the way that we got to really just challenge ourselves is just by only comparing ourselves to ourselves. And I think that’s just a part of living and growing.”

An important initiative Pang announced for his winter tour has been showcasing local and emerging indigenous artists. Opening for him on his Edmonton stop is Dine Alone Record’s ASKO, a collaborative project helmed by artist Marek Tyler, originally from Treaty 6 territory.

Pang continues, “I guess as a final note too, I would like to say making sure you’re lifting people up around you as well. I had the privilege of doing this tour, but also inviting local indigenous artists to open up every stage along the way. So, I did like a call out.”

The response?

“We [had] so many applications from so many incredible artists all at kind of different stages in their careers and spanning across genres. Like they are quite all over the place from hip hop to folk to country to electronic music. But [they’re] also incredibly talented. And I don’t know, I can see myself in them and just the hard work that they do and think that they definitely deserve more spotlight and people need to hear their music."

“Marek is probably one of the few artists on this tour that I’ve met in person. So, I’m excited to meet a lot of the other artists. But ASKO’s Marek, he has so much experience and he’s played at different projects and he’s played around the world. So, I think Edmonton, which is the first stop of the tour, will definitely be such a massive start. Just with who is racing the stage that night.”

You can catch Aysanabee live at the Double Dragon, 8PM, November 6th, 2025.

Horns Up!