Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Canada's Own Rupi Kaur Curates the Latest Edition of Local Spot, Revealing the Songs and Artists That Shaped Her

11/03/2025

For many people, music can serve as a reflection of their roots and upbringing. With Spotify's playlist series Local Spot, celebrated Canadians are given a cool, eclectic space to introduce fans to their favorite Canadian artists.

Featuring all-Canadian music curation, Local Spot offers global audiences a glimpse into the unique music tastes of the country's celebrated figures. For our latest edition of Local Spot, poet, artist, and performer Rupi Kaur takes over as our featured curator.

A breakout literary phenomenon and number-one New York Times bestselling author, Rupi wrote, illustrated, and self-published her first poetry collection, milk and honey, in 2014, followed by the sun and her flowers, home body, and healing through words. Together, these collections have sold more than 12 million copies and have been translated into more than 40 languages.

Rupi has also made her mark in film and television, producing a first-of-its-kind poetry special, Rupi Kaur Live, the film This Place, and the 2024 Academy Award-nominated film To Kill a Tiger.

For her contribution to Local Spot, Rupi takes listeners on a journey through the songs and artists who inspire her, including Shawn Mendes, Charlotte Day Wilson, The Weeknd, Avril Lavigne, Daniel Caesar, KAYTRANADA, and Celine Dion. Ahead of the playlist's release, For the Record sat down with Rupi to talk about her experience curating Local Spot, her influences and creative process, and how growing up in Canada has shaped her.

Talk to us about curating Local Spot. It was so much fun to revisit some of my favorite tracks from the last 15 years or so. I actually felt very at home listening to them and was moved to write.

In one sentence, how would you describe your playlist? The songs that raised and healed me.

What does your Canadian identity mean to you? As an immigrant, I have always felt like Canada is a place of inclusivity and hope. I have always existed between two worlds-my parents' homeland and the one we built here. That duality is in everything I write. Now, as I travel the world, I'm often reminded of how much the diversity of Canada has contributed to my art.

Who are some of your favorite Canadian authors and music artists? Canadian writers I have deep love for include Michael Ondaatje, Lawrence Hill, Alice Munro. My favorite Canadian music artists are Charlotte Cardin, Charlotte Day Wilson, and The Weeknd.

What's your writing process like? Writing is a conversation with myself. It starts with a feeling-something stirring deep in my gut. I sit with it and let it rise to the surface. My best ideas come when I give them space. They visit in the quiet moments-long walks, in the middle of a conversation, or right before I fall asleep.

How do you incorporate listening to music into that process? Music sets the tone and pulls me back into memories of the past or hopes for the future. Sometimes I need silence-to hear the rhythm of the poem itself. But oftentimes I use music to set the mood.

Do you think there's a crossover between music and literature? Absolutely. Both are rhythmic. Both tell stories. A poem is a song stripped of its melody, and a song is a poem brought to life through sound. Before he started his career as a musician, Leonard Cohen was a poet and novelist. That's just one of many examples that showcase that there's so much natural crossover between the crafts.

What writer or music artist has had the biggest influence on you? Khalil Gibran taught me about duality. Audre Lorde and Bell Hooks taught me about power. In music, I return to Nina Simone, Florence Welch, and the haunting melodies of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Your books milk and honey, the sun and her flowers, and homebody touch on love, loss, trauma, and healing. Is listening to music, podcasts, or audiobooks part of a healthy routine for you? Music, podcasts, books are all part of my healing. Some days, I need a song that holds me. Other days, I need words that remind me I am not alone.

What does it mean to you to know that your fans get to hear you read your works on the audiobook versions of your books? I write my poetry with sound in mind-the way the words flow, the rhythm of each line. Hearing me read it aloud brings that element to life. For a reader, poetry is personal and they interpret it through their own lens. For a listener, they hear it the way it was meant to be spoken.

What's your earliest memory of stories being read aloud to you? My father's voice. He would sit with me and recite Punjabi poetry, letting the words dance in the air between us. He taught me that poetry is meant to be felt, not just understood.

Press play to listen to Rupi's collection of Canadian gems in the latest edition of Local Spot:
LINK: https://newsroom.spotify.com/2025-03-11/rupi-kaur-canada-local-spot-pl...
See more stories from spotify

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/09/2026

Business Innovation Synergizer FAQ: What applicants need to know

Media organisations interested in the Media Innovation Europe 3.0 Business Innovation Synergizer (BIS) can now consult a new FAQ document providing additional a...

04/09/2026

IBC 2026: Eluvio Showcases Global Broadcast Fabric Updates

Eluvio will demonstrate updates to its Content Fabric platform at IBC2026 (Hall 8, Stand 8.MS5, and Future Tech Zone, Hall 14, Stand 14.A58, September 11-14). C...

04/09/2026

IBC 2026: LiveU Joins IBC Accelerator Smart Stories Consortium

LiveU has joined the IBC Accelerator's Smart Stories consortium, a multi-vendor initiative developing an open standard for Story Context interoperability in...

04/09/2026

IBC 2026: Telos Alliance to Demonstrate Audio Observability Capabilities

Telos Alliance will demonstrate new audio observability capabilities at IBC2026 (Stand 8.D37, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), covering monitoring of audio heal...

04/09/2026

World Team Tennis Announces Broadcast Partnership with Versants USA Sports

World Team Tennis (WTT) has announced a broadcast partnership with USA Sports, the sports division of Versant. USA Sports will air all six of WTT's live mat...

04/09/2026

Gravity Media Appoints Alex Pannell as Chief Business Officer

Gravity Media has appointed Alex Pannell as Chief Business Officer. Pannell joins from Appear, where he served as Chief Commercial Officer. He will be based in ...

04/09/2026

IBC 2026: Dalet Expands Dalia AI Platform with Agentic Workflow Capabilities

Dalet has announced new agentic workflow capabilities for Dalia, its AI platform for media organizations, ahead of IBC2026. The updates extend Dalia from an AI ...

04/09/2026

IBC 2026: L-Acoustics Achieves EN 54 Certification Across Loudspeaker and Amplifier Portfolio

L-Acoustics has achieved EN 54 certification across a portfolio of loudspeakers,...

04/09/2026

IBC 2026: EVS and Matrox Video Announce Technology Partnership for Dynamic Media Facility Deployments

EVS and Matrox Video have announced a technology partnership integrating Matrox ...

04/09/2026

IBC 2026: NEP to Showcase Software-Defined Live Production

NEP Group will exhibit at IBC2026 (Hall 7, Stand 7.B55, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), demonstrating software-defined production capabilities across NEP Platf...

04/09/2026

FoMaSystems and ARRI Honored with Engineering Emmy for ARRI TRINITY 2

The Television Academy has awarded an Engineering Emmy to Dr. Roman Foltyn, Chief Engineer of FoMaSystems, and Curt O. Schaller for the development of the ARRI ...

04/09/2026

IBC 2026: InSync Technology to Showcase Frame Rate and Standards Conversion

InSync Technology will exhibit at IBC2026 (Stand 1.A55, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), demonstrating its FrameFormer and NOVA conversion platforms for frame r...

04/09/2026

Professional Triathletes Organization Signs Agreement with Sela to Host Events in Saudi Arabia

The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) has signed a multi-year agreemen...

04/09/2026

IBC 2026: Accedo and MediaKind Launch Joint Streaming Solution for Operators

Accedo and MediaKind have announced a white-label, end-to-end streaming solution for operators, combining Accedo's native application framework and cloud-ba...

04/09/2026

IBC 2026: TAG Video Systems Launches TAG Blue Cloud Monitoring Platform

TAG Video Systems has announced TAG Blue, a cloud platform for shared monitoring visibility across video delivery chains, with AI-powered root-cause analysis. T...

04/09/2026

IBC 2026: TwelveLabs Launches Video Compliance Platform with NVIDIA Deepfake Detection

TwelveLabs has launched a video compliance platform for media organizations, inc...

04/09/2026

Television Academy and NATAS Announce 2026 Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy Award Recipients

The Television Academy and the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences ha...

04/09/2026

KeySolutions Sounds release Traveler

Powerful new soft synth announced Traveler is the first software instrument to be released by KeySolutions Sounds, and it's an ambitious one! Said to co...

04/09/2026

e-instruments launch Velvet Guitars Fragment

Free virtual instrument range expanded The latest expansion of e-instruments' free Fragments series introduces a packed-down version of the company'...

04/09/2026

Accentize Chameleon wins Emmy Award

Company recognised for second time Two years after winning an Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy Award for dxRevive Pro, Accentize have been recognised ...

04/09/2026

AgileTV and Friend MTS Complete CDN Watermarking Integration to Fast-Track Anti-Piracy Protection for Operators

Bilbao - 3rd September 2026 -AgileTV, a leading provider of end-to-end TV and vi...

04/09/2026

Net Insight to Launch Nimbra 1020G at 2026 IBC Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/09/2026

Disney, Optimum Renew Carriage Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/09/2026

ACEMAGIC First to Introduce Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 495 AI Mini Workstation at IFA 2026

ACEMAGIC First to Introduce Ryzen AI Max PRO 495 AI Mini Workstation at IFA 202...

04/09/2026

Krotos Brings Video to Sound Footsteps Directly into Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve

Krotos Brings Video to Sound Footsteps Directly into Premiere Pro and DaVinci Re...

04/09/2026

RED DIGITAL CINEMA Comes Out Swinging at IBC 2026 with Next-Generation Live Broadcast Technology

RED DIGITAL CINEMA Comes Out Swinging at IBC 2026 with Next-Generation Live Broa...

04/09/2026

Orty v2.0-web - the cold-outreach assistant moves to the web

Orty v2.0-web - the cold-outreach assistant moves to the web Brie Clayton September 4, 2026 0 Comments Orty today announced v2.0-web of its AI cold-ou...

04/09/2026

Lightware expands LARA capabilities with new GUDE driver

Lightware is expanding its LARA (Lightware Advanced Room Automation) platform with the GUDE Power Distribution Units (PDU) driver module. GUDE devices can now b...

04/09/2026

People Behind the Technology - How Lightware Invests in W...

Lightware shares the second release in its ESG communications series. Following the first piece, which focused on the companys environmental performance, this r...

04/09/2026

Big Blue Marble delivers record 10 Tbps for European publ...

Big Blue Marble supported a leading European public service broadcaster in delivering the Soccer World Cup 2026 streams, supplying more than 10 Tbps of bandwidt...

04/09/2026

Hitomi MatchBox Glass is honoured with Emmy Award

Outstanding achievement in engineering, science and technology Hitomi Broadcast has been recognised with an Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy from the Ac...

04/09/2026

California, Hollywood at a Crossroads

California, Hollywood at a Crossroads Andy Marken September 3, 2026 0 Comments I'm doing everything alone. Crossing roads alone. Seeing the Eiffe...

04/09/2026

Berklee Announces Winners of 2026 SongwritersdB Songwriting Contest

Berklee Announces Winners of 2026 SongwritersdB Songwriting Contest Students Luca Alexandru, Annika Wild, and Johanna James received the top prizes for origin...

04/09/2026

EVS, Matrox Partner on EBUs Dynamic Media Facility Initiative

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/09/2026

TAG Video Systems Unveils TAG Blue

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/09/2026

Orlando Magic and Gray Media Ink Full Season Broadcast Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/09/2026

RT ANNOUNCE NEW DRAMA THE MURDER OF MR. MOONLIGHT BASED ON THE DISAPPEARANCE AND MURDER OF BOBBY RYAN

RT ANNOUNCE NEW DRAMA THE MURDER OF MR. MOONLIGHT BASED ON THE DISAPPEARANCE...

03/09/2026

Yospace releases new Ad Presentation solution, unlocking revenue opportunities with non-linear ad formats

Yospace will be at IBC from 11th - 14th September (booth 5.C78). For more inform...

03/09/2026

Creative Technology Group Announces Leadership Transition Effective January 2027

NEP Group has announced leadership changes at Creative Technology Group. Founder and CEO Graham Andrews will step away from day-to-day leadership at the end of ...

03/09/2026

NFL and TikTok Renew Multi-Year Partnership

The NFL and TikTok have announced a multi-year partnership renewal expanding the league's presence on the platform. NFL posts on TikTok increased more than ...

03/09/2026

Grass Valley Appoints Ronny Van Geel as Vice President, Cameras

Grass Valley has appointed Ronny Van Geel as Vice President, Cameras. Van Geel began his career in 1999 at Philips DVS and moved into product management in 2005...

03/09/2026

IBC 2026: Telestream to Preview Vantage Super Resolution

Telestream has announced Vantage Super Resolution, an AI-powered upscaling capability for the Vantage media workflow platform, developed in collaboration with N...

03/09/2026

IBC 2026: Solid State Logic TCA Tour

Solid State Logic (SSL) will debut the TCA Tour at IBC2026 (Hall 8, Stand 8.B45), a portable production system built from System T components in a desktop frame...

03/09/2026

IBC 2026: DPA Microphones Launches 6388 CORE+ Headset Microphone

DPA Microphones has announced the 6388 CORE Headset Microphone, making its debut at IBC2026 (Hall 8, Stand D60). The supercardioid headset features a physicall...

03/09/2026

IBC 2026: Qvest to Demonstrate Multi-Vendor Dynamic Media Facility Showcase

Qvest will present a multi-vendor Dynamic Media Facility (DMF) showcase at IBC2026 (Booth 10.C24), demonstrating how the EBU's DMF architecture can be imple...

03/09/2026

IBC 2026: Imagine Communications Debuts Magellan PanelFlex

Imagine Communications will showcase the Magellan PanelFlex control surface and other control portfolio updates at IBC2026 (Stand 1.B73, RAI Amsterdam, Septembe...

03/09/2026

IBC 2026: Bridge Technologies Launches Software-Based VB440 Deployment Option

Bridge Technologies will announce at IBC2026 (Booth 1.A71) that its VB440 production probe is now available as a software-based solution, deployable on commerci...