“Every time I hear the song I have to stop myself from crying because it’s the story of my life,” says Chantal Kreviazuk about her enchanting new single, “Into Me.” The highly personal ballad marks the Canadian songstress's return to her solo career, which she put on hold more than six years ago to concentrate on raising her three sons with longtime love Raine Maida. Since the single’s release in October, fans have been eagerly awaiting a glimpse of the visually stunning accompanying video, and Hello! has your exclusive first look.
Chantal teamed up with director Michael Maxxis to create a short film that reflects the emotion and truth behind the star’s powerful lyrics. Using dance as a vehicle to tell her story, Chantal says that the two art forms are now irreversibly linked. “The video is amazing. The dance is partnered with the song now. They go together. It has a very classic and really beautiful emotion to it. I’m really proud of it."
The Order of Canada recipient called on her friends, National Ballet of Canada principal dancers Heather Ogden and her husband, Guillaume Côté, to bring the meaning of her song to life. "'Into Me' is about the art form of relationships and how they are really hard work but if you keep going and you keep trying then this beautiful masterpiece does come out of it," says Chantal, who notes that you can see that hard work at play in the intricacy and difficulty of the couple's choreography.
The "Feels Like Home" singer made the video more personal by filming it at the archecturally magnificent home of her late friend, Dr. James Stewart, one of Toronto's most iconic contemporary spaces known as Integral House (and currently on the market for a lofty $23 million). "We became friendly after doing some charity work together for War Child," she tells us. "There was nothing about the video that wasn't super personal and quite authentic."
©The Juno award-winning artist is using her own life to connect with those who have or who are in the midst of experiencing the same insecurities she faced over the years. "We don’t know why but every time we have a spat or conflict with our partners, or we hit challenges, we have this primal fear that we’ll lose the person or we’ll lose the relationship. When you finally get to a place where you can reassure each other that you can have a fight and work through it, that feeling goes away. I know now that no matter what happens that Raine's my partner and he’s not leaving me and I’m never leaving him," she said. "You don’t get that for free. You don’t get that for any money. There’s no trick. That is time, effort, focus, commitment and priority."
"Into Me" is the debut track from Chantal's sixth studio album, which is set to be released in the spring.