The Singles Bar: Kayla Diamond, ‘What You’re Made Of’

Welcome to The Singles Bar, a review series focused on new single and song releases.

Life often gets in the way. Sometimes, it throws you a 1-2 punch and you can either duck, take the hit or catch it and lob it back, creating your own destiny. Toronto singer, songwriter and musician Kayla Diamond had stern ambitions of becoming a lawyer one day. She was expected to start law school that fall, but a few months prior, she awoke with a start from a fevered dream, putting pen to paper to craft her debut single ⎯⎯ the melody of “Crazy,” a striking piano ballad spotlighting her rumbling soul, lodged itself into her brain. Raised by an orthodox Jewish family, tradition told her a career as a pop singer was not something a woman could do, but nevertheless, she persisted.

“Growing up, it wasn’t particularly easy being part of a community that didn’t encourage young women to follow their dreams,” she says. “Thankfully, my family saw past that, and my father always told me that nothing is unattainable.”

Diamond continued to release a string of contagious singles, including her just-pressed anthem, “What You’re Made Of.” The jaunty, finger-snapping tune ⎯⎯ “dedicated to my father” and “for all the young women that could have been something more had they been given the right push,” she says ⎯⎯ frames her splendid, expressive timbre around slick percussion ticks and glistening ivory. “Life is too short not to fill it with love / Don’t you wait for this moment to pass,” she urges, presenting a message of hope, freedom and optimism. “Show them what you’re made of ’cause I raised you so tough,” she later roars on the hook, connecting to her father’s guidance. “You were meant to be someone.”

“What You’re Made Of” follows such other wondrous releases as the emotional, tribal “Carnival Hearts,” and samples Diamond’s forthcoming debut EP, Beautiful Chaos.

Grade: 4 out of 5

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