Molly Johnson, one of Canada's most celebrated voices, is set to release her new album Talk To Me on June 26 via Universal Music Canada. The 10-track project features collaborations with JUNO Award-winning rapper Haviah Mighty and Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy, alongside four new recordings, including lead single "Holiday." Blending soul, jazz, R&B, and rock, the album is a testament to dialogue, artistry, and the power of creative connection across generations.
There are albums built to showcase a voice, and then there are albums built to honour what happens when voices truly listen to each other. Talk To Me, the upcoming full-length from Molly Johnson, leans firmly into the second category. The 10-track project combines music from Johnson's recent All I See and Long Time Running EPs with four new recordings, including lead single "Holiday," further showcasing her unmistakable voice and continued artistic evolution.
Due out June 26 via Universal Music Canada, the album arrives as a richly layered statement from an artist who has spent decades earning her place as one of this country's most essential musical voices. For listeners who have followed Johnson's career since the early 1990s, Talk To Me offers something familiar and something genuinely new; proof that artistic curiosity doesn't dim with time, it deepens.
A record built on real relationships
Across the album, Johnson collaborates with artists from across generations of Canadian music, including JUNO Award-winning rapper Haviah Mighty, rising producer and artist CUBE, and Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo. The result is a deeply collaborative body of work that blends soul, jazz, R&B, and rock through Johnson's singular artistic lens. What makes these partnerships compelling is that none of them feel like calculated cross-genre marketing moves. They read as genuine exchanges between artists who respect each other's work and wanted to make something together.
"Talk To Me" — when two worlds meet
The album's title track is its most conceptually striking moment. Structured as a call and response, the song becomes a compelling exchange between two distinct voices, reflecting a meaningful dialogue between generations. Pairing Johnson's warm, jazz-rooted vocal style with Haviah Mighty's sharp, rhythmically precise lyricism, the track doesn't try to smooth over the differences between the two artists; it makes those differences the whole point.
Johnson has spoken directly about the spirit behind the collaboration, describing her joy in working with Haviah Mighty, whom she calls "a brilliant, collaborative woman," and emphasizing that the idea of genuinely listening to younger voices is what "Talk To Me" is all about. For a song built on the concept of intergenerational dialogue, it's hard to imagine a more fitting creative partnership. Mighty, born in Toronto and raised in Brampton, has built one of the most distinctive careers in Canadian hip-hop, earning a JUNO Award for Rap Album/EP of the Year for her mixtape Stock Exchange and being recognized by both XXL and CBC Music as a defining voice of the new generation.
A nod to The Tragically Hip
One of the album's most emotionally resonant moments is Johnson's reimagining of The Tragically Hip's "Long Time Running," recorded alongside Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo. First released in 1991, the song remains a defining piece of the Canadian musical canon, here reimagined with a sense of intimacy and reverence that honours its enduring legacy.
For Johnson, this recording carries particular personal meaning. "This has been a long time coming," she has said. "I've always wanted to record a duet with Jim. We've been friends for years, so to finally collaborate on a song by our beloved The Tragically Hip feels like real magic." That warmth comes through in the recording itself; two longtime friends treating a beloved Canadian song with the care it deserves.
New songs and long-standing bonds
Beyond the headline collaborations, Talk To Me also introduces four new recordings that round out the album's world: "Holiday," "Happy," "Sunday Morning," and "Just As Bad As You." The lead single, "Holiday," is available to stream now and gives a first taste of where Johnson's sound is heading.
Running through all of it is the core band that has anchored Johnson's music for years. She is joined by long-time collaborators Davide Di Renzo, Mike Downes, and Robi Botos, whose enduring musical partnership remains central to her sound. Their presence gives the album its grounding; a deep, lived-in rhythm section and piano work that keeps the more adventurous moments tethered to something warm and familiar.
A career defined by more than music
To understand why Talk To Me resonates the way it does, it helps to know who Molly Johnson is beyond the recording studio. She launched the Kumbaya Festival in 1993, benefitting AIDS hospices and Canadians living with AIDS, contributing directly to the birth of Toronto's Casey House. Kumbaya remains the largest music fundraiser in Canadian history. As the founding artistic director of Toronto's Kensington Market Jazz Festival, Molly has introduced hundreds of performers and built, in her own words, a "local jazz festival that reflects the cultural depth" of the immediate music community.
Her accolades span decades, including two JUNO Awards, the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, an appointment as an Officer of the Order of Canada, and France's Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. These aren't just honours accumulated over time; they reflect a career built on the conviction that music matters most when it serves something larger than itself.
Upcoming live dates
For those who want to experience this music in person, Johnson has a small number of upcoming shows confirmed.
- June 17, 2026 — Winnipeg, MB; Desautels Concert Hall
- June 26, 2026 — Montréal, QC; Gesù
- July 1, 2026 — Vienne, France; Théâtre Antique
Where to find Molly Johnson
- Website: mollyjohnson.com
- Instagram: @mollyjohnsonmusic
- YouTube: Molly Johnson
- Facebook: mollyjohnsonmusic
Worth the wait
Talk To Me arrives at a cultural moment when real dialogue, across generations and genres, feels both rare and necessary. What Johnson has crafted here is an album that models what that dialogue can sound like when it's grounded in mutual respect. She brings her own hard-earned voice to every track while genuinely making room for others, and the music is richer for it.
The collaborations with Haviah Mighty and Jim Cuddy are conversations, not cameos. The four new recordings extend that energy outward, giving the full album a sense of forward motion that keeps it from feeling like a retrospective. After a career spent building things that outlast the moment, including festivals, institutions, and friendships forged through music, Molly Johnson seems to know exactly what she's doing. Talk To Me is the sound of an artist in full command, choosing to share that command generously. It's out June 26, and it's worth the wait.
