We recently connected with Riverse and have shared our conversation below.

RiVerse , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The most meaningful project that we’ve had the opportunity to produce would be the ‘Poison iV’ album, released in December of 2020. The reason that this project stands out is because we completed this body of work during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the top of the year, we were at the end stages of planning our first North American tour which was a big deal for us as independent artists. In the blink of an eye, it all ended as everything shut down due to COVID. After the initial devastation, we rallied together and decided to turn attentions to our online community, specifically Youtube, which boasted almost half a million subscribers at the time. Through our interactions with the community and hearing the stories of the wonderful people who support us from around the world and how the pandemic was affecting them, we started to feel very strongly that it was our duty to provide as much love, light and joy to these people as possible. Here in Canada, we had very specific instructions regarding quarantine and certain restrictions were in place via the government for our protection. At the time, we had released a couple singles online and we knew that our fans were excited about the prospect of us releasing a full length album so the decision was made to give one to them. Easier said than done though! We had to strategize and figure out how we could complete the project while adhering to the public health guidelines. Our resident songwriter, Justice, wrote all the material at home and would send voice note demos for the band to learn or we would meet in person with masks on and sing together before recording sessions. Whenever our studio engineer was comfortable, we’d go in and record the songs for the album. It was a very strange experience and quite challenging. At one point production was halted as heavier restrictions were put in place due to COVID illnesses increasing. The goal was to provide our supporters with the album before year’s end but it wasn’t looking too promising. We decided to be proactive instead of having a defeatist mindset and started to tackle all the other album components. For example, the cover design. A photoshoot wasn’t possible so we hired an artist in Italy to create the album cover. We worked with graphic designers, editors and video producers to develop promotional materials etc, all remotely. Once restrictions were slightly lifted toward the end of the year, we took that opportunity to get back into the studio and made the conscious decision to do whatever we could to complete the album in case restrictions were put back in place. We had a limited amount of days that we could book studio time so whenever we could get in, we’d be in there for hours, recording multiple songs at once, learning parts on the spot, etc. Once recording was wrapped, we’d be on the phone with our engineer for hours working on edits. All this to say, it was a lot of work, time, effort, sacrifice and energy but we succeeded in completing the album and it was released on December 31st, 2020. Right in the nick of time! This project and overall experience was so meaningful for two specific reasons. One, it was the personification of the statement ‘you can do anything that you put your mind to’. There were so many literal obstacles in front of us and hurdles to overcome but we thought things through, strategized and reached all of our goals. In some cases we were required to release the desire to control outcomes and simply went with the flow, adjusted, remained positive and proactive. The experience showed us that we were stronger and more competent than we thought. Two, the public reaction to the album was one of the greatest gifts. The feedback we received from our audience brought us so much joy because we accomplished what we set out to do. Fans shared that the album helped them survive the storm of the pandemic. It brought them hope, laughter, light and empowerment. Knowing that your work has impacted and inspired others in such positive and profound ways truly validates your purpose. It makes what we do as artists worthwhile.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

RiVerse is the brainchild of our group’s founder & leader, Justice. He had a vision of creating a music group since he was 14-years-old and went through the process of forming various groups throughout his life that would inevitably not work out for one reason or another (as is often the case when you are independent artists). All 4 of us have backgrounds in music & dance, though, and in 2008, we were all cast members in a stage production of Disney’s High School Musical 2 here in Toronto. That was where we first met and our friendships were formed. One-by-one, Justice asked us if we would be interested in being in a group together, with Monroe being the last member to join RiVerse in 2012. And here we still are, 12 years later!

RiVerse has always aimed to create high-quality, competitive music that can be on the same stages as the biggest artists in the world, with a major focus of our brand being throwback 90s & early 2000s music. This is one of the reasons the group is called RiVerse – we go backwards to take elements of the groups we loved growing up, and we incorporate those into our fresh, current sound.

Aside from the big sound, high-energy stage performance, strong vocals and harmonies, etc., the element that makes RiVerse stand out most is actually the four of us. We are so unique as individuals, with different stories, backgrounds, appearances, and more, and our aim is to always be as authentic as possible, as artists and as people. Through being unapologetically ourselves, we offer representation to many marginalized communities who don’t see artists like them showcased in mainstream media very often. We also show that by remaining a unified force, even people as diverse and unique as us can work together towards a common goal and win! That’s another meaning behind the name RiVerse -we use the ‘iv’ to represent the roman numeral 4, because the magic of RiVerse is in the 4 of us!

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

The RiVerse mission statement is: We represent the underrepresented. We are extremely passionate about reminding our audience that no matter what your age, body type, gender, sexuality, or life experience, you are Beautiful, you are Worthy, you are Valued, and you are Loved, exactly as you are! #BWVL

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Our social media presence exploded in the summer of 2018 as a result of our YouTube series, ‘RiVerse Reacts.’ The premise of the series was sharing our professional feedback on music from around the world, commenting on things like songwriting, vocal arrangement, choreography, music video production, fashion, etc. As the series rapidly grew, the one comment we got most often was that people loved watching our videos because of our personalities and the genuine friendship between us.

Throughout the years we have been creating content on social media, we consistently have found that when we are relaxed and having fun, our audience grows very quickly. It’s when we start overthinking and putting pressure on ourselves to reach specific goals that we struggle. So our advice for anyone just starting to build social media presence is just be yourself! There is an audience out there who want to see and hear exactly what you have to offer the world, and the more authentic you are, the easier it will be for those people to find and support your pages. And you are less likely to get tired of creating the content, because it’s just YOU being YOURSELF – that shouldn’t be too difficult!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: riverselive
• Facebook: riverse
• Twitter: riverselive
• Youtube: riverselive
• Soundcloud: riverselive
• Other: TikTok: riverselive
  Spotify: riverse
  Apple Music: riverse

Image Credits

Ryan MacDonald
Fabian DiCorcia
Ivan Otis
Chanel Johnson