Life, Values & Legacy: Our Chat with Lexie Jay of Toronto, Ontario

We recently had the chance to connect with Lexie Jay and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lexie, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: Are you walking a path—or wandering?
I’m a fast walker by nature, but I never shy away from adventure, and don’t mind a meander now and then. I like to deviate a little from the path most often taken to see what I can discover for myself along the way.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hi, I’m Lexie Jay — I’m a songwriter, producer, and artist based in Toronto. I work full-time as one half of Illegal Audio, my writing and production duo with Marc Koecher, where we collaborate with artists across Canada and internationally. Recently, I was honored to be nominated twice for the JUNOs and for the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, and one of my latest collaborations, “M.I.A.” with Benny Benassi and Emma Muscat, went to #1 overseas.

I spend my days songwriting out of our studio in Toronto, and I have an absolute passion for artist development. With a background in vocal pedagogy and Opera, I love helping artists with vocal direction across all genres, and I draw on my diverse experience in composition, scoring, and multi-genre creation to help new artists envision themselves in spaces they may never have pictured — then bring that art to life all the way through.

I’m also the lead vocalist of FEATURETTE, my alt-pop trio, and co-founder of Division Eleven Music Group, a label and management company dedicated to championing underrepresented voices in the industry. For me, the most exciting part of this work is helping artists shape their sound and their story — building something that feels authentic, impactful, and lasting.

Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
There have been a few key A&Rs in my life who saw me before I became who I am today. The first was my bandmate Jon Fedorsen — he pulled me straight out of my opera program at the University of Toronto and said, “We’re starting a band.” Wild, right? When I finally got into the studio with him and our producers at the time (one of whom, Marc Koecher, is now also in our band FEATURETTE), I had no idea how to sing on a mic. I’d spent years projecting to fill an auditorium, so the intimacy of recording pop music felt totally foreign. It took a minute — but nothing a hundred shows and a few records couldn’t fix.

The second was Jordan Howard, my publisher-turned-business-partner, who now runs our label Division Eleven alongside myself, Marc, and Jon. Jordan saw me not just as a singer in a band, but as a songwriter, business owner, and producer. Together with Marc as Illegal Audio, we’ve built a space where indie artist development isn’t just the work we do — it’s the thing that fills my cup in ways I never could have imagined.

If Jon gave me permission to start, and Jordan gave me the vision to grow, then what drives me now is giving that same spark to the next wave of artists — helping them see the future before they can even picture it themselves.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
For sure. I think about that day often — it was one of the most important of my life. I was sitting in my car outside a friend’s show, running through my goals and visions, and weighing them against the reality of time, money, and energy. It was overwhelming, and I felt completely crushed by the gravity of it all. I honestly didn’t think I’d ever make it to the top of that mountain.

But ultimately, I decided it didn’t matter how painful it was to carry this drive for something more. I can’t control if I’ll ever get those things — the only thing I can control is my perspective, and how I choose to feel about the journey. I even tried to imagine myself giving it up, living a “normal” life — but I couldn’t.

Shortly after, I wrote FEATURETTE’s song “Unluckiest.” The thesis of that song is recognizing that the lows have value, because they give context to the highs. If you’ve ever felt like quitting, I really recommend checking out that song and music video — it was a trip for me, and maybe it will be for you too.

Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Is the public version of you the real you?
Totally. It’s a version of me — one I’m proud to have facing the world. There are other versions too, but those usually come out one-on-one with the people closest to me. That’s part of the meandering that helps a person grow and evolve: finding the quirks, gathering all the different aspects, and curating them so others can understand your vibe — and maybe so you can better understand yourself.

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: If immortality were real, what would you build?
The way I feel right now in my career, I would spend lifetimes building *exactly* it’s what I’m building today. Our label, Division Eleven, actually started as a way to strengthen our distribution relationships so we could better pitch music for our band FEATURETTE. Around the same time, my writing and production duo with Marc Koecher, Illegal Audio, was getting busier, and we realized we wanted to be more involved in the bigger picture of the music we were creating — everything from album art to marketing ideas, campaigns, and beyond.

One of the first projects where this clicked was with Carlyn. She’d been with labels before but was looking for something more hands-on, and the synergy in the studio was next level. We started working closely with her — visuals, campaign photos, timelines, marketing, pitching — alongside Jordan’s management. What began as us experimenting with “how far we could run with it” has grown into something wild: in just over a year, we went from a few thousand monthly Spotify listeners to over 300K.

It’s still a new foray for us as a label, but the years of trial and error with our own band gave us the tools to steer other artists away from the same pitfalls. And that’s what excites me most — this kind of A&R and artist development, and the community that comes with it. Creatives feeding off each other, building something bigger, sparking new projects. That synergy is addictive — and honestly, I’d spend forever chasing it.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Connor Watt (All Images)

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems,
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Highlighter Series
What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?

Coffee? Workouts? Hitting the snooze button 14 times? Everyone has their morning ritual and we

Highlighter Series
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?

Our deepest wounds often shape us as much as our greatest joys. The pain we

Highlighter Series
Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?

Culture, economic circumstances, family traditions, local customs and more can often influence us more than