Q with Tom Power

Noah Kahan is one of the most successful singer-songwriters in the world right now, but it wasn’t that long ago that he was writing his latest album, “Stick Season,” while isolated on a Vermont farm during the peak of the pandemic. Now, he’s considered the next big thing in music. Noah joins Tom in studio for a conversation about writing the album that would change his life, the power of tapping into his authentic self, and how he’s protected his mental health while on this crazy ride.

In the three years since Cadence Weapon won the Polaris Music Prize, the Canadian rapper has been working on his new album, "Rollercoaster,” which comes out today. For this record, he was thinking about renegotiating our relationship with the internet and our phones. Cadence Weapon (a.k.a. Rollie Pemberton) chats with Tom about “Rollercoaster” and why he’s decided to adjust his screen time.

The Canadian actor Tonya Williams spent two decades playing Dr. Olivia Winters on “The Young and the Restless,” which made her one of the first Black actors to star on a soap opera. In 2001, she founded the Reelworld Film Festival to lift up other racialized actors and filmmakers. Now, she’s being honoured with the Changemaker Award from the Canadian Screen Awards in recognition of her barrier-breaking work. Tonya joins Tom to look back on her career, the festival, and how playing a doctor on TV leads to a lot of oversharing from fans.

Tom’s conversation with Mick Jagger has won gold for best interview at this year’s New York Festivals Radio Awards! The Rolling Stones frontman sat down with Tom in London last year ahead of the release of “Hackney Diamonds” — the band’s first album of original material in 18 years. Mick reflects on six decades of the Stones, the changing music industry, and the loss of their drummer, Charlie Watts.

Fred Nguyen Khan is a trilingual actor and stunt performer from Montreal who’s been studying martial arts since he was four. That resume helped him beat out countless actors in a worldwide casting call for his latest role on the new HBO miniseries “The Sympathizer,” which is based on the Pulitzer-winning novel of the same name. Fred talks to Tom about the series, shooting fight scenes with a legendary action director, and mastering kung-fu at the Shaolin Temple in China.

After three decades, the Canadian pop-punk band Sum 41 is calling it quits. But when frontman Deryck Whibley started writing the group’s latest album, “Heaven :x: Hell,” he didn’t realize it would be their last. He joins Tom to explain how the writing process helped him reach a decision he’s been debating for years, and how he told the band he was ending things.

Leanne Toshiko Simpson is looking at romantic comedy through a new lens. The fourth-generation Japanese Canadian writer has just released her debut novel, “Never Been Better,” which tells a love story set at a psychiatric facility. Leanne lives with bipolar disorder and has spent time in a psych ward herself. She joins Tom to tell us why she wanted to use the rom-com format to talk about mental illness.

Alex Garland’s latest film “Civil War” is unsettling even in its premise — maybe because of how real it feels. Set in a dystopian future America, the film follows a team of journalists who travel across the country during a rapidly escalating second American civil war. Alex joins Tom in studio for a conversation about his feelings on journalism and media, what inspired the film, and why it’s not just a warning about conflict, but the loss of a collective truth. Plus, the Canadian medical drama “Transplant” became a surprise hit during the pandemic that completely changed the life of its star, Hamza Haq. On the heels of the series finale, Hamza talks to Tom about his groundbreaking character, saying goodbye to the show, and his latest film “With Love and a Major Organ.”

After making his name in series like “Twin Peaks” and “Sex and the City,” Kyle MacLachlan is now back on the small screen as the star of the new Amazon Prime series “Fallout.” The show is based on the hit video game series of the same name. Kyle joins Tom to chat about the show and look back at his career, including his starring role as Paul Atreides in David Lynch’s 1984 adaptation of “Dune.”

The Cree Métis singer-songwriter iskwē is back with her first solo album since 2019, “nīna.” On the record, she channels her feelings of heartbreak, remorse, self-doubt, isolation and resilience. iskwē joins Tom to share how an extended trip to Mexico served as much-needed creative inspiration, what it was like working with Grammy-nominated producer Damian Taylor, and why she feels that this record is a journey back to herself.

Mike Post is the multi-Grammy-winning composer behind some of the most recognizable TV theme songs of all time, from “The A-Team” and “Magnum, P.I.” to “Doogie Howser, M.D.” and “Law & Order.” Now, Mike is back with new music — but not for the small screen. He’s released a bluegrass and blues record, titled “Message from the Mountains & Echoes of the Delta.” He chats with Tom about the record and his incredible career in music, including how he came up with the famous dun-dun sound on “Law & Order.” Plus, the singer-songwriter Joel Plaskett is breaking some new ground with his latest release: a spoken word performance of a poem called “The New Joys.” He tells us the story behind the piece and what made him want to explore poetry.

The award-winning Canadian writer and professor Ian Williams has been named this year’s Massey lecturer. Since 1961, the Massey Lectures have invited distinguished writers, thinkers and scholars to present their ideas in a five-part lecture series across Canada. Ian sits down with Tom to tell us why he’s chosen the topic of conversations for his cross-country lecture series, how listening can be a courageous act, and why he believes it’s important to have difficult conversations, even at the risk of offending people. Plus, the Kenyan British artist Magdalene Odundo is one of the world’s greatest living ceramicists. She joins Tom to talk about her life in clay, her new exhibit at the Gardiner Museum, and why the inside of her pieces are perhaps even more important than the outside.

The musician and actor Rudy Mancuso lives with synesthesia, which in his case means hearing everyday noises as musical patterns. In his first feature film, “Música,” he gives us a look into the life of a young man who experiences the world through sound. Rudy chats with guest host Talia Schlanger about depicting his form of synesthesia on screen — and why hearing music in everything can be both a blessing and a curse.

The singer-songwriter Dawn Landes has just released her new album, “The Liberated Woman's Songbook.” It was inspired by a 1971 book of the same name that chronicles the women’s liberation movement through a collection of songs from the 1800s to early 1970. Dawn talks to guest host Talia Schlanger about the power of music as a tool for activism, finding solace and inspiration through the voices of women throughout American history, and why these songs still serve as a map for survival today.

Few voices in folk music have captured a time and place quite like Joan Baez’s. Her incredible life is on display in the documentary “Joan Baez I Am a Noise,” which follows her career as she becomes one of the definitive singers of her generation. The film also gives an intimate look at her life, loves and traumas through diary entries, recordings and performances. Joan talks to Tom about her career, what it means to leave behind an honest legacy, and what she’s most proud of.

The Canadian director Brendan Healy has taken on an epic project: a new production of Matthew López's seven-hour play “The Inheritance,” which has been called the most important play of the 21st century. Brendan sits down with Tom to tell us how the play represents a conversation between generations of gay men, what happens when you don't learn about the past, and how that conversation played out in real life at rehearsals.

After 26 years dancing with the National Ballet of Canada, Guillaume Côté will be retiring following the 2024-2025 season. The Canadian dancer and choreographer joins Tom in studio to tell us why it’s the right time to move on, why he’s starting his own dance company with a new production of “Hamlet,” and how ballet dancers are expected not just to dance through intense pain, but to look graceful while doing it. Plus, TOBi had a big weekend at this year’s Junos in Halifax, taking home two awards: rap album of the year and rap single of the year. He sits down with Tom to talk about the experience and share one of the tracks off his Juno-winning record, “Panic.”

Shakira is back with her first new album in seven years, “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran,” which details her tumultuous breakup with her ex-partner and the father of her two children. She sits down with Tom for a revealing interview about vulnerability, survival and what really matters in her life. Read the Spanish transcription of this interview here.

When Ani DiFranco was first setting out as an artist, she felt like she had two paths in front of her. There was the one she actually took — the path of an independent punk feminist singer-songwriter — and the one she didn't take as an actor and dancer. Now, she’s made her Broadway debut in “Hadestown” as Persephone, the reluctant wife of Hades. Ani tells Tom how it feels to revisit her old dreams, why landing the role was a full circle moment, and how you can keep fighting for change even when it feels completely hopeless.

The actor Mary Elizabeth Winstead always grounds her performances in reality, no matter if the role is a character from a comic book, an alien in “Star Wars,” or a glamorous movie star like the one she plays in the new drama series, “A Gentleman in Moscow.” Mary joins guest host Talia Schlanger in studio to talk about the show, what it was like acting opposite her real-life husband (Ewan McGregor), and her memories of starring in one of the most iconic Canadian films of all time: “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.”