Talk (musician)

Nicholas Durocher, known professionally as Talk, often monikered as TALK, is a Canadian singer-songwriter and musician from Ottawa, Ontario, best known for his 2021 hit single "Run Away to Mars".

Career
A native of Ottawa, Durocher has been active in the music business for a number of years, including a stint as a bassist in a country band, but had limited success prior to the early 2020s. Out of work, he was forced to move back to his parents' basement in the suburban neighbourhood of Stittsville in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Feeling lonely and depressed, he wrote "Run Away to Mars" overnight after watching the film Interstellar.

He released the song in June 2021 as his debut single, and followed up in November with the EP Talk to Me. "Run Away to Mars" was moderately successful at first, but received a boost in 2022 when it went viral on TikTok, hitting the streaming charts in several countries. By January 2023, the song had reached #1 on Billboard's Adult Alternative charts. It also reached a peak of 22 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart.

In 2023, he participated in an all-star recording of Serena Ryder's single "What I Wouldn't Do", which was released as a charity single to benefit Kids Help Phone's Feel Out Loud campaign for youth mental health. A single, "Wasteland", which has been performed live on occasions, was featured on the soundtrack of MLB The Show 23 and was released on streaming platforms in late September 2023. Following the release of the song, he announced that his first album, Lord of the Flies & Birds & Bees would be released on October 20, 2023.

In October 2023 he was the opening act for three shows during Shania Twain's 2023 Queen of Me Tour.

He received several Juno Award nominations at the Juno Awards of 2024, including Breakthrough Artist of the Year (which he won), Songwriter of the Year for the songs "Afraid of the Dark", "A Little Bit Happy" and "Wasteland", Album of the Year and Alternative Album of the Year for Lord of the Flies & Birds & Bees, and Single of the Year for "A Little Bit Happy". The album was also a longlisted nominee for the 2024 Polaris Music Prize.

On June 9, 2024, Durocher performed the Canadian national anthem at the start of the Formula 1 2024 Canadian Grand Prix, held at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec.