Ruby McKinnon, the voice and mind behind Flower Face, has a quiet power that comes through in conversation. With the release of Girl Prometheus, her most personal album yet, Ruby reflects on her journey, her process, and the emotional landscape that shaped her work. Speaking over Zoom from her new Montreal base, Ruby radiates both excitement and a hint of exhaustion, a byproduct of a year-long labour of love, which saw her not only recording but co-directing, storyboarding, and editing a suite of music videos.
For Ruby, this year was anything but idle. “There’s always the mixing and mastering period, but also, we shot seven music videos for this record,” she says. “I was co-directing, storyboarding for those, and then editing all of them. I was never sitting around just waiting for the album to come out.”
Ruby’s hands-on approach to her music is no accident. As she puts it, “I’ve always had a vision that I’m working towards, and I’m the best person to push that in the right direction.” Her journey began when she was 14, recording songs in her bedroom in Windsor, Ontario. “I was so used to doing everything myself back then,” she says. “I think that’s why it’s hard for me to let go of that control now.”
As much as she cherishes creative control, Ruby acknowledges the benefits of collaboration. “I’ve been lucky to work with some great collaborators, like Boy Wonder – Ryan, who worked on all the videos with me. He was the right person for me to trust with my vision,” she notes.
A trained visual artist with a degree in fine arts, Ruby has always balanced her musical pursuits with visual expression. “Making music videos and album art is how I stay well-rounded creatively and don’t lose my mind doing only music all the time,” she laughs. This multi-disciplinary approach keeps her work fresh, infusing her music with the same visual sensibilities that drove her as a young artist.
Music was always part of the plan. She grew up playing classical piano, encouraged by her father, a former musician and radio worker. “My dad set me up with my first little interface, and I started writing and recording songs as a little kid,” she remembers. “Nothing that anyone will ever hear now, obviously, but it’s always been part of my life.”
But the journey from hobbyist to a recognized artist with a dedicated following wasn’t immediate. Ruby points to one song as a turning point: Angela, a track from her album Baby Teeth. “Someone uploaded it to one of those YouTube playlist channels,” she recalls. “My mom, who looks me up online and reads the comments, actually found it. She told me, ‘Someone posted Angela, and it has like 2 million views. It just snowballed after that.”
It was Angela, a song Ruby wrote after a trip to Montreal, that propelled her towards a deeper connection with the city. “That song took off, and it was about the first time I came to Montreal when I was 18,” she says, hinting at a sense of fate. “I feel like it led me here.”
When she finally moved to Montreal during the pandemic, it was a spontaneous decision. “I didn’t move here for work or school; I didn’t know anyone,” she admits. “I just felt drawn to the city.” After signing her record deal, Ruby felt it was time to take the leap. “I came to see one apartment, and I told myself, ‘If I love it, I’ll just move here.’ And I loved it.”
The making of Girl Prometheus reflects Ruby’s evolution as both an artist and a person. Written in the aftermath of a painful breakup, the album emerged organically without a concrete plan. “At the time, I was just surviving,” she explains. “I needed to write; it was the only thing that made me feel better.” While some may interpret the album as a traditional “breakup album,” Ruby quickly clarifies. “It’s not about one person or one relationship. It’s about me processing my feelings, my friends, my family, everything that happened afterward. It’s more of a snapshot of the past year of my life.”
Asked about the album’s title, Girl Prometheus, she laughs. “It started out as a joke,” she admits. “My friends and I went to see Oppenheimer, and there’s that line about Prometheus stealing fire from the gods and being chained to a rock. My friends joked that I’m like Prometheus if he was a girl, being tortured by love. They said, ‘You stole love from the gods, brought it to a man, and now you’re being tortured for eternity.’” There’s a certain tragic humour in that comparison, and it resonates with Ruby’s sense of artistic purpose. “I feel incredibly lucky to turn so much pain into something bigger than myself. As much as it may be devastating, I don’t think of it as sad. I think of it as cathartic and rapturous.”
Despite her move to Montreal, Ruby admits she’s still finding her place in the city’s music scene. “I have some good friends here who are amazing musicians, but I still feel a bit like an outsider,” she confesses. “I moved here during COVID, and it was still a time when people weren’t going out much. I’m hoping to integrate more.”
One Montreal artist who’s left an impression is Le Ren, a musician Ruby has long admired. “I reached out to her, and now we’re friends,” she says, fondly recalling their first meeting. “She brought over a bottle of wine, and we just sat on my living room floor and played music together.” Another local talent she’s eager to highlight is Matteo, who performs as Allan Hill. “He’s opening my show. I’m thrilled to have him there.”
With Girl Prometheus now out in the world, Ruby already has her sights on what comes next. “I wrote most of the next record already,” she reveals. “I went through such an intense period of writing that even after finishing this album, there was still a lot I needed to get out.”
“I can’t tell anyone else’s story,” she says, “I can only tell my story.”
Watch the full interview below:
Girl Prometheus is out now.
Photo – Matteo Gueli
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