RYAN Playground

Genevieve Ryan Martel (aka RYAN Playground) was raised by two classical musicians in Montreal. At age 5 she received her first drum kit and by 11 she was creating her own compositions with her guitar and drums. By the time she was a teenager, Genevieve was experimenting with FL studio and electronic music.

RYAN Playground was born out of playtime - the meeting of a seasoned musician in touch with the wide-eyed exuberance and roller coaster emotions that come with being a teenager. On her debut album, RYAN harkens back the days when she was growing up in the suburbs listening to pop punk.

“Every time I make a song I’m just throwing out emotions,” she explains. “It’s always very personal. There’s always two extremes. I consider myself in a gray zone, but a very nice gray zone. I like trying to appreciate all the nuances in life and accept them. Make the best out of it...I have my dark days like everybody else. But at the end of it all I’m very optimistic. I’m a dreamer!”

RYAN Playground has always lived in her own gray zone - around the same time she picked up music, she also asked for her first skateboard and was playing sports with the boys. Not only can she hang, but she kicks ass. Very young, she wanted to make a point that she could be as good and strong as boys are. Whether it’s skating, modeling, DJing, or designing her own Terrain de Jeux clothing line, there is no doubt that RYAN has range.

An elegant balance of electronic and organic elements, RYAN Playground is an amalgamation and finds Genevieve at peace with all competing emotional elements in her life.

“I have experienced different kinds of extremes and I finally found my own balance,” she says pragmatically. “In the end we all find our own balance and pace. It's also about not believing in categories. I feel like a lot of people feel reassured when things are classified in different 'categories'. They kind of feel like boundaries to me. I don't really believe that having categories and creating new ones is fundamentally helpful, we're all somewhere in between this and that.”