Earlier this year, local musician Peter Joynt visited Fisher Park Summit Alternative School. It was one of the 130+ motivational presentations he’s done at schools in his city to promote positivity and resilience in students. There, he met Pei Pilgrim.
Peter never set out to be a motivational speaker. He started out as a rapper – but a rapper with a stutter. His speech impediment comes across quite noticeably in regular speech, but then disappears when he performs.
Peter is very open about his struggles with his speech. It’s often the first thing that is brought up during radio and TV interviews. After one interview on Canada’s CBC Radio, a teacher from a local school reached out and invited Peter to visit their school to talk about being a rapper. The experience turned out to be really rewarding for everyone involved. Next thing he knew, Peter was being invited to speak at dozens of schools. Word spread, and his motivational sideline gig was born.
After any presentation, it’s not uncommon for Peter to get messages from students. They reach out on social media or through his website, thejoynt.ca. They contact him for various reasons, but some reach out to collaborate. Usually things don’t get very far. Peter is always up for sampling people’s stuff and passing along tips and words of encouragement. But ultimately, if the skill level isn’t there, Peter doesn’t have time to pursue it. That is why he has never collaborated with a student — until now.
After his talk at Fisher Park, Peter received a message on Instagram from a girl named Pei Pilgrim. Pei had this to say in her message:
“You came to my school for a keynote presentation. Let me just say you were so inspiring to me. I’m a musician myself, I sing, play a variation of instruments and sometimes rap on occasion too. Maybe you could give me some suggestions on how to get into the music business. I have a small recording studio in my basement and that’s how I record songs. Hopefully you can give me a push in the right direction.”
Peter wrote back with the best advice he had. He said to focus on writing original songs — not covers — and to get them up on YouTube. Pei wrote back with a link to her YouTube channel, and Peter was blown away by what he heard. After checking out her videos on a loop, Peter knew he had to do a song with this girl.
“I couldn’t believe she had written this really catchy original track,” Peter said. “You can just tell she has a gift for writing — and her voice is really unique. Pei has real talent. I mean, she produced this song with different vocals parts and harmonies. Then you realize she’s playing all the instruments in the song too. She wasn’t just some kid playing around in her basement. Pretty incredible for someone who’s only 13 years old.”
Peter, meanwhile, was in the process of hunting down a beat for his next track. He knew he’d found it when he heard Slovenian producer, Rey Topol’s “Vision 6” beat. It was love at first listen.
Peter sent the beat to Pei on whim, and asked her to see if she could come up with anything for the track. Pei replied saying “shouldn’t be a problem,” to which Peter thoughts “yeah right.” But then, in just two days Pei sent back an entire song – written and recorded, complete with multiple vocals, and harmonies.
Amazed, Peter then scrambled to write his own parts for the song. He was worried about how he was going to live up to being on this track with this 13 year old girl. The Joynt — a rapper who has worked with the Senators and performed for crowds of thousands — was now worried about holding his own on the track with his new-found friend, Pei Pilgrim.
While an unlikely duo, there’s no question the two strike a chord on Loving This Feeling.