Q&A with singer-songwriter Melissa Dutch
The Hamilton-based queer artist is founder and curator of the Femme Rising & Them Rising showcase series at Mills Hardware and has a new song ‘Skinny’ that explores the wrestling and the healing from an eating disorder.
Hot on the heels of the fourth iteration of the Femme Rising series of concerts, Hamilton singer-songwriter Melissa Dutch spoke with HCM about her latest single “Skinny,” amplifying women and queer voices in art and music, her advocacy against AI data centres in Hamilton, her curation of an “under-the-skin exhibit” of artists at a Hamilton collaborative, and building community here in Steel Town.
Dutch has performed her original music for Juno Week 2026, Under the Blue Moon at the Art Gallery of Hamilton, headlined for Take Back the Night at Hamilton City Hall with SACHA, and played Hamilton Pride 2025. She was selected for the Canadian Music Incubator’s Groundwork program for 2026.
According to her bio, “her work is an observation and an anthem for the outcast, and a beacon for the weird and wonderful.”
The Femme Rising Vol IV concert at Mills Hardware at the end of May: how did it go?
It was a magical, beautiful evening of community. The vibes in the room were so high. People came so ready to connect to the music and connect to each other. I can't wait for the rest of them. We held it at Mills Hardware, but we're backed by Women in Music Canada, Hamilton Halton, and the Groundwork Promoter Program with the City of Hamilton this year. I’m super grateful for their support. I think it just shows that the City is prioritizing femme and queer voices in this time, and I think that's so, so necessary, because we have really important things to say, particularly at this juncture in history.
What was one fun or notable highlight of that particular concert that stands out in your memory that you feel really good about?
It's hard to pick one moment. I think for me, it's really about the artist and connecting to the artist and their work. That night I was on the bill with my band, so that was obviously a highlight for me: being able to be on stage and play my tunes and release “Skinny” with such a big bang. We also had AOIFE on the bill, who's amazing. We had Jocelyn June, who brought so much soul, and Gigi Noche, who's just a pleasure to watch. Each artist really had something special and the crowd was just in it. Like they were clapping and shouting and just brought the greatest energy to the space.
There was a lot in the space. You had different tables and vendors.
We were collaborating with CAMH [The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health]. Twenty-five per cent of the proceeds went to CAMH's Sunrise Challenge, so that was really exciting. So they were in the space. We had some merch at the table. Dawn from Dawn Freestyle Wraps, she did some of that merch. We had a table for the AI data centre protest, and we had some community collaborators this year: Black Dog, Pet Salon, Bard and Bear Games Cafe, and Wallflower Bar on James Street, another amazing, amazing space. I’m super grateful for those community collaborators as well.
When is Femme Rising Volume V happening?
It's on Sunday, July 5, at 6:30pm at Mills Hardware. We've got Nix Ironstone, Jessie T, Sandra Bouza, and Brennagh Burns. It's like a stacked bill of amazing folk, soul, rock, country. Fabulousness all around!
What was it like delegating at the City of Hamilton’s committee of adjustment in early June on the AI data centre proposal?
That day was powerful. It was comforting to me to see that that many people could unite and come together on something this important. Being in that room where the delegation was happening and hearing the roar of the people from outside and from the hallway. Sometimes, we feel like we're alone in the fear and the struggle against the things that we're coming up against, but I did not feel alone that day. I think when I spoke, I had already been sitting in that meeting for about four hours. Hearing everybody just come up and champion what they believed in and stand up for their community. Oh, I had fire in my blood that day. I just believe so strongly and the power of community and using our voices for good. That's what Femme Rising is all about: using your voice to change the world. It’s going to help your community and it's going to bolster your soul, and your resolve.
Let's talk about “Skinny”. This has been very personal for you. What is the story behind the song?
For me, music has always been a mode of healing, and that really began for me when I developed an eating disorder in fourth grade. I ended up being pulled out of school in grade six because it was devolving really fast and I needed to heal. That's when I started doing voice lessons, so the eating disorder and the music seem to go together for me. But during the start of the pandemic, I did some eating disorder treatment for the first time and I wrote the first half of “Skinny” just after starting. About a year later out of that treatment, I wrote the second half of “Skinny”, and you can hear both the wrestling and the healing. What makes it really powerful is that it was written as it was lived. This is also something that so many of us struggle with: being at peace with our bodies and being at peace with ourselves, so it's taken me quite a few years to actually put it out there and to feel strong enough to put it in the public eye. But yeah, I'm just so ready, and I'm so excited by the healing that I've heard about from the people who are listening, that it's touching them in the way that it has helped me process and heal my own pain.
Self-acceptance seems to be such a precious thing that's hard to find. Is a world of total self-acceptance possible, do you think?
One hundred per cent. I think societally, we have not grown up under the conditions for self-acceptance. I think that the society has conditioned us to function in a way that we're constantly trying to fill something that is missing, right? When really we have worlds within us and we have people around us that we can focus on and focus on loving each other from a place of self-acceptance. If you love yourself, then you're going to love others in a more impactful way. But I do think there's a lot of unlearning to do, particularly for those of us who don't fit the societal norm of what is acceptable. I think deconstructing that idea, and it takes time, and it takes work, and for the brain and the nervous system to start to understand that you are OK as you are. But I have definitely experienced that change. I spent a lot of my life not loving the person I saw in the mirror or the person I felt I was on the inside. And I've come leaps and bounds just by telling myself what is actually true in the mirror on a regular basis, rewiring those neural pathways. Neuroplasticity is a thing, right? We can tell ourselves the truth over and over again, and we will start to eventually believe it, but first we have to unwind all of the lies that have been told to us.
At CoLodge (art collaborative, 288 James St. N.) I’m curating an under-the-skin exhibit of different artists from Hamilton, and a couple from Toronto as well, on bodies and self-acceptance and all of the ways that we can grow in that experience together. We're going to have a kickoff on the night of Friday, July 10, with the exhibit running until July 31. On the 31st, we're going to have a show with myself and another queer artist.
You’re a Hamiltonian, grew up in Carlisle, and moved into the downtown about two and a half years ago. How do you feel about the city now?
I think the people are very supportive of our music community. You go to other places in the province and the vibe is just not the same as in Hamilton. The collaborative nature of the music scene in Hamilton is really special and unique, and why I've chosen to build my career here. Hamilton has the feel of the city, but you're always running into the people you know, so it’s also really small. These past two and a half years have been the most exciting thing, and I'm so, so excited to be able to bring about some unification around femme and queer voices and businesses. I'm still looking for community collaborators, so if you're a femme or queer business owner, I would love to talk to you and find ways to just connect all of us because we can help each other across many disciplines.
