Who is Victoria Canal, former Dubai student who performed with Coldplay at Glastonbury?

Spanish-American singer-songwriter is a former high-school student in the UAE

Spanish-American singer-songwriter Victoria Canal is a star on the rise. Photo: Karina Barberis

There was a touching moment during Coldplay's Glastonbury festival headlining set on Saturday when frontman Chris Martin went over to the band's special guest, singer and pianist Victoria Canal.

As Martin peered over Canal's piano, they both delivered the key lyric to the song Paradise: “And so lying underneath those stormy skies. She'd say, 'Oh, I know the sun is meant to rise.”

That sense of resilience encapsulates Canal's burgeoning career.

But who is she?

The acclaimed Spanish-American singer-songwriter's cosmopolitan journey to the Glastonbury stage included a stint living and studying in Dubai. Born in Munich, Germany to an American mother and Spanish father, Canal's childhood followed their adventurous spirit with a childhood spent in various countries, including China, Japan, Spain and the UAE.

Canal was born with one fully functioning arm due to amniotic band syndrome having restricted blood-supply to the other in the womb.

A precocious talent, she began playing the piano at the age of six and spent part of her teenage years studying at Gems Education World Academy in Dubai and summer holidays in the US after receiving a scholarship with Berklee College of Music.

When The National interviewed her as a 15-year-old in 2013, Canal already had songs featured on broadcaster MBC and was playing occasional UAE gigs in cafes. She also spoke of her resolve, allowing her to play the piano with both hands.

“When I started having piano lessons, my teacher taught me how to play left-handed and had planned my future around left-handed pieces,” she said. “I’m very grateful my mum encouraged me to use both hands instead, because when I eventually did, it worked to my advantage.”

Victoria Canal in 2013, when she was a ninth grade student at Gems Education World Academy. Razan Alzayani / The National

Canal also spoke of tackling perceptions about her physical condition.

“Little kids always ask: ‘What happened to your arm?’” she said. “I just explained that it happened at birth. Most adults are polite and respectful. If they ask, I’m perfectly fine with that. When I tell them, they say: ‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ and I’ll say: ‘There’s no reason to be sorry, I’m perfectly fine and don’t feel any different.’”

Canal studied jazz at the prestigious L’Aula de Musica Moderna I Jazz del Conservatori del Liceu in Barcelona before returning to the US to record her 2016 debut EP Into the Pull.

It was US singer-songwriter Michael Franti who gave her a big break, inviting Canal to a recording session after discovering her on Instagram.

That collaboration led to joining Franti as guest performer on his 2019 US tour and provided further inspiration for her 2020 follow-up EP Victoria.

One standout track from the release is the critically-acclaimed Drama. It combines Canal’s sophisticated arrangement with her keen ear for hooks and playful wordplay as heard in the chorus: “You are clinical, cynical, don’t leave room for nobody else.”

Social media did its magic when Martin heard her work online in 2021 and before long she was signed to Coldplay's label Parlophone Records.

“She has the gift of song,” Martin told The New Yorker last year as part of a profile of Canal. “I don’t know where that comes from, or how you’d even define it, but songs come through her like they do for some people … Then, on top of that, she’s so emotionally open.”

That industry boost allowed Canal to open for Irish singer Hozier on his 2023 UK tour and the growing buzz surrounding that year’s double single Shape/ She Walks In and this year's Black Swan earned her two Ivor Novello Awards from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.

With such trajectory and goodwill, it was no surprise Martin invited her to perform Paradise at Glastonbury, seeing Canal leave the festival with a new legion of fans awaiting her debut album, which is currently in the works.