Canadian Songs, Russian Pirates, and the Power of the Internet: A Conversation with Paula Toledo
Canadian Songs, Russian Pirates, and the Power of the Internet: A Conversation with Paula Toledo
In 2006, Paula Toledo released a song called "How Long (Will it Take)" that was quickly forgotten ... or so she thought.
People were looking for Paula Toledo, and she didn’t know it. Toledo is a singer-songwriter who stopped making music professionally in the 2000s. Sure, she’d gotten a few songs placed in television shows, but she didn’t think that anybody was still listening. She was wrong. Her song “How Long (Will it Take)” had ended up as background music on the menu of some random DVD and a slow-growing online community had been trying to identify it for almost 20 years. In December, those online sleuths found it. Then Paula Toledo started getting a lot of unexpected fan mail.
I was unfamiliar with this story until Catherine Sinow featured it in a post she wrote for this newsletter a few weeks ago. After we published that story, Toledo reached out to me. We agreed to have a conversation where she could set the record straight and describe what it was like to have a community emerge around your music without your knowledge. I recommend listening to the song that sent the internet into a frenzy before hearing what she has to say.
A Conversation with Paula Toledo
In the early 2000s, you recorded a song called “How Long (Will it Take)”. At the time, it appeared in a television show but wasn’t tremendously popular. Then at some point around 2007, a snippet of the song began appearing on the menu of some bootleg DVD out of Russia. It caught someone’s ear, and they began looking for the rest of it. Cut to 2023. You find out that people have been searching for you and your song for over a decade. What was that like?
On December 8, 2023, I got a flood of emails. The first one was a warning of sorts: “Hi Paula, get ready for random people to contact you about your song “How Long (Will it Take)” because a snippet of it was placed in a Russian bootleg DVD with no attribution. People have been desperately searching for you and the remainder of the song for the last 16 years.” At first, there were so many emails and DMs that I thought it was a hoax. A Russia bootleg DVD? How could this be real?
That song was never released on an album but was licensed to a made-for-TV movie and sitcom pilot in the 2000s. Those were aired in different countries all over the world. But, again, the song was never commercially released. Even if people found the song, how could they be linking it to me? It just wasn’t believable. Then people started sending me money through my website where I had an area that allowed people to donate funds to support my upcoming releases. Once money started coming in, I knew something real was going on.
My 16-year-old son is very tech-savvy, so I asked him to look into it. He searched around online and found video essays and posts about people trying to find my song. In fact, there was a whole Reddit community dedicated to finding it called r/HLWIT. I was speechless. When we found out the story was legit, my son threw his arms around me. He was in near tears and congratulated me. He kept saying, “I’m so happy for you, Mom!”. That will go down as one of my life’s best moments.
Were you ever able to piece together how it ended up on that DVD?
Not exactly. I’ve heard two versions of the story. One was that people heard it in a French film called Jacquou le Croquant. Another was that it appeared as background music in the menu selection of a bootleg Russian DVD. In either case, I suppose it was just pirated.
That’s so odd, especially since it never got a proper release. But what happened to you is every small-time songwriter’s dream. “I might not be famous now,” we tell ourselves, “but one day people will realize the true greatness of my music.” For most people, that’s a fantasy. For you, it actually happened. People actually realized the beauty in a forgotten song. Can you tell me a bit about how you got into music?
My first endeavor with playing music was with my sister when I was just a kid. She’s 11 years older than me. She played guitar and had this angelic voice. I think she got bored of singing alone, so she taught me how to sing harmony. She was my first teacher. Eventually, she showed me a few chords on the guitar, and then I begged my parents to buy me a guitar. They got me one for my 10th birthday.
Were you interested in performing back then?
It’s actually funny. My sister’s boyfriends would come to our house to pick her up for dates. Because she was never punctual, my parents would make me play songs for them while they waited for her. I really hated it. But my parents were adamant. And I was not good! I was just learning and it would take me at least 10 seconds to transition from one chord to another. It was a painful experience for me, and I’m sure it was even worse for her boyfriends.
At least they must have been a forgiving audience. You can’t insult your girlfriend’s younger sister. I assume from there you got more involved with music.
Yeah. When I was 16 years old, my neighbor was really good friends with this group of guys who had started an alternative ska band. One time we went to watch them jam, and my neighbor said, “You guys know that Paula has a really nice voice, right?” So, they handed me a mic, and I started singing gibberish over their original instrumentals. I guess they liked it because they asked me to join the band. Soon after, we were playing gigs in downtown Montreal. We built a bit of a following, but my father was adamant that music was not a full-time job. It was something you did on the weekends. I was pretty down about that. I didn’t necessarily believe him. But I went to college instead of pursuing music.
Did you stop playing completely?
No. After I graduated from college, I had a great job in marketing with some people I really enjoyed working with. But by the time I got to my late 20s, I had this visceral feeling that I was not meant to be working in business and marketing. So, I left my job and my career. My bosses and friends were very confused because I sounded so vague about why I was quitting. I just had a knowing feeling that I was meant to be doing something different.
That’s quite bold.
It was a strange time. I would go to parties or other social occasions, and people would ask, “Oh, what do you do for work?” And I’d be like, “Nothing right now.” I was in between careers trying to figure it all out. My husband at the time was super supportive.
During that time, I decided to paint the walls of our apartment. They were white, and I wanted them to be electric blue and yellow. One day, I was singing while painting and went out into the hallway and bumped into our new neighbor, Isabelle Longnus. She asked, “Are you a singer? I heard you singing through the walls.” I was caught off guard. I said, “Well, yeah, I was in a band in high school, but I don’t sing professionally.” That’s when she told me that she was a singer-songwriter and was leaving for France in a few months to tour and promote her new CD. I just blurted out, “Oh, I should come with you. I used to organize events for a living. I can help organize your tour and sing back-up!” I was half-joking, but she thought it was a great idea.
Did you go?
Yes. I went. Again, my husband was very supportive. When I got back, I wanted to keep singing. So, I went to this open mic to get on stage again. I sang a few songs, and when I got off, the sound guy took me aside and said, “Paula, this big entertainment lawyer was here, and he was asking about you. He wants your demo.” I was shocked. I didn’t have a demo, it was literally my first time playing at an open mic
My husband and I went on this quest to find a recording studio and a producer. We met this guy named Charlie Huntley who made music for television. I got a grant from the Canadian government to produce the demo and Charlie eventually helped me complete my EP. I started gigging regularly around town and was fortunate to meet some folks who knew people in TV and film looking for music. It was a combination of hard work and luck that led to some of the songs getting licensed and placed in TV sitcoms and made-for-TV movies. Now, this is where things get a little strange.
I’m not sure how this story could get any stranger, but go on.
About eight months before “How Long (Will it Take)” blew up in December 2023, I started getting messages through my website and on LinkedIn about the songs from that first EP that were in TV shows. Similar to “How Long (Will it Take)”, those songs were never commercially released. It was so bizarre because nobody had asked me about my music in 15 years. Then people started reaching out about some of the songs on my first EP. Months later, “How Long (Will it Take)” became a phenomenon on Reddit.
How much time went by from when you recorded your first demos to when you stopped music again?
Probably like six years. After the EP, there was some interest from people in the music industry, so I decided to do an LP. I was super busy around that time. I was working four days a week at Coca-Cola, along with doing some consulting. Then I’d get home from work, take a 15-minute nap, and head out to a gig. I’d get to bed at 2 AM, wake up at 5:30 AM, and do it all over again.
When were you working on the record?
I had Fridays off. That’s when I’d go to the studio. I worked with a producer named Jonathan Anderson who’s still actively producing music in Vancouver. He really shaped “How Long (Will it Take)”, along with bandmates Trevor Grant on drums and John Bews on Bass.
But then as the record was getting mixed, I started to feel uncertain as my vision felt a bit diluted by a mixer who had a very different aesthetic than mine. He wanted it to sound super bright and slick, which at the time was what radio wanted. As happenstance would have it, I met someone at one of my gigs who recommended I check out an Irish artist Gemma Hayes who had an upcoming gig in Seattle. I convinced a few friends to drive down with me to see her play at The Crocodile. It was a fairly small venue and we got the chance to meet her and her producer David Odlum after the show.
David was in a band called The Frames and had left the band to produce music. He produced Gemma’s album Night on My Side that was in love with. One night when I was pulling my hair out with the mixes, I sent a bold email to David and asked if he would consider working with me to mix my album. I was so happy when he agreed to come on board to help me finish the record.
Did you get a record deal based off of that album?
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