Begonia is your best friend. She’s the whimsical fairy on your shoulder, making you feel all at once comfortable to be yourself while simultaneously making you think what the heck is this fairy doing here and what is she wearing.

Begonia (Alexa Dirks) is a Winnipeg-Born musician and entertainer. Her bold sound and style combined with an intimate connection with her audience invite you to feel everything more deeply, making you feel at once seen and a part of her world that is both brilliantly vibrant and unafraid of the shadows. It’s a space where you’re not just a listener, but a confidante, invited to feel everything more deeply and be exactly who you are, without shame.

Begonia’s longtime artistic collaboration with music producers deadmen (Matt Peters and Matt Schellenberg) is a central part of her career. deadmen has produced, played, and written on nearly all of Begonia’s releases, and they provide her a crucial space to be vulnerable and take risks. The collaboration is anchored by an impenetrable emotional and creative connection.

About the album:

Fantasy Life is a collection of thirteen songs written under the heat of the sun in Los Angeles, California and then recorded during the dead of winter in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It’s about the mundane and the magical, the delusional and the hopeful, the thrilling and the crushing. It’s the promise of spring and then all the snow melts to reveal piles of glittering garbage. It’s watching bright balloons float away into the clouds. It’s a slimy fleshy worm feeding a beautiful garden.

A place to escape to but not to live forever.

As described by Begonia, “There’s a spirit of freedom to this record that was such a big part of the songwriting sessions I had in LA with deadmen. I spent a little over a month in total with them writing this record every day and it’s the most RIGHT in songwriting sessions that I’ve ever felt. Everything felt so easy and fun and that has never happened to me quite like that before. This freedom allowed me to go to more complex places with my voice and in my lyrics than I have in the past. I feel like I’ve grown so much in my sound and my confidence in the last few years and I know that reflects in this record.”