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When Farideh Olsen became a mother, she stepped away from the spotlight.
As the Saskatoon musician navigated the highs and lows of caring for a small child, she stopped touring with her band, Rosie & the Riveters.
Four years later, she is using the same struggles that held her back as the inspiration for a brand-new musical venture.
Her comedic musical musings that took off on TikTok are now part of a live show she’s touring across Saskatchewan. The new show will debut at the Halifax Comedy Festival later this month.
Farideh Olsen’s life completely changed when she welcomed her daughter to the world in 2015. She continued performing with Rosie & the Riveters for a few years, but eventually left the traditional music scene. (Rosie & the Riveters/Facebook)
“Becoming a mom was really difficult for me. I felt like I fell a rung in society,” she said.
Olsen, who tours and performs under her first name, Farideh, said she lost herself in the midst of caring for a child and doing the daily tasks that women often assume as new mothers.
“That work of taking care of a home is invisible to society, so it’s invisible to your husband, but it’s also invisible to you,” she said.
“Your husband will be like ‘What did you do all day?’ and you’re like ‘Nothing. I kept people alive, I washed some dishes 17 times, I tried to clean this house…’ At the end of the day you’re exhausted, and it was not interesting in the least.”
At first, Olsen juggled her new responsibilities while performing with Rosie & the Riveters, a pop-folk band with a focus on feminism. Eventually, she decided she had to leave the traditional music scene behind.
“Being a musician (who) is touring and being a mom is really difficult,” she said. “So I started making content.”
The TikTok effect
Olsen began writing and recording music that highlighted the daily struggles she was facing as a mother. Her upfront, honest songs about motherhood took off and quickly went viral, amassing hundreds of thousands of followers on TikTok and other social platforms.
The astonishing response to her content was a pleasant surprise to Olsen.
“As a musician, you’re told ‘Don’t write about motherhood. It makes you look uncool and old.’ So when I started doing comedy (about) motherhood, it felt like quite a creative risk. Because I didn’t want to look old,” she laughed. “But I realized I had so much to say.”
She realized that many others felt just as alone as she had felt in her first few years of motherhood, and were finding comfort in knowing someone else was experiencing the same thoughts and emotions.
“My favourite (comment) that I see under my videos is ‘I feel seen,'” she said. “That brings me so much joy. Even though they’ve never met me, they know that I know what their life looks like. Their life is not invisible to me.”
Farideh Olsen has shows coming up in Prince Albert, Saskatoon, Regina and Moose Jaw, and will be taking part in the Halifax Comedy Festival in the coming weeks. (Alex Brown/650 CKOM)
While many of her videos have over a million views, Olsen described going viral as “a psychological challenge.”
“It’s very exciting. Everybody is commenting. You get lots of lovely comments and you get lots of hate comments,” she said. “It’s a lot to manage, to be honest. But when people send me long messages about what a terrible mother I am because I feed my daughter macaroni, I don’t take that personally.”
Many of Olsen’s songs tackle the controversial issue of gender inequality between mothers and fathers.
“I think sometimes we can think that the equality of men and women has already been achieved, when really it’s just something that continues to evolve,” she explained.
One of Farideh’s most popular songs, “You Are Such a Good Dad,” focuses on the different expectations that are placed on mothers as opposed to fathers. She says while moms are expected to keep the house clean and care for the children, dads are praised simply for being present in their child’s lives.
Olsen said her husband is incredibly supportive of her career, even when he becomes the subject of her comedic songs.
“He’s been married to me for a long time. None of these concepts (are) anything he hasn’t heard before,” she laughed.
While navigating her success online has been challenging at times, Olsen said she’s grateful for the opportunity to have her work seen by so many people around the world.
“Living in Saskatchewan as an artist, it’s sometimes difficult to build an audience,” she said. “The cool thing about being online is that great, unusual content is rewarded. So I’ve been really blessed to be able to build an audience.”
That audience will have the opportunity to see Olsen live and in person as she steps back into the spotlight over the next few weeks.
“This show is primarily for moms,” she said. “What I hope is that moms come to the show and just feel seen.”
