Emjay (born Marie-Josée Riel on December 9, 1974) is a dance artist of Fren… Read Full Bio ↴Emjay (born Marie-Josée Riel on December 9, 1974) is a dance artist of French-Canadian decent. She originates from Rockland, just outside of Ottawa and had a series of dance hits throughout the 1990s. Her style of dance music was Euro Dance with high-energy techno beat and passionate female vocals. Her music was rather well-known to Canadian dance music fans.

Her passion for music began at age 12, with a 7 year stint singing as a backup vocalist with a local Ottawa band. She devoted virtually all her spare time practising the many different choreographs, along with aerobic training to ensure she was in top shape for her live performances of non-stop singing and dancing. Even at that young age, Emjay was willing to work hard and do what it took to attain her dream; to one day become a lead singer. The effort was well recognised; the band won 8 American Guild Awards. Still with the band in 1993, Emjay won first place as Pop Solo Artist at the American Guild Awards.

In 1994 she recorded a solo project, resulting in her first recording contract with Primus, and the song "Sound Of My Heartbeat", which charted at #7 on The Record's Dance chart. More singles followed, "Fascinated" (a cover of the 1986 hit by Company B) rose to #5, "Flying To The Moon" to #3, and her biggest success yet to come, "In Your Arms". In July 1995, she performed at the Théâtre du Forum in Montreal alongside Bananarama, Whigfield, Los Del Mar, BKS and others, in front of a 5000 capacity-crowd.

In August 1995, Emjay's first album, In Your Arms was released. This debut earned her five hit singles in Canada, and In Your Arms led to her first Juno for Best Dance Recording at the 26th Annual Juno Awards, on January 29, 1997, and a MuchMusic Video Award.

In November 1997 Emjay signed with Tycoon Records. Although a new album never appeared, her single "Over & Over" led to Emjay once again being nominated for Best Dance Recording at the Juno Awards.

You Say Love
Emjay Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

You knew a friend of mine
It did not take your time
To make her fall at your feet
You took her for a ride
To know she's not ...
She's not waht she used to be

You say love, I say no

Got to let your love and be true
You say you, I say me
Got to let your love and be free
So come on, can't you see
I'm not the girl you want me to be
If you want to get me
Would you ... trying and see
You say love

Why do you come to me
Just after what I've seen
Wanting me to open my heart
I know right from the start

That you would break her heart
And you're not gonna do that to me

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Emjay's song "You Say Love" are about a woman who is wary of a man's advances because she has seen him hurt her friend before. The woman points out that the man did not take much time to charm her friend, and she fears that he will do the same to her. She warns him that she is not the kind of girl he thinks she is and that if he wants to get to know her, he has to try harder.

The woman rejects the man's notion of love and tells him that he should focus on being true to himself instead. She wants him to understand that he cannot force her to be the girl he wants her to be, and she also does not want him to break her heart like he did her friend's. She challenges the man to prove his love by putting in the effort and not just relying on his charm and smooth talking.

The song is a cautionary tale about not being too trusting of someone who has a track record of hurting people. It is also about the importance of being true to oneself and not trying to change someone else. The chorus of the song, "You say love, I say no, got to let your love and be true" emphasizes this message of staying true to oneself.

Line by Line Meaning

You knew a friend of mine
You were acquainted with someone I know

It did not take your time
You didn't hesitate or waste much time

To make her fall at your feet
To easily charm or seduce her into liking you

You took her for a ride
You acted deceitful or manipulative towards her

To know she's not ...
To eventually realize that she isn't the person you thought she was

She's not what she used to be
She has changed or been negatively impacted by your actions

You say love, I say no
You claim it is love, but I disagree

Got to let your love and be true
You should let your true feelings be known

You say you, I say me
You focus on yourself, while I focus on myself

Got to let your love and be free
You should let your love be free and not try to control or manipulate it

So come on, can't you see
Can't you understand or comprehend