In a few hours Serena Ryder will saunter on-stage at Toronto’s Masonic Temple to perform alongside the evening’s headliner, faux-lesbian tart du jour Katy Perry. For now, the Ontario-bred singer-songwriter is curled up on the couch in her downtown apartment, chatting on the line with the Straight while her last load of laundry dries. It’s clear that the glaring juxtaposition isn’t lost on the Juno Award–winning musician.

“It’s surreal—hilarious, actually,” Ryder exclaims, referring to the big night ahead.

If you’ve been following the 25-year-old’s career over the last few years, news of Ryder’s high-profile billing shouldn’t come as a surprise. She has emerged as a favourite among those who swoon for glossy pop numbers with a he-done-me-wrong hook. And on her latest offering, Is It O.K.—a rootsy affair tempered by heartache and angst—Ryder’s star power is undeniable.

“Since I was a little kid, it was something I knew that I was going to be doing,” she says of performing. “I feel very blessed to be where I am.”

With two more Juno nominations this year—for artist of the year and adult alternative album of the year—and enough magazine articles touting her as Canada’s soft-rock sweetheart to cover her mom’s fridge several times over, Ryder could easily let all the success go to her head. Thankfully, the starlet has little use for pretense, even going so far as to poke fun at herself after offering up the following mega-dud of a quote: “I feel like I’m just starting to write good songs that are good.”

Ryder’s honesty has always been a major selling point for her fans. Whether she’s belting out evocative lyrics about a failed relationship, as on “Why Can’t I Love You”, or crooning candidly about falling for “the one” on “Weak in the Knees”, her willingness to put personal trials and tribulations on parade continues to win over audiences. If the prospect of baring her soul to attentive listeners makes the spunky entertainer at all queasy, you’d never know it.

“I feel like being honest and open is one of the most powerful and affirming things you can do in your life, because there’s nothing else but the truth,” Ryder muses. “Once I write a song, it’s up to everyone else to find their own truth in it. Whatever they believe is true, well, that’s the truth. That’s why I hardly ever explain my songs, because I feel like that gets rid of the point. It’s like painting an abstract painting or something and being, like, ”˜This is exactly what it is. You can see it here, here, and here.’ ”

Ryder freely admits that it’s not always easy to put the intimate details of her life on display. “With new songs it’s very tender at first,” she confesses. “It’s sort of like learning how to play the guitar. When you start playing, you have blisters on your fingers and then those blisters turn into calluses. That’s not to say that I’ve become callous, but the calluses are what make me be able to play and do it for hours and hours.”

When Ryder says “hours and hours”, she’s not kidding. Having spent most of last year on the road, the songstress has quickly become a seasoned pro, although the U.S. market still remains largely uncharted territory.

“It was almost like I was starting again,” she remarks of her recent American tour, the first since releasing her international debut on Atlantic. “It was just me and my guitar and playing to people, like, ”˜Hi, I’m Serena. I’m from Canada. I hope you like my music.’ ”

If the Great White North’s response to Ryder’s rich, inspired vocals is any indication, crowds stateside will be fawning over the charismatic performer in no time. It wouldn’t be the first time a young girl plucked from a remote town in Ontario made a splash below the 49th parallel—you might vaguely remember that pop-punker from Napanee?

While bolstering her profile across the border is definitely in the blueprint, right now Ryder is happy to focus on her native land. About to embark on a coast-to-coast tour, she is looking forward to performing one of her most energetic sets yet. “It’s just a great show,” Ryder says proudly. “It seems to me every time I go out I pull from one or two records, but this time I’m pulling out stuff I did with Hawksley Workman when I was 19, stuff from live records, and I’ve even rejigged certain songs. I think it’s one of the most dynamic sets I’ve ever put together.”

Serena Ryder performs at the Juno Awards at GM Place on Sunday (March 29) and the Stanley Theatre on Monday (March 30).