Listen to Colbie Caillat's "Dreams Collide"
“I may be a late bloomer, but I’m a fast bloomer,” laughs 22-year-old Colbie Caillat in a sunny, chipper way that Southern California girls do better than anybody. “I feel like I kind of played around with the idea of being a singer and musician for so many years, so when I got serious, well, I got serious.”
She got results, too. Soon after picking up the guitar at “the advanced age of 19,” she hooked up with songwriter Jason Reeves and the two started writing acoustic-based pop songs which Caillat posted on her MySpace page. While the initial results were disappointing (“I had only a few thousand hits, nothing to brag about”), from the second Caillat posted “Bubbly,” a tune as sweet and light as it sounds, and impossible to get out of one’s head, the number of hits went through the roof. Caillat now exerts a kind of mesmeric control over the hundreds of thousands, and it may be millions, of visitors to her MySpace page, many of whom helped out in the song selection for her Gold-plus-and-counting debut album, Coco.
Co-produced by Mikal Blue (Five for Fighting, Carrie Underwood), Caillat, and Reeves, with an able assist from Caillat’s father, Ken Caillat, who helped craft Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours into a 30-million-selling giant, Coco is a gentle, inviting, and irony-free listen. Songs such as “The Little Things” and “Feelings Show” are strikingly mature ruminations on love both won and lost, and, as sung in Caillat’s warm, earthy, and unassuming manner (refreshingly devoid of American Idol-inspired calisthenics), they resonate with the head while they charm the heart.
On a rare day off from touring and promotional appearances, Caillat discussed with us her surprising splash on the Billboard charts, and her instinctive approach to the guitar. Coltish, with honey-blonde hair and the kind of fresh-scrubbed complexion one only sees in TV commercials, she radiates a natural warmth. “I’m just me,” she says. “What you hear on my record is who I really am. There’s no put-on in anything I do. I wouldn’t know how.”
There’s been plenty of 10-years-in-the-making overnight sensations, but not in your case.
I know. To even see my name on the Billboard chart is pretty unbelievable. I mean, I’m 22, but I’m not one of those teen idol singers. Sometimes I get a little insecure and intimidated; like I start to think that I haven’t paid my dues enough. But things happen for a reason and I can’t question it all, really. All I can do is what I do, and that’s trying to make great music that can appeal to a wide audience.
What’s doubly amazing is that you picked up the guitar at 19. Your progress on the instrument is quite impressive. You strike me as a player who’s mature beyond her years.
I think it’s from listening to so much music when I was young.
Like you’re so old now!
(laughs) I know! You know what I mean─young, as in a kid, a teenager. By the time I started playing the guitar, I had a really good ear and I knew what sounded right. I could never be one of those players who just bashes around and gets off on making a big racket. I want to play songs. I want to let people in on special feelings. So yeah, I try to play just what’s needed. Look, I’m the first to admit, I don’t know too much on the guitar. I’m a student in every sense of the word. I still know only about four chords─that’s why my songs are so simple. [Laughs]
Let’s talk about your playing style. You alternate being fingerpicking and flatpicking.
It’s not much of a “style” yet; I tend to be all over the place. Some songs I fingerpick, like “Bubbly,” but other ones I do kind of flatpicking on; and others I do kind of strummy-like. I just change with the songs. I rely on instinct when it comes to guitar. I never sit there and go, “Now, on this song I should fingerpick.” Whatever happens happens.
The overall sound of your record recalls that period of ’70s soft-rock, when artists like James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, and Carol King ruled the airwaves─do you agree?
Sure. When I was growing up, my parents were always listening to James Taylor and Joni Mitchell. But there was also Steve Miller and Fleetwood Mac, the Beatles and Tom Petty. That’s what was being played around the house, so it got under my skin and became a part of who I am.
Your father executive produced the album. Was that strange, you know, having “Dad” working with you?
No, it was great. He brought the whole ’70s style of producing to what we were doing. Like he’d say, “Let’s hang a mic from the ceiling when we record the vocal so we can get a room sound”─all these neat tricks he’s learned over the years that nobody else would have thought of. It was interesting. From hearing him talk over the years, I knew he had all of this incredible knowledge about making records, but to actually see him do it, and to be a part of it, it was really cool.
A lot of your songs deal with very intimate details about romantic relationships. Was that weird singing those songs around your father?
No. He knew my songs already, so there were no funny surprises; no moments where I was like, “I can’t sing that in front of him!” (laughs) “Bubbly” isn’t about anybody specific, but “Feelings Show” is. My dad didn’t ask me about the lyrics really. He was more concerned with getting the overall musical package together.
When you were growing up, do you remember your dad having famous people around? Were the members of Fleetwood Mac coming over to borrow sugar and stuff like that?
(laughs) When I was a lot younger, yeah, they’d be over a lot, coming over for dinner and hanging out. And I remember going to Fleetwood Mac concerts with my dad and going backstage with him. It was fun, especially going to Hawaii with Fleetwood Mac. I can definitely say I was exposed to a lot of music and musicians when I was growing up. And I was always singing, too, especially when I was a young girl; I would wake up and just start singing at the top of my lungs. My sister hated it. Our bedrooms were right next to each other, and she was always yelling at me to shut up.
When do you recall starting to take music seriously, as in a possible career?
When I was 11, I really got into Lauryn Hill, and I sang one of her songs in my sixth grade talent show. The experience of getting up on stage and performing for people did it. From that moment on, I was hooked on the idea of performing. My dad tried to help out, of course. He was like, “Okay, then you better start learning the piano.” Which I tried, but I gave up after a few lessons. I got frustrated trying to learn to read music. There was no pay-off. I’m one of those musicians that can only play their own songs; doing other people’s stuff is beyond me. But it was weird: When I finally picked up the guitar and wrote a song with the four chords that I knew, that’s what really solidified it for me. I thought, Wow, if I can do that with only four chords, what if I keep learning this thing? So I stuck with the guitar.
By the way, what are those four chords that you know?
(laughs) Well, I probably know a few more than that by now. But all of the songs on my album consist of G, C, D, and E minor. E minor was the first chord I ever learned ‘cause it’s the easiest─two fingers and you’re there.
Let’s talk about fame. Now, you’re a young, pretty girl in California; you’re experiencing a lot of success very quickly. How will you safeguard yourself against becoming a trainwreck like Britney, or Paris, or Lindsey Lohan─the list goes on and on …
It does seem to go on and on, doesn’t it? It’s sad, too. But the bottom line is, I’m just not that kind of person. I mean, I do like to go out dancing, and I’ll go to bars with my band. But that’s not all I do. I’m really more of a mellow kind of person. I like to hang out at home with my family. Having a good time is important, but I don’t take it too far.
Talk about the way your music exploded on MySpace. You’re like the poster girl of MySpace success.
About a year ago, a friend of mine made a MySpace page for me, and put my songs up for me. Slowly, I’d start getting all of these plays, especially after we put “Bubbly” up, which got me ranked high on the artist chart. People would see me there, so they’d add my page to their pages, and it just spread. I think one of the reasons why I’ve gotten successful from MySpace, though, is because I got very involved with the fans. I would post songs and ask them what they thought, ask for their favorites; and I took their comments very seriously when putting the album together. I think fans appreciate that; that I was really listening to them; and I was making the album with them in mind. That’s been one of the best parts of this whole experience so far. I feel like Coco is definitely representative of me as a person and an artist, but to know that it’s something people want, to have them actually tell me they liked it and wanted it, that’s been really, really special.