A Conversation with Colbie Caillat – HuffPost 6.10.14
Mike Ragogna: Colbie, I wanted to ask you about your video for “Try.” It’s a very strong statement. How did it come together?
Colbie Caillat: We have a lyric video and a real music video, which we shot just the other day, and when I wrote the song it was all about how, personally, I felt like people around me in the industry and, unintentionally, my record label, was hoping I could be a different-looking–a little sexier, showing more or showing less, if you know what I mean. And that’s what inspired the song, and then when I was trying to find out how to do the video I was talking to my boyfriend Justin, and I said, “I think it should be me in my bathroom, with tons of makeup on, and then I take it off.” We just kept unraveling it from there. I kind of wanted to do a time-lapse of the whole process getting done–the hair, the makeup, the nails–from start to finish, and just completely baring all; it was really difficult for the video, because I started out with zero hair and makeup done; not even a blemish or a zit was touched up. And I had to do a bunch of performance shots like that in tons of bright light and with HD cameras right in my face; it was terrifying! Terrifying because you know everyone’s going to be looking at all those imperfections that could have been fixed up. And then as the video progresses, we put more and more makeup on, and then it’s going to be in reverse, a lot of the scenes, and by end of the video, I’m in full-on hair and makeup, have hair extensions. Then they show me taking the hair extensions out. And it was the same for the nine other women in the video.
I’m so happy that they’re in this video because they’re so real and honest, and a lot of them are crying during the performance shots; it’s so beautiful. We have a redhead with freckles, we have an older dark-skinned woman, an older grey-haired woman, a younger blonde and blue-eyed girl, a girl with short brown hair and tattoos; we really went across the board and everyone can relate. That’s where I went with the actual music video. For the lyric video I wanted to have everyone send selfies, because right now selfies are so out of control; everyone does the duck face, and they make sure they have the best angle on the way they take their pictures of themselves. So I asked my fans and some of my celebrity friends if they would be brave enough to send me a picture and put it out to the public of them looking “au natural.” You’d be surprised how difficult that was for me to get those pictures of everyone. Even if they said yes, they’d still have some bit of makeup on, or they’d put a filter on the lens if they wanted to look cooler, or they’d use that app Facetoons if they wanted to cover up a zit, or they wanted to wait until their blemishes went away. It was so extreme that no one could just let it be as it is. And that’s really my whole point of the song is that we all have it–we all get a zit every once in a while, we all fluctuate on weight, and we know everyone’s going to go grey at some point, so why are we so badly trying to hide it from each other?
MR: You not only had a terrific statement with the official video, but by having and using the selfies with the lyric video, you created a social experiment involving youth and beauty in the culture.
CC: Well, thank you. I’m excited for it to come out, and I hope people are inspired by it.
MR: Look at the people on the video–Sheryl Crow, Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott, Kelly Osbourne, Sara Bareilles… In the end of this, did you feel like you’ve represented a concept pretty fully with this and you’re kind of proud of it?
CC: Oh, I’m so proud, and I’m so proud of everyone who’s helped me with this. It’s stemmed from so many little ideas of every single one of us–the people I wrote the song with, and Babyface producing it so simply; he didn’t want to put drums or any big production on it. We didn’t put any harmonies on the song. We wanted to keep it bare, like the meaning. And my label for believing in the song and wanting me to go out there full force with it. And I’m so proud that they helped me get it this far. My boyfriend had a lot to do with all the little ideas, too. It was so fun. One of the things I was worried about was, “Do I have to start doing all TV performances with no makeup on?” We kind of came up to the conclusion that it’s not about forever being natural only, but it’s about allowing yourself the possibilities, when you want to and when you feel comfortable, and not feeling like always have to alter yourself.
MR: You’re doing something else progressive with your Gypsy Heart EP, which is basically side “A” of your new album. Do you like vinyl?
CC: I love vinyl. My parents raised us listening to that, with the importance of how music sounds, and the quality and everything. So yes, I have a record player and I love listening to it. But I also love convenience; I love immediately downloading a song onto my cell phone and playing it while I’m on my treadmill. I think that having both options is amazing. For when you want that actual listening experience where you sit on your couch in front of those speakers and play the record, and you have to sit there the whole time because it’s going to stop after the fifth song; and I like to be able to play songs in my car on my iPod.
MR: Your dad ended up producing some of the great vinyl records–he was one of the explorers in pushing the sound on vinyl, obviously with Fleetwood Mac and others. So you grew up listening to him pushing the limit and using vinyl as his best medium.
CC: Absolutely, and he encouraged me to do that with my own records. I never would have thought to make a vinyl version of my CDs, so my dad was the one who strongly suggested it and fought for it. It’s expensive to make those, and they’re not purchased that often, so it’s gamble to do that. What I wanted to with putting this EP out is give these first five songs a chance for people to hear them intently, because our attention spans are very short nowadays, especially with work and people having kids and taking them to school and whatever they do. You can only listen to a few songs and then you kind of forget to listen to the rest of the record. There was so much work that was put into this record, so I hope that people get to hear it all.
MR: How did you get all the stars that appeared with you on the video? Did you put the word out, or are they all personal friends of yours?
CC: All the celebrities in the video I texted and asked if they wouldn’t mind being a part of it. And a couple of the people my label reached out to, like Kelly Osbourne and maybe Sheryl Crow, though I knew her from touring. The rest were just girls I knew, and my friends and family, and then all of my fans. I love seeing them in this weird video; it’s so cool that they sent all those pictures, and I can’t wait for you to see it.
MR: How was it working with Babyface?
CC: It was incredible. He’s really my favorite producer and I’ve worked with so many. He can record any genre that you want. I did five songs with him for this record, and one is folk, one is a little folk/pop, another one’s completely pop/R&B, and they’re all so different from each other, and the quality of songs, like how they’re recorded–when my dad talked about the sound quality of Rumors, he put so much work and effort into it–and I just had the best time working with him; and I’ll admit it was very intimidating, because it’s Babyface, you know. So the first session I had with him, I was very nervous and I wasn’t sure how it was going to go. Every time we worked together afterwards, it became a really fun thing, and especially with “Try”; Babyface was the one that inspired me to write that song. Instead of me just venting to him about what I was going through with my label and how I was feeling, he told me to write about it. That’s really what they were requesting. So I owe him everything for that, because he paved the way and showed me how to be brave.
MR: You worked with David Hodges on this project, as well as Jason Reeves, an Iowa boy. Jason Reeves is one of the best-kept secrets. How did that happen?
CC: Believe me, I have no idea, but he’s working on a new record. He and his wife are a duo, and they have a record coming out soon that’s incredible. So you’re going to hear that. But I wanted to work with Jason–I worked with him on every single record–he’s on about half the record, and a couple of the Babyface tracks. He wrote “Try” with me as well.
photo credit: Kurt Iswarienko
MR: “Bubbly” was how you broke into music. Looking back at that period versus now, how do you think you’ve grown creatively?
CC: I’ve learned to experiment a lot more and know that it’s okay to try new things. With my first record, I didn’t even know I was recording a record; I was recording songs every day that Jason, Mikal Blue and I wrote together. It was summertime, we had nothing to do so we were recording songs every day for fun. Then it became the demo which became the record, and that was that. I talk to Michael now, and he’ll say, “Oh, you’re doing so many different vocal things; I wish you would have let me have you stretch your voice when you were younger,” but I was too scared, and write about things I was too scared to say at that point, because I was 20. But the older you get, the more comfortable in your skin you are, and you have more experiences to write about. Also I have new connections; I can write with all these amazing, brilliant writers and producers, and that to me is incredible because they’ve helped me get this far.
MR: It feels like you’re empowering yourself in a really positive way through your experiences, maybe in a way you hadn’t earlier.
CC: Thank you, and it is. Honestly it’s day by day like, “Oh yeah, you seriously don’t have to try that hard,” and the next day, “Oh yeah, it’s okay, that picture you’re going to post is completely fine–it’s real, it’s what you took.” It’s little things that I’m teaching myself to stop being so vain about.
MR: Yeah. Another major highlight for your career is Jason Mraz. Your duet with him was another spike; the Grammy for that, and just the experience of the reaction to it must have been career/creative/life-changing for you, right?
CC: Yeah it was. He’s amazing, and I was a huge fan of his for years. I’d practice singing harmonies to his records, and he’s an incredible vocalist, so I learned a lot from him. And when my manager told me that Jason Mraz wants to call me, I was just amazed. He said he had a song started and he wanted me to help him finish writing it. I’m so grateful for that experience, not only because he’s an incredible artist and a really amazing human being, but we got to perform that song around the world together–in Asia, Portugal, Brazil, Hawaii, all over the US–and that my first Grammy ever was with him, I’m just so grateful for that.
MR: You have something in common with him in that you’re both very socially minded in terms of causes, and you especially with animals–Humane Society, the ASPCA and Farm Sanctuary. How strongly do you get involved in that, and how much time do you devote to those kinds of endeavors?
CC: I would personally like to do more. I want to be hands-on with them; like the Humane Society, ASPCA and Farm Sanctuary go on raids and they rescue these animals, and I would love to do that. You have to go through a training course to be able to do that, so I hope eventually that I’ll be able to, because I think that personally being able to rescue these animals would be the most rewarding, but I also have to remember that me being able to speak about all these causes on shows or on national television also helps raise awareness. I’m doing my part as much as I can, but I would like to be doing more.
MR: I’ve recently been exposed to the concept of a CAFO [confined animal feeding operation] for the first time in my life; It’s now very hard for me to eat meat. It’s amazing–if someone knew all the facts, I bet it would make a vegetarian out of them in a second.
CC: That’s what it did to me, and that’s the thing is that most people really don’t know what really goes on. They think they’re happy cows living in a field, or happy chickens. The thing that’s difficult for me is that most of my friends don’t even want me to tell them; they don’t want to stop eating meat; they’re ignorant in the way of not wanting to know the information so they don’t have to change their ways. And that’s upsetting to me a little bit, because obviously, meat was great, and I miss it at times, but it’s the sacrifice for the way these animals should be treated. So that’s so great that you’ve become aware of these issues. It’s step by step, too.
MR: On another note, Colbie, what advice do you have for new artists?
CC: To follow your gut, and make music or whatever art form you do, make something you’re proud of and excited to perform to promote every single day of your life, because that’s really what it becomes. So make sure it’s you, and that you really love it and believe it.
Transcribed by Emily Fotis