Start Listening To: Caitlin

Caitlin discusses country edges in ‘Crocodile Tears,’ borrowed musical traditions, and the making of modern soul.

For Caitlin, her songwriting begins with a story. Raised on the country sounds of Johnny Cash and trained as a jazz vocalist, her music sits at the intersection of lineage and instinct. The result? Songs shaped as much by the narrative tradition of her musical heroes as they are by live performances and connections with her audiences. With the release of her debut album Why’s Everybody So Serious? right around the corner [March 20th], Caitlin is carving out a sound that feels emotionally rich and above all, quietly defiant of traditional genre expectations.

For those unfamiliar with your music, how would you describe what you make and where it comes from?

That’s my true sound, really. Every song I’ve ever written starts off sounding quite country, and then it gets turned into something more modern. Country has always been my main thing — that storytelling instinct is just how my brain works.

You’ve described ‘Crocodile Tears’ as your modern answer to Johnny Cash’s ‘A Boy Named Sue.’ What about that tradition of narrative songwriting drew you in?

I wrote it about three years ago, just going to school every day, listening to Johnny Cash and screaming in the car because I didn’t want to be there. That kind of storytelling felt natural to me, it’s emotional and funny.

The song leans more country than much of Why’s Everybody So Serious?. Was that a deliberate choice?

We were actually going to leave it off because we thought it was too different, but I put my foot down. One of my best friends listens to all my music and loves things that feel current, and she was obsessed with it. She doesn’t listen to country at all, so that convinced me it needed to be out there.

Country influences have been creeping back into the mainstream recently, such as Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter and the country influences of Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan. Did that feel significant to you?

Yeah, I thought, this is it, this is my moment. This is probably only going to happen once in the next fifteen years or so.

You’ve said ‘Crocodile Tears’ is one of the songs you most enjoy performing live. What shifts for you on stage?

It’s like when I cover ‘Mama Don’t’,  you can really interact with the audience. It’s sassy and it tells a story. Country songs don’t work if people aren’t listening, like at a pub gig where everyone’s chatting and drinking. At my own shows, you can see people following the story, laughing at the funny bits, actually understanding it.

You trained as a jazz vocalist and came up playing London jazz clubs with Sol Collective. How does that background show up in your music now?

Working with Sol Collective led me to Ollie Clark, and now my sound is a mix of my instincts and his. Through Ollie I met [her producer] Joshua Woolf, who brought this really modern edge to everything. Before that, I kept getting dropped by labels because I didn’t know what my sound was. Meeting those people is how I really found it.

You perform under just your first name. Why keep it so simple?

My surname, van den Bogaerde, is too long. I thought about using my middle name, Rose, but there are already loads of Caitlin Roses. There are hundreds of Caitlins out there, but none of them sound like me, so I just stuck with it.

You’ve spent a lot of time touring recently. Has being on the road shaped how you write?

Paris completely changed things for me. The audiences there really listen — you can feel that they know how hard you’ve worked to be there. In London, people are there for the night. In Paris and Utrecht, I was becoming friends with everyone. Now when I write, I think about those crowds. Also, their green rooms are amazing, but in London, you’re lucky if you don’t get punched.

The album title Why’s Everybody So Serious? feels playful but slightly pointed. Where did it come from?

It was originally going to be called Crocodile Tears, but obviously it didn’t really fit with the rest of the record. Then we wrote the title track and it just clicked. It’s not political at all, the title track itself is about an ex, but it became this funny, running joke. There’s a million meanings really, but it’s supposed to be unserious, there’s nothing political to it. 

As you step into your debut album and headline tour, what do you hope new listeners understand about you?

My songs are intense and emotional, but I want people to see my silly side too. Songs like ‘Crocodile Tears’ are weird and funny. I want people to take things with a pinch of salt, but I guess as they say, the proof is in the pudding.

Do you see yourself returning to the country sound again?

Always, 100%. I’ve got a whole country album with Ollie that probably won’t come out for a while as we’re both working on our own solo projects, but I’ll never leave that sound behind. I don’t want my music to be one genre, every song on this album is something completely different. My moods change constantly, and I want that chaos reflected in the music I release.