Caillat relies on fans

When Colbie Caillat is asked to name some of the more unusual places she’s heard her song “Bubbly” blasting from speakers, she smiles, then says shyly: “I haven’t heard it that many times.”

She’s in the minority. The dreamy acoustic guitar groove that started off as a sleeper hit was a radio fixture, and her latest single, “Realize,” sits at No. 20 after three months on the charts.

Months after a friend started a page for Caillat on MySpace, she had more than 100,000 friends on the networking site - and the ear of labels. By the time her debut album, “Coco,” was released, buzz was already strong.

Caillat, 22, plays the Madison Theater in Covington on Monday.

Question: Before you got your page on MySpace, were you sending your music to labels?

Answer: I never sent anything to the record labels. I had just started songwriting and performing, so I would write new songs every month with my friend, Jason Reeves, and each time we’d get a new song, we’d go in the studio and record it, so we never finished a demo CD. I would update my site with all my songs, the new ones that we wrote, and I would ask my fans their opinion on the songs, if they liked it or not.

Q: Did you ever get negative criticism?

A: I encouraged that - I was like, ‘OK, tell me if it’s good or if it’s bad, or what you don’t like about it,’ and everyone would. They ranked my songs - like what ones they liked the most, and what ones they would want played at their wedding … That’s what made my decision on what songs to put on the album.

Q: You eventually wanted a record deal, right?

A: I’ve been singing since I was 11, and I was always telling my parents, ‘I want to be a singer someday.’ And then they told me, ‘If you want to have a career, you have to learn how to play an instrument and write your own songs.’ So over time, I finally got that in my head, and when I was 19 I got my first guitar, and I wrote my first song after my first guitar lesson. So, once I kind of got that way of going about it, that’s when I realized that I wanted a career in this, but I wasn’t really pushing it.

Q: Why not?

A: I’m really shy, so it was hard for me to push my music, or even call venues and be like, ‘I want to play a show.’ My friends usually did it for me. And that’s why my friend put my songs on MySpace for me, so they really helped a lot, because when I’m shy, I don’t know - I get really nervous around people.

Q: Have you broken out of that with the success?

A: I have a little bit. Like, I used to not even sing in front of people, and now I’m playing these huge songs. So it’s definitely helped, but I’m really nervous when I’m up there.

Q: How hard was it to learn the guitar?

A: For me, it’s difficult; it’s still difficult, I’m learning it, but I realize that I can play very simple songs and play four to five chords in a song and write that way. So for me, I’m more of a singer, and the guitar is to just to help accompany me.

Q: Your father, Ken Caillat, is a producer (Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rumors’ was one of his projects). Was he involved in this record?

A: My father did get involved in this record. I wanted him to, and he wanted to; it’s always been my dream because he’s a producer, so I always said, ‘I want you to produce my album someday.’ My producer is actually Mikal Blue, but my dad was in the studio with us every day, and giving ideas and things we would have never thought of for the album. So he really helped a lot.

Q: What was your insight on the industry growing up like you did?

A: Well, my dad taught me a lot about it. I would see how it was when the record label signed bands and if bands would get dropped and just how their career had to progress … just knowing a little bit about it made me feel more comfortable, because I can talk to people and maybe relate to them a little bit more in the business.

Source: news.enquirer.com

May 11th, 2008 by admin Posted in Interviews, Performances |

Coco - The Album

CoCo - the debut album CoCo - the platinum selling album from singer/songwriter Colbie Caillat is available at your local stores! The album features the hit "Bubbly" and great songs such as "The Little Things", "Oxygen" and more! The perfect album for your everyday listening pleasure! Click here to purchase yours!