Colbie Caillat: A Sustained Overnight Sensation (Part 1 of 2)

The term “overnight sensation” describes a phenomenon that rarely ever happens. But to some degree it applies to Colbie Caillat. She seemingly came out of nowhere, becoming a bona fide success on MySpace, landing a record deal and releasing a blockbuster debut album, 2007’s Coco. Caillat would go on to a successful and sustained career, with her gentle folky pop earning her a legion of dedicated fans. In recent years, her musical journey has taken her toward country music, and her most recent release, This Time Around finds her teaming up for an album’s worth of duets.

Caillat’s current tour is a joint effort with Gavin DeGraw; the pair covers Post Malone’s “Circles” on the new disc. In our recent conversation, Colbie Caillat discussed her start in music, her breakthrough, her songwriting process, how she deals with stage fright and much more.

Your dad is Ken Caillat. As a child, how aware were you of your father’s work as a Grammy-winning record producer and engineer for artists like Fleetwood Mac, Michael Jackson and Warren Zevon?

I was aware music was in our house. We had a [studio] mixing console on our pool table in the living room. There was always music blasting out of the speakers. I would [often] get to go to the label or to the studio and hear about all of it. I always loved Fleetwood Mac. I’d hear their music in places, and I was like, “Oh, that’s so cool. My dad worked with them!”

Did your father’s work in the world of music influence your own path as an artist?

It helped give me the tools to really home in on my love of singing. Early on, my parents could tell that I had a good voice, and then once they knew that was something I was passionate about – I wouldn’t stop singing all over the house – they were like, “Wow. If you want to do this, you should. Why don’t you take piano lessons, guitar lessons and vocal lessons?” So because I had the interest and the talent, they gave me the tools to progress with it. They gave me those tools, but they didn’t give me any connections. After that, it really all happened [via] MySpace.

You’ve said that Lauryn Hill’s performance in the 1993 film Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit was a turning point for you; tell me about that.

You know, it’s such a small part of the movie, and she’s only singing part of the song! But her voice is so beautiful and soulful and effortless; when she sings that part, it’s like this pent-up [urge], like she’s afraid to sing. She’s not allowed to sing at home, and then she gets to be in her own world. That was something I really related to, because I didn’t really want to sing in front of people. She thought she was alone, at the piano just really singing her heart out. And I resonated with all of it and how it felt when she was just releasing that feeling, free and in her own world. That was something that really inspired me.

You did have vocal training early on. How did that inform your approach to music?

I was about 15 when I started vocal lessons. It really helped me control my voice and learn better technique. When you’re eventually on the road and touring and singing every night, you have to be able to save your voice: learn the warm-ups and the cool-downs. It was really helpful to help me find my voice, because I was timid and shy. My vocal coach helped me get out of my comfort zone a bit.
Tell me about your experiences auditioning in the early 2000s for American Idol.

Oh, gosh. It wasn’t something I wanted to do. I got encouraged by my friends in high school and from my parents. But I was nervous; I didn’t really want to be on the show. I have stage fright. But when you’re encouraged to do something, you take people’s advice. But I wasn’t ready for something like that.

So I auditioned. We camped out overnight. You have to wait in line with thousands of people, so that’s what I did. I was so shy and quiet and timid, and my outfit was horrible. It wasn’t a good fit at all, but now it’s an experience to talk about.

How did you overcome that stage fright?

It was a really long process; it took many years. I would sing with my eyes closed and not talk or acknowledge the audience. I had a therapist out on the road. At one point, I had a coach out on the road; she would actually talk in my [in-ear monitors] and tell me what to say, because I was so introverted and inexperienced with performing. So she helped me lean into that.

And over the years of having done it so much, learning the techniques and feeling more confident, she also taught me: “Before you go on stage, get calm and centered and tell yourself five great things about yourself – whatever they may be – just to make you feel grounded.” Now I think my performing has transitioned; I’m very honest with people on stage. At the beginning, I was taught to really hide that I was introverted, to hide that I had stage fright. And that made me feel even more terrified!

Once I wrote my song “Try,” and I started explaining the song to the audience, they loved it. And I was like, “Oh, I can tell you that I’m scared.” It freed me from all of that.

Was there a breakthrough moment, a point at which you suddenly found yourself saying, “I’m actually enjoying this”?

It was gradual. I hate to say that for the first many years, I didn’t enjoy it. I don’t even remember a lot of it because of the trauma I was experiencing with the fear. But at a certain point, like three songs into my set, I’d be like, “Oh, this is fun. They’re my audience!”

I think that’s the hard part. At the beginning of my career, you’re trying to gain fans. And later on, it’s your fans coming to see you; they know the songs, and you feel more comfortable. And then I started being like, “Oh, I love this! And I love telling them stories, and I love going to the meet-and-greets and hearing what my songs mean to people.”

To be continued…