NEW SINGLE: Take It All

 

I am very excited to be premiering the audio to my new single, Take It All, today! Take It All is the first single from my upcoming EP, Experiments, and kicks off the launch of my new sound!  The single is strongly influenced by commercial drum and bass, whilst keeping the pop vibe my music always has had… the result is a something with a little more edge and maturity than my last EP, but the same focus on lyrics and melody!

Take It All will be available to buy and stream on all major digital retailers on November 17th and available to pre-order on iTunes on October 20th.  I really hope you enjoy it and I look forward to sharing the official video soon!

 

Falling Back Together (Deep House Mix)

Back in March, the deep house remix of my second single, Falling Back Together, premiered on Deep Sounds Soundcloud account.  This was amazing as they have such a huge following on soundcloud and meant that my music was able to reach a wider audience!  To this date, the mix has had over 68K plays and over 1000 likes!  The deep house mix is my favourite remix of Falling Back Together, so if you like dance music I recommend you give it a listen!

iluvlive Manchester

 

 

In April 2016, I was lucky enough to be able to perform at the Fallow Cafe, Fallowfield, as part of the iluvlive Manchester showcase event.  This was a really amazing experience for me as it was the first time I had performed my original songs with a a live band.  The crowd was so friendly and supportive, so it was the perfect place to debut my newest single at the time, Not Stupid Anymore.  I felt extremely privileged to be performing alongside a group of extremely talented artists and to be invited to do such a great event!  Below is a video of me performing my first single, Stuck In Limbo, live at the event.

 

 

 

Music Player

Reload Sessions

Recently I had the opportunity to go down to London  and record two live sessions for an amazing YouTube channel called Reload Sessions!  I was lucky enough to get to visit the Google offices and record in the YouTube studios.  It really was one of my favourite experiences that I have had since starting to pursue music as career.  Everyone involved was so lovely and made me feel so relaxed and surprisingly I hardly suffered from any stage fright at all! I chose to do an acoustic cover of Sorry by Justin Bieber and an acoustic cover of my song Stuck In Limbo and I think it went quite well…. The videos should be up on their YouTube channel in the next few weeks so fingers crossed they have turned out great!

My Upcoming Music Video (Part 2)

The plan for my music video has been changed a little bit since my last post!  Me and my producers spoke to the promo company that we are planning to use to promote the single, Stuck In Limbo, and they felt the video was too much like real life and a different approach may be better. As the track is a house mix, the plan is now to have a more upbeat and cheerful video focused on beautiful scenery with intimate and close up shots of me and a friend on a road trip. Certain elements of the previous storyboard remain in the new plan but with more of an emphasis on summer and fun shots.

The video will start off with me in a busy city and this scene will be shot with a time lapse effect, where it looks like the surroundings are moving at hyper-speed whilst I’m not moving.  This is meant to represent the ‘limbo’ theme of the song.  The rest of the video’s scenes are meant to represent a dream or memory state to a better time and take place on a road trip to the coast.  The location is Dungeness, Kent, where there are some cool old boats and other interesting features on the beach to shoot around, as well as the sea and sand itself.  The whole of the video apart from the short opening section in the city will focus on the scenery and natural beauty, as the aim is to keep the video upbeat and not too serious, like an escape from limbo to a better place and time.

I’m filming the video this weekend, Sunday 23rd August, in Milton Keynes and Dungeness, and despite being a little nervous I’m very excited to be doing my first music video!  I’m working with a great team of really creative and lovely people, so I have total faith that despite the changes to the storyboard, the video will turn out great!  I’m sure my next post will have some beautiful pictures from the shoot!

Stuck In Limbo

Stuck In Limbo is a song that is very close to my heart and also happens to be the song me and my producers have chosen to be my first ever single.  There are three versions of the track that have currently been produced: the original song as I wrote it, a house remix and a garage remix.  I can be seen performing the original on my YouTube Channel or below, however, it is the house remix that we have selected to be the debut track off the EP, as it’s just so upbeat and catchy.

The song is about a very intense relationship with lots of ups and downs. Like most of my original songs, it is written from a place of personal experience and genuine emotions.  At the time of writing the song I felt like I had no idea where a relationship was going and how to resolve all the issues, despite still loving the other person.  This led me to feel like we were ‘stuck in limbo’ because I didn’t know whether we would or should break up or stay together.  I tried to get across the feelings of confusion and hurt through the lyrics of the song and the awkward position of being trapped in a middle place between being happy together and being happy apart.  The song is one of the slowest and most ballad-like that I have written, with a slow, soulful feel to it.  Below is a video of me performing the original version of this song in the studio in London…. I hope you like it!

My Upcoming Music Video

I would like to talk about the video that is being planned for one of my songs at the moment!  The plan is to release a ten track EP consisting of both a house and garage remix of five of the songs I have written and this should hopefully be happening this summer.  It has been decided the lead track will likely be the house remix of a song I wrote called ‘Stuck In Limbo’, so a video is now in the works!

Stuck In Limbo is about a volatile relationship, which was going through a particularly rough patch, so I wanted a video that managed to get this story across.  I have been working on potential scripts with the producers of my EP and we have come up with a video idea focussing on a young couple in a relationship that is on the rocks.  In the video they will be shown at the start as disinterested in each other and unhappy, whilst contrasted against a loved up new couple.  As the video develops, the couple becomes further and further apart and this builds to a climax.  In the end the couple have the option to either fight for what they have and patch things up or to leave the relationship behind… and I will leave the ending to be revealed when the song and video are released.

The video will also have some art effects employed in order to intensify the feeling that the couple have lost their passion and their way.  The title ‘Stuck In Limbo’ refers to them being lost and not knowing whether the relationship can or should be saved.  The idea is to have a time lapse effect that makes it seem like the main characters are moving much more slowly than their surroundings to make them seem isolated and in ‘limbo’. The colour saturation of the video will be lower than normal too to give a dull and faded feel to the scenes in order to convey the loss of passion.

So excited to finally start planned things like videos and EP releases in order to try and realise my dream of being a singer as soon as I can! Below is a link to me performing the original version of ‘Stuck In Limbo’ in a studio in London.  Fingers crossed that I will be posting the finished music video on here next!

Get To Know Me Q & A

Favourite Artist/Band?

This is a difficult question as there are so so many artists I admire and love but if I had to pick three, I would pick John Mayer, Nirvana and Fleetwood Mac.

 Favourite Album?

This is easy for me as there is one album I will play all the way through whenever I need to relax, and that is John Mayer – Where The Light Is.  The album is the whole of his concert in LA live, so has all of his best tracks along with the audience reactions and great guitar solos linking the songs.  For me it’s just perfect!

Favourite Song?

I have two favourite songs and they are both a bit odd! One is Len – Steal My Sunshine, as it just cheers me up whenever I listen to it and it’s perfect for a sunny day.  The other is Sufjan Stevens – For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti.  I just think that song is so beautiful and the banjo part is so relaxing and lovely.

Best Performer I Have Seen Live?

I have seen many great artists in concert, such as Beyonce, Rihanna, Sam Smith, but hands down the best was London Grammar.  I saw them at a festival in Nottingham called No Tomorrow and they were just amazing!  The whole band is so talented, with great songs and Hannah Reid’s voice is mesmerising.  The album is great, but live they are out of this world!

What Instruments Do I Play?

I mainly sing and play piano to accompany myself, but I also play saxophone (badly nowadays!).

How Do I Write My Songs?

I’m a strong believer that you can’t force song-writing or the song won’t have feeling and will be pretty crap.  I carry a notebook with me a lot of the time and always take one on holiday, just in case any ideas hit me when I’m on the go.  Then I go to the piano and work out a melody and chords.  Usually I write lyrics first, then melody and then accompaniment, although occasionally I think of the melody and lyrics together.

How Would I Describe My Original Music?

If I had to label my songs with a genre I would probably say Pop, but I would like to think that they aren’t superficial even though they are upbeat.  I write mostly about my own experiences and emotions, which I think makes my songs heartfelt and easy for others to relate to.

My Music Career So Far?

I’m really just getting started as I have spent the last three years concentrating on my academics, whilst doing music on the side.  My parents wanted me to have a back up plan, in the form of a degree, in case singing doesn’t work out, so I have been at university studying for the past three years, whilst writing music and travelling down to London to record.  At the end of these three years I now have a 1st Class Honours Degree in Chemistry from the University of Nottingham, a fully produced 10 track pop album and a 10 track EP of house and garage remixes of my songs ready to release this summer (hopefully!), so I’m ready to tackle whatever life throws my way!

And Finally, Why Do I Want To Be A Musician?

I’ve always loved singing ever since I was young and when I was 18 I decided I wanted to make the transition from hobby to career.  I’ve spent the last three years focusing on my back up plan, so now I’m ready to give what I really love a shot! Music has got me through some rough times and I love the idea of being able to touch people with my music and maybe provide the same sort of peace for someone else.  The absolute dream would be to perform and have a crowd singing my lyrics back to me; I think that would be the most amazing feeling in the world!

Not Stupid Anymore

Not Stupid Anymore was the first song I decided to perform for my YouTube channel and it is still one of my favourites of my own compositions. When I wrote the song I was almost ranting on paper about how I felt about someone at the time and it was a release to just get it all out!

The story behind the lyrics is how no matter how hard you work to get over someone who is bad for you and no matter how hard you try to shut them out of your life, sometimes it can be impossible to let go of all your feelings for them completely.  It’s about feeling conflicted between the desire to forgive them when it seems like they have changed their ways and the need to turn them away in order to protect yourself from the inevitable fall out when they change back.  Ultimately I was trying to write a positive and upbeat pop song with a deeper message about the issues of breakups when there are unresolved feelings.

On my YouTube channel, Sally Caitlin, the video of this song is me performing a garage remix live in a studio in London.  I really hope you enjoy it…. so go check out Not Stupid Anymore!