Body Of Mine is my ever first collaboration single and is a track I recorded with the lovely Sophie Smith! As we are both solo female artists, I thought it would be fitting for our collab to be an empowering track about the obsession with the appearance of women as it is something that most girls can relate to!
When I was writing Body Of Mine, I really wanted to address the fact there is so much pressure on girls to look a certain way and often we let that define us. Beauty is seen as such a valuable quality in this society, when really we should be focusing on more important things such as intelligence, kindness and our own self-confidence. It’s a song celebrating women and all they achieve!
As the message of the track is something I think is incredibly important, I knew it needed a great video to really drive the lyrics home. I wanted to shoot a video with lots of ladies of different ages, sizes and races and capture a really fun, carefree vibe! I am very lucky to have an amazing videographer friend who was crazy enough to take on the huge task of shooting the video and editing it in two weeks with me!
13 cast members…. 4 hours of set up… 40 hours of shooting…. 50 hours of editing and many buckets of glitter later, the video to Body Of Mine was born! Check it out below and also make sure you check out the incredible camera woman extraordinaire Geena Sharma-Singh and the amazing Sophie Smith too! Make sure you like, share and comment on the video if you enjoy it!
This week has been full of music but also full of decisions! I’m not the best with change or endings of any type and I’m absolutely awful at making big decisions! I tend to get really stressed and anxious and put off making them until it’s almost too late! This week marked my final ‘official’ week at college, so one of my main decisions was how I am going to spend my Tuesdays and Fridays from now on and whether I want to study any further in music! So this week has been full of mind maps and soul searching…
Monday: Monday was such a beautiful day so I tried to make the most of the sun by playing tennis in the morning and then sunbathing a bit in the afternoon! I was working on my release plan for the Experiments EP videos whilst I was tanning and have decided that the video for Deja Vu should be premiering towards the end of July, which is very exciting! In the evening I went to HOME in Manchester to watch the new Whitney Houston documentary ‘Whitney: Can I Be Me?’. Whitney is obviously a massive idol of mine as a singer and I really enjoyed learning more about her personal life, her struggles and her start in music. What I found interesting was hearing how even she struggled with her voice on tour!
Tuesday: I went into college to submit all my work and record some vocals for Alive. I started from scratch again and got the whole of the lead vocal done in about an hour and a half which was great! I then got a bounce of the track, so I could listen to them overnight to see whether I was happy with the vocals and what harmonies I fancied putting on. I also got scouted for the X-Factor from my Facebook page however, as I see myself as more of a songwriter than anything, I didn’t think it was the right fit for me.
Wednesday: After deciding I was happy with the vocals, I put the harmony and ad lib parts down for Alive, which wasn’t quite as easy as it should have been as my voice was playing havoc! Luckily it finally cooperated enough to get a take I was happy with!
I then recorded my Wednesday Cover, which this week was Somebody Else by 1975. I absolutely love this song and had a lot of fun working out how to translate it to a loop version! Such a catchy track with a great 80s throwback feel, which is something I’m really into myself at the moment as Alive has that vibe. Check out the full version below:
Thursday: On Thursday I had my roots done, which always makes me feel better but is very boring when I’m in the salon! I used this time to research promoters in Manchester and make notes on them. After that I played golf and went out for tea, which was lovely. As always, I updated my Thursday Twenty playlist, but I did it when I was slightly tipsy so got a very interesting mix of songs!
Higher Ground by Aron– Love this! I found it when searching for Stevie Wonder’s Higher Ground, but it was a very happy accident! Great track!
Oliver Twist by D’banj– Bit of a throwback but a true summer favourite of mine!
Wild Thoughts by DJ Khaled, Rihanna and Bryson Tiller– Not usually a DJ Khaled fan, but this track is great! I’ve recently been experimenting with putting electric guitar in tracks and in Wild Thoughts it works perfectly.
Feels So Good by Mase– Another biggg throwback!
Down by Fifth Harmony
Juicy by The Notorious B.I.G
Proud Mary by Tina Turner– I adore this song and constantly watch videos of her or Beyoncé performing it live!
My Love Is Your Love by Whitney Houston
Somebody by Natalie La Rose
Human (Rudimental Remix) by Rag ‘n’ Bone Man
Hook, Line & Sinker by Royal Blood – I love Royal Blood and from what I’ve seen they totally smashed it at Glasto!
Life’s About To Get Good by Shania Twain– Another idol and I’m super excited she’s brought out a new track!
The Line (Offiah Remix) by Raye
Sweatpants by Terror Jr
Look At Us Now by Lost Kings
I’m A Fan by Pia Mia feat. Jeremih
Buh Bye by LIZ LOKRE – LOVE this! The middle 8/breakdown is especially great!
Naked by Gil Glaze
Rock It by Rave Radio
Just For One Night by Blonde feat. Astrid S – I think Astrid S is such a fab player in the new pop scene and this collab with Blonde has a great vibe and a killer chorus.
Friday: The main aim on Friday was to get a first mix done of Alive. We spent a couple of hours looking at compression, reverb and levels. We’d already done a mix without the vocals, so the focus was getting the vocals and harmonies sitting right with the track and tweaking the other levels. Since then I’ve had a listen to the mix on six different speakers and written notes, ready to tweak next week.
I also had my final day at college and found out I was shortlisted for Student Of The Year and Song of the Year, which was great after all my hard work! The track I entered in the competition is called Shackles and it is one of my favourites from my upcoming album… have a listen to a clip me performing it below!
Saturday: I did some more research on promoters and did some writing for a collaboration I have coming up. I’m dueting with a great singer from Mansfield called Sophie Smith, which will be fun as I haven’t done much collaborating yet!
Sunday: I played tennis, worked out and then started contacting some of the promoters I have been researching… fingers crossed it leads to some great gigs!
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed the insight into my life at the moment! 🙂
So excited to be able share my brand new single ‘Lead Me Down’ from my upcoming Experiments EP! It is my favourite track off the EP as it’s got a really moody and sexy vibe. I would describe it as an electro synth-pop track with a bit of an edge and a catchy, sing-a-long chorus. The lyrics were inspired by the feeling of having nothing to lose and wanting to be reckless, even though you know it’s not the best decision. It’s about living in the moment and doing something because it feels good and not worrying about whether you will regret it after it’s done.
Lead Me Down was released on 16th February on all major digital distributors (iTunes, Spotify, Amazon etc) and I am hoping to release the video very soon! I recently shot videos for all the tracks on my EP and the video for Lead Me Down will be the first one I premiere… So keep your eyes peeled for that!
2017 marks the release of my new EP, Experiments, so I am aiming to be gigging as much as possible! I’ll be doing acoustic cover gigs as well as original gigs with my guitarist, so there is plenty of choice!
Acoustic Cover Set – The Royal Scot, Marple Bridge, Cheshire – 14th January at 9:30pm
East Cheshire Hospice Ladies Lunch – The Bridge Hotel, Prestbury, Cheshire – 2nd February at 12:15pm
Acoustic Cover Set – The Cheshire Cheese, Gee Cross, Cheshire – 18th February at 9:30pm
Acoustic Cover Set – Marple Tavern, Marple, Cheshire – 29th April
Acoustic Cover Set – Platform One, Romiley, Cheshire – 5th May
Acoustic Original Set at Sunday Sessions – Fab Café, Portland Street, Manchester – 7th May at 7:00pm
Supporting Inhale – Gullivers, Northern Quarter, Manchester – 13th May
Original Set at Absent Kelly’s Camden Clique – Proud Camden, Camden, London – 19th May at 6:00pm
Original Set supporting Art Fan Delay – Hangar 34, Liverpool – 1st June at 8:00pm –
Original Set at Access to Music’s Summer Showcase – Cinnamon Club, Bowdon, Manchester – 5th June at 7:30pm
I hope to see some friendly faces at all the gigs and check out my Facebook page for details of open mics and radio appearances!
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!
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!
With my upcoming single release in November, followed by the EP release in early 2017, I am hoping to promote my new material as much as possible by playing it live! I have a few live shows booked for the upcoming months and I will also be playing as many open mics as possible, which I will post about on my Facebook Page.
If you want to catch me performing a live acoustic set, you can catch me at these venues on the following dates:
Winter Wonderland Charity Ball in aid of The East Cheshire Hospice – Mere Golf Resort and Spa, Cheshire – 25th November at 7pm
Quack Open Mic (Headline Guest) – White House, Stalybridge, Manchester – 28th November at 9pm
Quack Open Mic (Headline Guest) – The Navigation, Marple, Cheshire – 29th November at 9pm
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.
Call Me Whatever You Want was the single that I chose to use to promote the release of Not Stupid Anymore (The Deluxe Version) as it was so catchy and upbeat. It was actually the first song that I ever professionally recorded so, for this reason, I chose to keep the imagery fairly simple and just focus on the lyrics and the message I wanted to get across. The song is about finally having the courage to move on from a relationship and admitting to yourself that it is not working. The concept of the person leaving not being ‘the bad guy’ but being the brave and selfless one is what I wanted to get across with this. I felt that this was a slightly new perspective on a typical relationship milestone and something I wanted to explore. The pink crumpled background in the video with the lyrics on top is almost like a goodbye letter that has been written and then discarded, which I thought was perfect for this song with its theme of a bittersweet farewell.
As Not Stupid Anymore was released in April, I felt like a summery, happy video would be really perfect for this track as we were approaching hotter months of the year! For this reason, we decided to shoot in Portugal and create something with really vibrant colours and a positive energy. The end result was a ‘flipbook’ type of effect, with lots of snapshots played in quick succession, giving the feel of holiday memories. The pictures were interspersed with performance videos of me in different coloured bikini tops and pop-ups of the key lyrics in the song. We focused our scenes on the most quintessentially summery things like sangria, the beach, the pool and partying to create the most fun snapshots we could! Also, as the song is about love and girl power, I couldn’t help but add some heart shaped sunglasses and a heart shaped rubber ring!
sally caitlin 