Humouring honesty and hysterics within every lyric she writes, the 'I’m A Problem’ singer-songwriter is anything but a worry for the future of Pop music.
“Live hard, love loudly, and don’t take yourself too seriously.” Despite the pixelated confinement of a laptop screen, the unapologetically self-assured voice of Caity Baser rings through the speakers with clarity. The 21-year-old is plosive and loud without the need for a microphone, yet it’s her infectious 'what the hell’ attitude that translates so well into her music. “Just be an idiot and have fun!”
We wouldn’t necessarily call her an idiot – they don’t just nominate anyone for an acclaimed BRITs Rising Star award, you know – but Baser is careening through the industry like a Pop pinball wizard and she’s aiming for a high score. Her journey as an independent artist began in August 2020, breaking through on TikTok with over a million views on her playfully pensive track ‘Average Student’ alone. Signing a record deal, collaborating with the likes of Sigala and Joel Corry, and now embarking on her biggest UK tour to date has put her in good stead, she says: “I want to be the most famous and successful superstar in the whole wide world, obviously. Now that I've got a little taste, I'm not going to stop until I've got the whole meal.”
Her recently released mixtape ‘Still Learning’ is a lesson on her observational wit and sassy lyricism for the listener. So what has Caity learned in the process of writing these tracks? “I feel like on this mixtape, I definitely explore rockier sides of me. All the chaos, all the laughter and the tears. There are more emotions that I explore, more grit and grrrr.
“I just sort of write songs as if I'm speaking to my friends and what I would say to them, so I hope I can connect to people in the same way.”
She will be performing in Nottingham for the first time; debuting at Rock City, arguably the biggest venue not in size, but in terms of legacy. She explains: “I will cry. I get so emotional with music, and it’s great as a musician to perform in these places where so many artists have been.
“Music and the culture of it is so important, but the world is becoming so corporate." Conversation turns to the current climate of an underfunded arts sector and the closure of grassroot venues. “Where are we going to perform? There's so much history in so many music venues, why would you get rid of that? It doesn’t make any sense to me. Maida Vale Studios almost went because they wanted to build flats instead. What do you mean the historical Maida Vale Studios – that is Abbey Road’s younger sister! What are you doing?! It might not be a monument or a historical statue, but for the next generation let’s just leave history alone, please.”
Speaking of music inaccessibility, Baser is also extremely aware of an audience that perhaps struggles to afford a ticket and has decided to cap her prices amidst a cost-of-living crisis. “A lot of my fans are young girls, and I didn't have a lot when I grew up. Now that I’m in this situation where I have a little bit more, why would I make their life difficult when they’re the people that got me here? Fangirls are the reason I breathe. If I'm not making enough profit as I should, I don’t care. I'd rather just have everyone there with me.
“The world is a s**t place right now and music shouldn’t be an added problem to that; it should be a place where you can relax and chill and still get your Uber home afterwards.”
Caity may have had her humble beginning on TikTok, yet we were curious to understand her perspective as an artist on the app removing hundreds of songs from its platform due to licensing agreements. She revealed: “I’m kind of buzzing about it because I’m tired of promoting my music on social media. It’s taken away the beauty of making music for the sake of making music. Now, it’s making music to go viral or to have a moment on TikTok, but those moments only last a week.
“It's an unsustainable way to make a career because you might have made it in that moment, but it's difficult to make that moment last. It takes the joy out of it for me, and it means if one of my songs doesn’t get as many views as I believe that song deserves, it makes me think that it’s terrible. There are so many artists that have that viral song that get them signed and then a month later get dropped, that’s not what the music industry is about. It’s just a platform and music is so much more than a platform. It's a whole world! I wanted to sing live. In person. In front of people. I’m going to keep making music that makes me happy.”
Well, her music is certainly making fans happy – a bold new voice amongst the Brit-pop crowd, her pastiche of personality powered and fun-fuelled tracks is somewhat reminiscent of modern day Lily Allen. If she could describe her music as any colour, it would be: “Baby blue, or sky blue. Bright, bright, bright.”
Tickets for Caity Baser performing at Rock City: https://www.alttickets.com/caity-baser tickets/nottingham-rock-city/2024-03-28-18-30
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