Cate has always been an artist who has impressed me with her honest lyricism and smooth melodies, and right now she’s found herself in a confident new era of her artistry. The Canadian raised and currently London based artist has just dropped her new single “One Hit Wonder” which hears her comparing a boy to classic one hit wonders we all know and love. The single follows recent tracks “Girlfriend” and “U Want Me” which both have a bit of a cheekiness to them and heralds in a new playful energy for her.
While Cate was in Australia to support Gretta Ray on her national tour, I sat down with her to discuss the creative process behind her new single “One Hit Wonder”, finding a new sonical confidence within her music, and got her to tell us a recent funny story. Check it out BELOW:
THOMAS BLEACH: Your new single “One Hit Wonder” is out now, and I love the playful analogy that he disappears after a short but amazing moment, just like a one hit wonder. What inspired this parallel idea for you?
CATE: It actually started as a joke. I was in a session with my friends Elle and Corey for another artist, and we were all really tired. I started singing something, and it took me a few times, but then Elle just started singing “she’s a one take wonder”. So I started mimicking that and kept going with it, and then decided we should write a song about that. So we started writing it and I was like, “well, this is obviously gonna be a thing about a man”. So it came really quickly, which was fun. We then went back in the studio two days later with Andreas who produced it, and finished the idea.
TB: Was there a one hit wonder that you tried making work in the song but it just didn’t?
C: I didn’t want to offend anyone, so I googled “the biggest one hit wonders”. But here’s the thing… I still offended people. The dads are after me at the moment. But I tried so hard to not go niche, and just do the biggest one hit wonders that everyone can agree on. So there I was on a Buzzfeed article thinking I was safe. But I honestly wrote it in the order of the article I ready *laughs*. I knew I wanted “Somebody That I Used To Know” in there.
TB: There’s a lyric I wanted to talk to you about – “I guess he moved on, there’s no doubt”. Are you trying to insinuate that No Doubt are one hit wonders, cause I’m ready to start some beef here
C: No, oh my god, I would never talk about Gwen that way. She’s obviously not a one hit wonder, are you kidding me! There is a really niche song called “No Doubt”, and that was a one hit wonder. I didn’t want to put any women into the song, so all the one hit wonders included are men.
TB: Sonically this song reminds me of “Groupie”, “Ruin” and that era. How long did this song take to come together, and how many versions did it go through to get it where it is now?
C: We basically wrote the song, then we did it with Andreas, and then it was kind of done that day. It had all the scratches, all the vocals, and we didn’t even change the vocals that we did that day. I sat with it for like a year and then sent it to my friends, and it became their favourite song of mine, which is funny as I was convinced it wasn’t gonna come out. I questioned if it was too silly to release. But then recently I was thinking about how I wanted to release a song before tour, and my band and I always talk about how fun this one would be to perform live. So it kinda just worked out perfectly.
TB: You’re in a bit of a new era right now, and “U Want Me”, “Girlfriend” and “Get Better” hear you embracing this big, shiny pop confidence within your music. From releasing your EP’s “Tell Me Things You Won’t Take Back” and “Love, The Madness, are you finding yourself in a more confident and experimental place at the moment sonically?
C: Totally! I think that was like my whole goal for these few singles, cause they’re not going to be a part of a project. They’re just singles. I didn’t even really want them to be cohesive. I just wanted them to come out and see what happens with them. I spent a lot of time making the EP’s and being really intentional with them, so I hit a bit of writer’s block at the beginning of this year. But then I wrote “Girlfriend” and “Get Better” and it just felt really freeing. “Tell Me Things You Won’t Take Back” was written two years before it came out. So it’s been nice to write songs, and then just put them out.
TB: “U Want Me” reminds me of Julia Michaels song “Wrapped Around Me” and a bit of Dua Lipa’s whole “Future Nostalgia era. What were some of your references or conversations you were having around this track?
C: I think me and Nav were listening to a lot of Dua Lipa at the time. We wrote this song together with our friend Josh about my friend who went through a really bad breakup last summer. I wanted to write something that would make her feel confident and good about herself. We weren’t taking it too seriously, and just wanted to write a really feel good track. It’s also funny as I couldn’t have written that sort of track for myself as I would’ve been too sad. But yeah, we’re definitely trying to do disco vibes to fit that idea.
TB: “Girlfriend” hears you delivering the epic lyric – “He says he wants a girlfriend, but he doesn’t wanna be a boyfriend”.
C: Yeah. I feel like I was just in a bitchy mood. We wrote that song really quickly. We were finishing “Get Better” that day, and I was just bitching and saying some stuff, but then ended up just singing the chorus. It was half a joke and half honest. Like the monogamy line made it, and that is truly something I would say to my friends.
TB: From releasing “Tell Me Things You Won’t Take Back”, what is something you learnt about yourself as an artist, as it felt like such a big growth from “Love, The Madness”?
C: That EP was crazy as it was just me and my friends in lockdown. I hadn’t played a show yet, and I didn’t quite know what the reaction for my music was going to be. So creating music now is such a different experience to then, as it was so insular in that period as I was just writing songs for me, and then putting them out. But then once I played a show I was like “oh, people will hear these”, so now I feel like I’m also thinking about the live show when I’m writing songs. I feel like I’ve grown as a writer in the way of those things now. I think I’m also a bit more bold now as a writer, which is good.
TB: “Funny Story” to me still feels like an essential Cate track. So what is a recent classic Cate funny story that you can share with us?
C: I feel like I said a lot of things at the Sydney and Brisbane shows that I wouldn’t have said if I was so delirious, so that was rogue but funny. When we got to the Brisbane show, I had landed that morning and I fell asleep on the sofa at the venue with a tiny towel on me. Gretta came up to me and was like “wakey wakey! It’s time to do your show!”. So that’s not a crazy story, but it is funny and random *laughs*.
TB: You’re currently in Australia for your first tour down under supporting the absolute angel, Gretta Ray. From your few days here, what is the biggest misconception you had about Australia that you’ve debunked?
C: I was saying just before that Sydney was exactly what I thought it was going to be and more beautiful. Like the beaches and everything. But then I didn’t think Melbourne was going to be similar to London. I feel like it is similar in the way it’s laid out. It feels like East London.
“One Hit Wonder” is out now!
BLEACHED 