INTERVIEW: Caitlyn Shadbolt releases new album 'Stages': "Despite where you are you can look at what's close to you and realise that there's a lot of gold - you’ve just got to find it."

Caitlyn Shadbolt first rose to national prominence in 2014 when she came fifth on The X-Factor Australia. In the following years, she forged a career as one of the brightest new stars in country music, winning New Oz Artist of the Year at the 2016 CMC Awards, with her 2017 debut album Songs on My Sleeve peaking in the top 30 on the ARIA Album charts.

After a break of two years, today she returns with her second album Stages. Shadbolt had started work on the album before the coronavirus pandemic hit; recording was temporarily halted until Shadbolt resumed production, completed the album from her home in Gympie Queensland, connected remotely with her producer (Stuart Stuart) in Brisbane.

The 10 tracks on the album see Shadbolt develop and progress her sound to embrace a sonic landscape to leans heavily on pop while still retaining her country roots. The swinging, country beats of third single and album opener ‘Edge of the Earth’ sits comfortably beside the synthy pulses and joyous chorus of ‘Everybody Like Me' and the smoky, jazz vibe of ‘Your Lady’. There are gorgeous, vocally sublime piano ballads such as ‘Blurry Vision’, and perhaps the album’s biggest surprise and standout track is ‘Oxygen’, a moody, thumping electro-guitar track, which sees Shadbolt confront a toxic relationship.

Stages is an album that sees Shadbolt more confident than ever, an artist who seems to have found a sound she revels in and in turn has presented a collection of songs that we can really connect to as listeners. She says of the album “we all live our life through different stages and this album is essentially documentation of that.” This stage of her career is the most exciting yet, and to celebrate the release of the album we recently caught up with Caitlyn to find out more.

Hi Caitlyn so good to talk to you. How are things with you?
Pretty good, really. Considering the year everyone's had, I've been doing really good!

I like that. That's a good attitude to have. Congratulations on Stages. What an album!
Thank you. It's exciting, it feels really good to finally have new music out because it's been like three years or something crazy. It's been a long time coming but I'm excited for this one.

You started preliminary recordings for Stages prior to global shutdown, but then you just powered on through with the record despite the restrictions. What were some of the surprising highlights in recording this album this way?
Pretty much as soon as I was supposed to walk into the studio, the big lockdown happened. So I ended up tracking all my own vocals and acoustic guitar and everything here at home, which to begin with, I was like I don't know how I'm going to do this, because I've never done this before ever. And it's quite scary, because it's the final vocals for an album released worldwide through a record label. It's kind of a big deal. But I surprisingly got through it really, it wasn’t too hard. And it was great for me to actually jump in the deep end and learn a new skill, because it's something that I would never do otherwise until I've been pushed into it. I found that I could work at my own hours. If I felt inspired at 10 o'clock at night, I could walk into the studio and do some takes, and I didn't feel the pressure of ‘I've got to be out of here by four o'clock and there's people watching me’. So in that sense, it was really, really good.

You recorded your first album, Songs on My Sleeve in Nashville, which is a far cry from country Queensland. With regards to Stages, are you pleased that you had that Nashville education prior to recording Stages?
Yeah. For Songs on My Sleeve I wrote a lot of the songs in Nashville, but I actually still recorded it here in Australia. I just worked with a different producer this time. For the writing process for Stages, I did go to Nashville and I wrote a lot of songs, but I didn't end up using any of them. I found that the people in Australia and close to home are actually some of the best writers you can get. I think that that's what this year has taught us as well, that despite where you are you can have a look around at what's close to you and realise that there's a lot of gold. You’ve just got to find it.

I want to talk about the title track of the album, ‘Stages’. It's so beautiful, and you've got this sort of pulled back piano and it's pure heart. Lyrically, we’re nodding to your experiences, both public and personal with your heartfelt warmth being home. Can you talk me through this gorgeous song?
I'm really proud of this song. This is my favourite one on the album. And I wrote this one just by myself. I feel so lucky that I've been able to experience all different stages of my life on stages. So I can be like ‘oh yeah, when I was 19, I felt like this and I was doing these gigs and touring with this person’. I really just wanted to wrap that up and put it into three and a half minutes. It's probably the most honest and raw and personal song that I've released. I also started playing it live late last year and it seemed to have one of the best responses out of all the songs I play. Sometimes the most personal songs are the ones that connect the most.

There’s that gorgeous line in it. “There's no place I'd rather be than seeing all these people in front of me”. I'm like, ‘oh, it's the crowd song’. That's really beautiful.
Yeah, that’s right. And it's cool because you know, whenever I'm on stage, I do feel at home as well. Home to me is either on stage or at home in Gympie.

And of course, we've also got the recent single ‘Edge Of The Earth’, which is your charming carefree road trip pop song, which is just that great country beat and bass coming through. And co-wrote the song with Sarah Buckley?
Yeah, that's right. This was our first co-write together. We spent about three days at the Sugar Beach Ranch down in Ballina and we wrote three songs. I ended up recording all three of them on the album. She's just such a great writer, and we got along really well. We realised that we're pretty similar in personalities, and how we view the world and like to treat the world, and that is to push things to the edge and just see how far we can take it. I think this song is also very true to my personality, and just the way that I like to attack different things. That is just to go my own way and run my own race and, and just be adventurous.

Beautiful. Going back to your first release ‘Maps Out The Window’. It is steeped in that very youthful pop rock country sound. What is it about country music that really gets you?
People have probably given you this answer before, but I genuinely feel it's the storytelling and the connection of the songs in country music. People are more than happy to share stories that are really authentic and genuine and that connect to other people in their lives as well. For me, that is my favourite part of country music. But of course, I think it's also a bit of a lifestyle and a way of life. The people that listen to country music and enjoy it are the kind of people that are really laid back and fun and just great all-round people. I think the music resonates with that as well.

That's true. That's very true. I'm always interested as well, because for so long, country music was people's sort of dirty little secret. But now it's got this revamp, and you know, people are feel they can say they like country, or perform, country music.
Yes, that is so true. And I even still get it now. If I meet someone for the first time and I tell them I’m a muso and they ask what genre, and I’m like ‘pop country’. And you can tell that they instantly let their guard down and go ‘oh, my God, I love country as well’. It's funny. Even all through high school, I was definitely the kid that was on the outside of the circle for loving country music. But it's so good to see it's turning around a little bit now.

There was a recent report published that women in the country music industry hear phrases such as women aren't financially viable or women don't want to hear women when it comes to why they're not being represented on the airwaves. However, when we speak to country music artists, particularly in Australia, they say that they feel particularly in the shows, and the fans, and the support it is actually quite a different story. What are your thoughts or experiences on the gender divide within the country music scene?
It is an interesting one, especially when you're looking at what's going on in America. Sometimes I'll listen to a radio station or a Spotify playlist, and it's just male after male after male. But I don't feel like that's the case here in Australia. If you look at the charts, there are still quite a number of females of all ages, represented in the charts. I've got heaps of female friends in the country music industry and none of us are catty at all. We're all just super supportive and just want to see each other do well. And I think that's the same too when we're playing shows. I don't feel like there is too much of a difference with the fans, but in saying that maybe sometimes promoters for festivals and events tend to lean towards more of the male side of things.

I wanted to just talk to you not necessarily about your time on The X-Factor but what happens with that kind of career and specifically for female contestants they tend to be sort of given a personality once they leave - okay, this is you now, this is what you are. I was curious of your own trajectory. Do you feel now you've kind of pulled away from that X-Factor personality and become confident in your own sound?
Yeah, that's a funny one, because as far as being on the show in itself, I feel like the brand they shaped me as was exactly who I was anyway. And that was bubbly pop princess that sings country music and is loud and proud. So that's definitely continued on. But also, I was 18 when I was on that show. Fast forward, and I'm 25 now, there's a lot more maturity that happens. I've just taken that brand and that person and just evolved a little bit more. It's just a bit more of a progression. People still want to hear me sing, you know, ‘Before He Cheats’ by Carrie Underwood or something like that, but that brand, it's ever evolving.

And how do you feel that your sound has developed along with your sense of self? Like you said, you’ve matured from 18, can you hear that gravity that's come into your voice and your songwriting and the confidence?
Yeah, definitely. It's funny actually the other day one of my early songs came on, and I was like ‘man, I’m singing so much differently’! Everything tends to change. Nowadays, I really love singer-songwriter type style of writing, that's definitely come into the picture a lot more. Just in general my songwriting has improved and matured and the topics that I choose to sing about as well. I still have to pick things that are commercial and radio friendly. But for the hundred other songs that I've written, they've got a lot more substance.

Growing up, you said that as a teenager you were the dorky country pop fan. How did music shape your childhood, particularly as to becoming the musician you are today?
That's a great question because probably ever since I was 12, it was just music, music, music. I would spend at least three days a week after school doing rehearsals and singing lessons, guitar lessons, band rehearsals, all that kind of stuff. And then as I grew up a little bit, sort of around 16, 17, every weekend, I would play at a pub with my band, or some kind of event. So that meant I would miss out on a lot of the parties and friends’ birthdays, and all that kind of stuff. And then pretty much once I was out of school and turned 18 I wound up on The X-Factor. So again you kind of miss what everyone else is doing. But it also really taught me to embrace my passion and be comfortable with taking the road less travelled and understand I'm happy to run my own race and be independent.

Very cool. And lastly, before I leave you Caitlyn, we've got the album out, what else is on the horizon for you?
I do have a couple of launch shows, this weekend I’m playing on the Sunshine Coast, and the Gold Coast and then the following weekend I'm playing at Great Keppel Island as part of a festival up there. But other than that, I'm pretty much just going to try and put this music out and connect in any way that I know how, do a few shows and then just continue to embrace being a human I guess. Be here with my family and just enjoy that.

Stages is out now via ABC Music. You can download and stream here.

Caitlyn Shadbolt will be performing in Queensland in November:

6th November: Dag Pub & Motel, D'Aguilar

7th November: Miama Marketta, Gold Coast

14th-15th November: Country on Keppel Festival, Great Keppel Island.

To keep up with all things Caitlyn Shadbolt, you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.