Caity Baser has been making personality-packed pop tunes for just a few years but has already been named as ‘one to watch’ by Rolling Stone and is in the NME 100 for 2023. She also had over a million views on one of her first ever social media uploads, and had packed-out crowds for her first Reading and Leeds music festival appearances.
We caught up with Caity Baser at the end of a busy press day, but she was still bright, fresh and animated, saying she loved chatting with people and liked the opportunity to sit and think about all the exciting things going on. Not least of which is the launch of her new EP Thanks for Nothing, See You Never on 17th Feb, and a ten-date UK tour in April.
The day before we chatted was Valentine’s Day, 14th Feb, which Caity had said is “the most hellish day of the year”. But this year, in keeping with the theme of her empowering music, she had arranged a full size ‘rage wall’ in Camden, London, for anyone wanting to write messages to their ex-partner. Caity was there to meet her fans and write on the wall herself later in the day, saying there was hardly any room left on the wall when she got there. And what did she write to her ex? “I hope you lose all of your left shoes, because that would be rather inconvenient”. Always the unexpected from Caity. She said there were loads of lovely messages written to her, which was nice on Valentine’s Day, “I hate Valentine’s Day, it makes me feel weird” she reiterated. “Probably because I’ve never had any sort of successful love story on Valentine’s Day. A few years ago I was with my boyfriend and I loved him so much, and I made out how special a day it was because I’d not had a Valentine’s Day with someone. And he didn’t do anything, not even a card. I wasn’t asking for a frigging Ferrari just something, but no, nothing. I got him so many sweet things, I wanted it to be a day, and it wasn’t a day, and so I hate it”, said with much laughter. “It’s all personal experience [her music], good content, character building.”
Caity Baser adding her words to her ‘Rage Wall’, in Camden, London, on Valentine’s Day. Image courtesy @caitybaserhq insta fan page.
Suggesting to Caity that not all of her music is ‘men-hating’, she laughs. We think it’s just brutally honest and reflecting real life, and we loved her song “Kiss You” which is essentially a love story for modern times. She replies “I’ve had some good times, don’t get me wrong, but the overall message is, err it wasn’t worth it. But it is nice to dip in and out of cute little pockets of sweetness now and then”.
We loved the music video for the song, which involved hanging out of the window of a moving car, how did that come about? She replied “My whole team is like a family now. The person that directs my videos, Callaway [Breeze Hoven], she is my manager’s sister, and we do whatever. I was like, can I hang out of a car? And she was like, yeah, whatever.” We loved the energy and excitement in the video, really capturing that special time of first wanting to kiss someone. Caity replies “Why can’t you understand me, obviously you want to kiss me, and I want to kiss you, but I’m not making the first move.”
Where were the bedroom scenes for the “Kiss You” music video shot, and does she have music posters on the wall too? Caity replies, “It was my manager’s lounge, we turned it into a bedroom, it was so much fun. It looks like my home. In my bathroom I have ACDC, Freddie Mercury, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, all on the wall. I love going to charity shops and picking out CDs, and cool old record covers, all hung up in my bathroom.” We had read that Caity had an obsession with Elton John and Freddie Mercury. Why those artists? “They were just misunderstood, not accepted, they were made fun of for being themselves, and of course amazing music. It is so inspiring. Growing up I was one of them kids, feeling that I didn’t fit in and had to mould myself into something else. I looked up to Elton and Feddie, because they just didn’t care. They were like, I’m going to wear glittery feathers, I’m going to dress as a woman, I’m going to wear nipple tassels and I just don’t care. It’s fate that EMI then wanted to sign me, having themselves worked with these two idols of mine.” We reminisced about the film Rocket Man charting Elton’s early life, and his costumes in the film when attending alcohol support groups. “I’m literally getting goosebumps”, Caity exclaims.
We asked Caity about the first concert she attended, Katy Perry in London. “I was tiny, like 8. I had the tickets as a present and went to London with my mum. I went dressed as Katy Perry with a curly purple wig and sparkly everything. We were sat right at the top of the O2 [arena]. I remember thinking, how has this tiny lady made everyone in this room feel connected, and feel like they are best mates, and they are all going through the same thing. She controlled everything, all eyes on her, everyone doing what she said. The whole time I was jaw on the floor, thinking that was going to be me.” “After that, every time my mum took me to theatre shows, gigs, it was always the same feeling, pure awe, how do I do that?”. “My brain is so loud all the time, the only thing that ‘zens’ me is music or a performance. It was such a cool thing to see and experience growing up. I would be in an English lesson, thinking about the Lion King”. Caity clearly had a dream of performing from a young age, and throughout her formative years. She said she initially wanted to be an actress, a Broadway star, and in college studied musical theatre, but absolutely hated it; “I didn’t want to play someone else. I always wanted to be a singer. But I’m Caity Baser”.
Caity is dreaming big, and maybe one day she’ll have the arena shows she saw from Katy Perry back when she was 8. What would be her dream staging or outfits for a big show, would she have lavish sets and dancers? Caity replies, “When I think about big performances, I’ve never thought about dancers. When I’m O2-ing it, I would like to have all sorts of mental shit on stage. My mind is so random. ‘Ok right, there’s shit everywhere, I’m at a Caity Baser show.’ Maybe there’s a basket swing, a sofa, a waterbed, hanging off a climbing frame. I want to fly into the crowd, with sparking rollerblade fireworks on me.” We can’t wait!
The new EP is released on 17th Feb. What is Caity’s favourite song? “‘That’s What Friends are For’. It makes me think about my friends, how I love them so much, and how they’ve helped me through so many things, I can always count on them.”
We asked what is she going to do to celebrate the EP release? She’s clearly excited, “I’m going to a billboard poster of me in Shoreditch, going to dance around that. Lots of social media, lots of lives. Going to dance the night away in London”. She then reflects on previous milestones in her life, “I do this weird thing when I celebrate… all I want to do is play mini-golf and probably get really drunk. As a family, we used to go to Newquay in Cornwall and every day play mini-golf and it was so much fun, and now that is all I want to do”. This was on holidays when the family used to go caravanning. What was good about those trips? Caity smiling, “I miss those days, just how close we all were, so sad that I’m not going to live with my brothers any more, waking up and pissing them off, how close we were, how simple and innocent everything was”.
Clearly music, family, and connecting with her fans are huge parts of Caity’s life, is there room for anything else? “I quite like to cycle. I love surfing, I love swimming, running. But I literally live, breath, sleep, dream, and cry music all the time. It’s the best thing. It’s like my best friend ever.”
Words by Tony Palmer (Website, Instagram, TikTok).
Keep up with Caity Baser: Facebook /// Instagram /// Website /// TikTok
