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A curly-haired Californian with a voice just as bright as her wardrobe, Cam took an unlikely path to country stardom in 2015, scoring a double-platinum radio hit with an abstract, thinking-fan’s ballad titled “Burning House.” And since then, she’s only leaned in to her unconventional style.
A new album arriving this summer opens the much-anticipated second chapter of her story—and fans can rest assured, it’ll be just as unique as her introduction.
“I don’t know how it is for other people, but from my perspective, having a hit that was so different only reinforced my drive to do things differently,” she says, speaking from her East Nashville home amid the COVID-19 quarantine, dogs barking and a baby girl cooing behind her. “I feel very confident in making decisions that make me happy, instead of making decisions that are more ‘mainstream.’”
Comparing her sophomore set to a movie soundtrack for its rainbow of emotion and sonic color, Cam says she strived to place an emphasis on vocals and storytelling—strong evidence of her outside-the-box approach in a format laser-focused on big beats and crossover appeal.
“I think it happened to me earlier when I switched from psychology to music around 25,” she explains. “There’s a big theme in my life of making sure I don’t regret something. It’s such a shame that we’re all trying so hard to fit in, that when you finally feel like you fit in, that’s when you feel like you’ve earned the chance to stand out.”
She certainly knows about standing out, unafraid of doing so whether it’s on a red carpet or in the songwriting room. Cam figures listeners of her next LP will still recognize the artist behind the ethereal, almost orchestral, strains of singles like “Burning House, “Mayday,” and “Diane.” But it has been a few years in the making (delayed due to changes at her record label). And strange times call for unusual artistry.
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“These past few weeks feel like a bunch of years have happened in a month, but at the same time, it’s like no time has passed at all,” she says.
In fact, the new mother speaks directly—if inadvertently—to the global health crisis with the project’s first single, “Till There’s Nothing Left.” Devised as a pledge to give all of herself to a lover even if the world is coming to an end, the song’s message, she says, is a passionate blast of female empowerment that was never intended to be topical.
“It sort of came out like, ‘I want to give you all of me, emotionally, physically, spiritually,’ and it was sounding so good,” she says of the steamy track. “But then I had this ‘Uh oh’ moment of being embarrassed, like I was embarrassed about what I was singing. It sounds silly because it’s so benign to say ‘me and you in the backseat,’ but for some reason, the way society is set up, that’s not something you’re hearing from women all the time … even though we do it.”
But then Cam and her team filmed a music video to go with the song, and it became a spooky prophecy of the times to come. Imagining Nashville in the ruins of Armageddon as a couple spend their final hours together, holed up in a honky-tonk haven, the clip now feels like an eerie foreshadow of the twin disasters that soon struck Music City: the deadly tornado and coronavirus outbreak.
“Yeah, prophetic in a terrifying way,” she admits of the clip. “Looking back, it’s bizarre because it’s obviously a storytelling device—like you think the world is ending, so what’s important to you? Are you really living your truth? And then to have the tornado hitting East Nashville, which is really close to my house, and then what’s going on right now, it’s like ‘Whoa, I don’t know if I was ready for this metaphor to be real life.’”
Elsewhere, Cam explores the passage of time in the sturdy “Redwood Tree,” looking back to a youth spent in Northern California for poignant inspiration, and even lets loose for a timeless-feeling romantic romp in the Jack Antonoff co-write “Classic.”
“It was thinking about all the things that will last for a long time and what I want our love to be like, because this is my best friend,” Cam says of the track, a sunny-pop tribute to her husband Adam Weaver. “We’re different, we’re built to last. And that’s what everybody wants.”
That’s only a taste of what’s to come, however, as this unorthodox artist aims for a different kind of success.
“I hope people can get lost in it,” she says. “Now that we all realize how precious time is, I hope it’s a nice, introspective escape. We’re all trying to figure ourselves out and what we’re doing here, and hopefully it helps some people with that.”