Feature: Catie Turner

Words by Angelina Singer

Catie Turner is one of those rare, special artists that have carved out their very own genre. While her music might at first glance seem to fit neatly in the folk-pop genre, it’s also got elements of scathingly honest pop and delightfully sarcastic rock elements that will keep you wondering what’s next. While she got her start on American Idol after auditioning with her original song “21st Century Machine” and making it to the top seven of season 16, that chapter of her journey has long since been closed. Since then, she’s worked hard at building a sound and career that’s all her own with over 200 million streams to her name, somewhere between being the best circus you’ve never been to, and a glittering landscape of a love life even when it falls flat.

I had the wonderful opportunity to sit down with Catie to chat all about her new song “Tourist Attraction”, how American Idol shaped her view of the music industry, her writing process, and what her arguably quirkiest tune - “Step Mom” - was actually written about. It was so much fun to catch up with her, since I had the pleasure of meeting her in person 7 years ago on the American Idol Tour, but of course — a lot has changed since then. 

A lot of interviewers start off by saying how chatting with that celebrity felt a lot like chatting with an old friend. For once, I can attest that this rang true for my interview with Catie — her essence is so shiny and bright, and exudes this ethereal wisdom beyond her years that’s both comforting and so entertaining. After reminding her how we had met before, I figured that was the perfect was to segue into my first question, which was all about “Tourist Attraction”, and how she saw that fitting into her extensive backlog of music.

“Something I’m working on as a person is, I love new things… Tourist Attraction came about because I was in a session and… I was talking about the phenomenon when you go to a new city and everyone’s like ‘you have to try this thing, this food, it’s the greatest thing ever.’ And then you try it and you go ‘oh, that was it?’ and then I compared that to a situationship I had where you’re like ‘…you’re not the sh*t, you’re the tourist attraction’. I was lied to, I’m not lining up for this again.”

I absolutely loved this metaphor, and I think a lot of people can relate to that feeling of being disappointed, in love or otherwise. In “Tourist Attraction” specifically, I also mentioned how much I appreciated the uncanny content of the way she twists metaphors to make a point (ie. “boulevard of broken needles” really caught my attention for its similarity to the song we all know and love but with the added letdown of the lyrics not even being what you expected). 

On a different note, taking a cheeky look at disappointment and making lemons out of lemonade, is her song “Step Mom”. So of course, I asked her more about the vision behind that song because it struck me so strongly as a villain origin story. 

“I was in a relationship, and obviously when that falls apart, it was very, very messy. I mean it was, a mom, and a sister, and him, and also in the throes of it, and the one person that was always really nice to me in that family was — I really like your dad. I’m gonna miss him. It was innocent! I get off on the idea of subtle revenge. For instance, the fantasy of having a song no one can escape. Or having a billboard [so] they can’t get rid of your face. What’s the greatest way to be in their life? I’m gonna become their step mom and they will have to see me at every family reunion. That sounds amazing. Obviously now I don’t want his dad, but at the time it was, I’m gonna miss you, you were really nice to me.”

This beautifully strange song has such an important message, calling out the attachments we gather throughout our lives. And similarly to our romantic and social attachments, Catie and I also reflected on her time on American Idol, and the way people attach so much to their perceptions of microwaved fame on this particular reality show. I also asked her more about how her time on the show affected her creativity and writing process.

“I say American Idol made me conscious, because before then, I was part-time homeschooled. I was only talking to people on the Internet. And then suddenly I’m thrust into this spotlight and I feel like that’s like, okay, I’m living now… so it’s been seven years, so of course I’ve changed my writing process to rebel, but then I look back at her. And I’m like ‘she knew what she was doing. I’m making my way back to her… she is the blueprint. I need to meet her again.’”

We also talking briefly about how American Idol is largely a reality show about music, and how people would get voted off strictly based on popularity — not talent. 

“I mean it was really interesting to be in the process and hear some of the most amazing singers of your life during Hollywood week and they never get shown. But the talent that that show holds is remarkable. And if people ask me for advice, I tell them quite frankly that you have to remember, American Idol isn’t a singing competition; it’s a reality show about a singing competition.”

But the show taught her a lot too, about timeliness and keeping a smile on her face no matter what — and how Katy Perry recommended her a book to read, Everything You Need to Know About the Music Business (Catie had her mom read it and got the notes from her). 

I really appreciated the way Catie views all her progress as something to celebrate, while also acknowledging that where she started wasn’t such a bad place to be after all. She even has a song with another oppositional title, “Not Young Just Dumb”, which calls out anyone who takes their youth for granted and acts stupid despite having had more life experience. Regardless of this call out, Catie Turner is one of those rare artists that embraces every version of themselves, fearlessly and without compromising their inherent beliefs. Speaking of beliefs, we also had a wonderful chat about the concept of faith and how she came around to writing probably her most provocatively titled track “God Must Hate Me”. As a person of faith myself, and knowing how other American Idol alums from her season, Gabby Barrett and Cade Foehner, also profess a strong faith in Jesus, I knew there had to be more to the story before I judged this song by its title.

“What was interesting about being on the American Idol tour, was I found out that there are different branches of Christianity, because I was the Catholic one. So my experience with religion… it was more, Catholic school for a large chunk of my life, and it was very much judgmental, regimented. And ‘God Must Hate Me’ started as one thought, and I followed back the rope, and [realized] these were feelings I was having as a little girl just looking around and looking at people who are so effortlessly doing everything and they’re gorgeous and they’re bright and they’re the prom queen. And you’re like, ‘how the f*ck do they get all this time? How are they managing everything? It must be because of me.’ And it kind of was working through, instead of seeing everyone as different… I saw my difference as kind of a crutch, something bringing me down… But now I’ve gotten to a place where I get to be a musician. It’s the farthest thing from hate at all. It was definitely something therapeutic and cathartic I had to release to even unravel all those weird feelings I had with faith and finding what that means for me.”

Not only was it so impactful to get to chat about faith with Catie, I absolutely loved hearing about her journey in finding her own path with it — and the shared awareness that religion is largely a man-made structure meant to keep people enslaved to rules and ironically far away from the truth of God’s unconditional love (whether you feel it or not). In fact, I think this weaves in quite nicely with the oppositional nature of her writing style. We’ve noted that she takes a shock-worthy title and has made it something totally opposite from what the title implied, while sharing her story in a meaningful way. 

Part of what makes her hard to place into any one genre, is this oppositional nature of her writing. But it’s also part of what makes her so special. From this point in the conversation, I asked Catie about one of her most theatrical songs that really pushed the limits of the folk pop genre, bleeding much more into the rock realm with “Comedown”. Of course, I also had to ask about the potentially suggestive implication of the title, while also comparing the sonic dynamics of the tune paired with the deeply emotional content as Catie’s equivalent of Taylor Swift’s legendary “All Too Well”.

“Literally it was both [suggestive and emotional], I wrote it after being intimate with someone, and then we both realized it was a mistake and made everything really weird. It was literally the comedown, the clarity, of that. And also, the comedown of ‘Where do we go from here? What’s happening?’ That was very stressful and agonizing to go through. And I feel like with songs sometimes I want the production to enhance the feeling, and for ‘Comedown’, I was feeling so big and how it even came out, was an explosion. I was writing a really lame song before and, it was 40 minutes before the studio was closing. And I get the riff, I get the whole song, and it just poured out. It’s the comedown of a lot of things.”  

From here, after that story, I asked Catie more about her writing process, where she admitted she’s been trying to figure that out herself. “It’s very messy, and not very consistent… the fastest and most consistent [songs] are [written from] a big feeling. Either angry or sad — the ones you don’t like to deal with,” which I find super relatable. As a fellow creative, feelings drive everything, so this isn’t surprising. But given how lyrically-dense her music is, I would imagine that she spends a lot more time putting pen to paper — although, this doesn’t appear to be the case. “Now it’s just lots of writing and observing, which is my greatest lesson that I’m trying to learn… Let’s go back to basics, let’s feel the feelings.”

Embracing feelings is key, and not forcing yourself to be something you’re not. After this, I asked Catie more about her favorite lyric she’s written, and she was, ironically, stumped. With all that being said, I would imagine picking your favorite lyric isn’t that different than choosing your favorite child. So I opted to ask her what’s been resonating the most with her right now.

“I’ve really been going back to ‘Comedown’ ironically, and listening through. Because sometimes when I put out a song, I never go back. I would say that the whole bridge of ‘Comedown’ — I really like, ‘we made this bed but it’s a nightmare trying to sleep in it.’”

From here, we took a departure from talking about her songs and I asked Catie more about what she wished more people knew about her. I can only imagine how skewed your own perception of self can be when you’re on TV, and how this might’ve affected the way others saw her as well.

“I think I’m very grateful and lucky that I’ve only ever entered this industry as authentic and honestly myself as I think I can be. I can’t even say ‘see me as human’ because I think that’s all you ever get from the moment you meet me. I guess that maybe I wish people knew that I care a lot. Which is why it’s so hard for me to be earnest and say ‘Here’s my song and I hope you like it’ because… if they didn’t, it would destroy me. I’m a sensitive gal, but I don’t have to scream it, because I think the music lets everyone know, she’s feeling a lot.”

Any creative person with the guts to put their work out into the world will relate to that feeling. And the best, and arguably, worst parts of the journey is that there’s always something new to discover in the realm of networking and promoting yourself. As we got to the tail-end of our interview, I asked Catie more about where she sees herself in five years.

“With five-year plans, there’s one side of me that wants to be really realistic, and there’s a side of me that wants to say ‘well obviously I want a Grammy.’ Hopefully in five years, I hope I have a Grammy. Even if I’m nominated, I would take that as well. I want to visit Europe so bad. I’ve never left farther than Canada. I hope to tour there. I hope to go to the Grammys. And ultimately, I really hope I can just do this for as long as I can. At the end of five years, I will just be happy if I have my dog, if I’m still writing good music, and I’m doing all the things that you get to do when you keep making music. Hopefully Coachella, please!”

No matter where Catie Turner finds herself in five years or beyond, I have no doubt she’ll still be writing fantastic songs and being unabashedly herself. Keep an eye out for her next track, “Grow Out of You”, coming in October — And overall, a lot more music from Catie. She’s promised “less disappearing acts. Six months, nothing. I could’ve been in Antarctica. I’m here, and I’m ready to be consistent. So people should expect me to show up consistently.”

Stream Catie Turner’s music on Spotify and find her tour dates here!