Colbie Caillat
Colbie Marie Caillat (/ˈkoʊlbi kəˈleɪ/ ⓘ KOHL-bee kə-LAY; born May 28, 1985)[3] is an American singer-songwriter. She rose to fame through social networking website Myspace. At that time, she was the number one unsigned artist of her genre.
Colbie Caillat
Coco[1]
Singer-songwriter
2004–present
Justin Young (2009–2020)
- Ken Caillat (father)
- Vocals
- piano
- guitar
- Republic
- PlummyLou
After signing with Universal Republic Records, she released her debut album, Coco, in July 2007. The album included the hit singles "Bubbly" and "Realize", and is certified 2× Platinum. In 2008, she recorded a duet with Jason Mraz, "Lucky", which won a Grammy Award. In August 2009 she released Breakthrough, her second album, which became her first album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200. It has been certified gold by the RIAA. Breakthrough was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2010 Grammy Awards. She was also part of the group that won Album of the Year at the 2010 Grammy Awards for her featured vocals and writing on Taylor Swift's Fearless album. In July 2011, she released her third studio album, All of You. In October 2012 she released her first Christmas album, Christmas in the Sand. From 2018 to 2020, she was a member of the country music group Gone West.
Caillat has sold over six million albums worldwide and over 10 million singles. In 2009 she was named Billboard magazine's 94th-best-selling music artist of the 2000s.[4][5]
Artistry[edit]
Caillat has a contralto vocal range.[83][84] According to Apple Music, Caillat is best known for offering the folk-pop genre a 21st-century sound,[85] although her music has also been described as pop soul.[86] Jill Renae Hicks of the Columbia Daily Tribune describer her music as "sunny", frequently characterized by "beachy, ray-soaked tunes filled with bouncy guitars and upbeat percussion ... fronted by the singer’s California-drawl alto".[87] Reuters found her style to be reminiscent of female musicians from the late-1970s, namely Karla Bonoff and Nicolette Larson, and considers her timbre and tone to be similar to that of Sheryl Crow.[88] She has experimented with genres such as rock, hip-hop, country, R&B, and dance music, particularly on her fifth studio album Gypsy Heart.[84] A writer for The Plain Dealer theorized that jazz influences are evident in the singer's "proclivity for pseudo-scatting".[83]
According to several publications, Caillat was arguably the first successful music artist to be discovered on MySpace.[89] Some journalists nicknamed her the "Queen of Myspace" due to her popularity on the platform.[90][91][86] Caillat considers herself a songwriter first and foremost.[92] She described songwriting as "this amazing therapy that you can do on your own, and people can relate to the songs that you write".[93] She has said she enjoys writing in bathrooms due to their echoey acoustics, which allow her to sing softer than she would otherwise.[94] She called Jason Reeves her favorite person to write with, and has frequently co-written with Kara DioGuardi, Toby Gad and Jason Mraz.[92] The singer's lyrics have discussed themes such as self-empowerment, with the writer mentioning that her lyrics "all have a level of deftness ... that goes light years beyond the typical fare of I love you, and such".[83] Reviewing a 2008 concert, a writer for Reuters called her songwriting underwhelming and generic.[88]
Caillat has spoken about suffering from stage fright earlier in her career,[95][96][97] an experience she wrote about in her song "One Fine Line".[94] She was promoted in the press as a shy "an online sensation who suffered from a fair share of stage fright".[95] Critics such as Brian Passey of The Spectrum noticed she had overcome her stage fright by 2017.[98]
Personal life[edit]
Caillat was in a relationship with singer Justin Young from 2009 to 2020. The two were engaged in May 2015.[99] They announced that they had ended their engagement in April 2020.[100]
In 2010, Caillat posed nude for the May issue of Allure magazine, alongside Emmanuelle Chriqui, Regina Hall, Kara DioGuardi, and Jessica Capshaw.[101]
Caillat supports various charities including Farm Sanctuary, United Service Organizations, Wish Upon A Hero, MusiCares, Earth's Call Fund, the Humane Society of the United States, and WE Charity.[102][103][104][105]