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Cailee Rae on Overthinking and owning her emotions

When you think about how to make it as a musician today, YouTube’s probably the first thing that comes to mind. But Cailee Rae’s story is different. The sweet 16-year-old changed the game when she recorded a video of her singing Ingrid Michaelson’s “The Way I Am” and shared it on Instagram. Her post went viral, and Cailee’s account now has over 600K followers.

Cailee dropped her debut EP of original music, Overthinking, on June 17.  The EP is a collection of five songs that really capture the singer/songwriter’s passion for storytelling. Cailee’s inspired by what she sees and hears during her everyday life. Fun fact: one of her favorite places to go for inspiration is the airport! Her creativity is so unstoppable that she even came up with the concept for her music video, “Anchor,” on her own. If you’re not already in tune with this girl, read on—she filled us in on her music, her incredible video and the one person she’d love to collaborate with ASAP. 

GL: Your EP is amazing! Let's talk about the name. Was it difficult to choose? Is there a story behind it? 

Cailee: I wanted to think of something that really summed up all of the songs as a group. Each song really just represents going deep into your emotions so I thought “overthinking” worked really well. Also, ironically enough, I was really overthinking what the name should be!

GL: How have fans reacted to your EP? 

Cailee: People keep telling me they really relate to all of the songs which I'm so happy about. It charted on iTunes too which I was completely flipping out over. 

GL: What was the writing process like?

Cailee: Each song is different. Some I did the music first, some were both at the same time and some were lyrics first. It really depends on my inspiration and depends on how much of an idea I have.

GL: Your video for "Anchor" is *so* creative and colorful. What does each scene—chains, underwater, color—represent? Which were you most excited to film?

Cailee: I wanted to make each scene really meaningful. The chains represent facing yourself, the water represents drowning in your thoughts and the color represents being overwhelmed by all of your emotions (each color coordinating to a different emotion). The underwater scenes were so, so fun. I had never seen anything like it. They scuba dove with me and it was in the middle of the night. It was super moody and exactly what I dreamed of. 

GL: How fun was it to work with all that colored chalk?! It looks like it was a blast. 

Cailee: OMG, so fun. The crew and I were covered in color. It was so hard to get it out, too. My skin had these random blotches of faded color the next day.

GL: What’s the most important thing you want viewers to take away from the video? 

Cailee: I just want them to feel empowered. You can do and feel anything you want with the right mindset.

GL: If you could collaborate with any musician, who would it be? Why?

Cailee: Troye Sivan! He's so cool and talented. 

GL: Are you working on new songs or videos at the moment—are there details you can share?! 

Cailee: I’m currently in the process of writing. I’m also hoping a new video will be filmed soon!

GL: Do you have any tour plans in the works? We know our readers would *love* to see you live.

Cailee: I'm currently working on the plan and dates—stay tuned on my Instagram and Twitter!

What's your favorite song from Cailee's EP? What scene do you like most from "Anchor?"

Photo credit: Brandon Woelfel.

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by Megan Sawey | 7/23/2016
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