GIRLS NIGHT OUT
Caillat unveils secret life as a rapper.
Grammy-winning Californian pop singer Colbie Caillat will bring her Girls Night Out (Boys Can Come Too) tour to Caesars Windsor next Saturday, July 18 — along with fellow pop singer Christina Perri.
We chat with Caillat about her upcoming concert and her secret life as a gangsta rapper.
Q. What can we expect from your show in Windsor?
A. It’s a new tour and we have whole new stage design and a brand new set list ... There are six band members and we have so much fun together on stage. We’re going to be doing songs from all four records.
Q. How would you describe your music changing and maturing over the years?
A. I would definitely say there’s been an evolution, for sure. My first album was very organic and acoustic. The first songs I’d ever written made that record.
The next record, after I came off tour, I went to a bunch of sessions with amazing writers and producers. I wanted the songs to be a little more uptempo, a little more with electric instruments ... And then, with the records after that, I really kept experimenting and branching out.
What I wanted to do with my last album, Gypsy Heart, is really have a combination of acoustic, organic songs, and very heavily produced, uptempo, fun, pop songs.
Q. Do you consider yourself a pop artist?
A. Yeah, I always say it’s like acoustic pop. That’s what I tell people.
Q. I understand you recently got engaged.
A. I did, yeah. A month ago.
Q. Oh, congratulations. How do you think that’s affecting your music?
A. Well, him and I have been together for about five-and-a-half years. So, definitely, the past few records have been about him. Most songs, anyway.
Q. What music do you like that people would be surprised to know about?
A. I love rap. I love Notorious B.I.G. Some of my favourite songs are Biggie songs. And I basically know all the words to them. Q. You do not. Are you serious? A. I think it’s so much fun. And they’re so inappropriate. I love the way that he raps and the music behind it. I’m a huge fan.
Q. That boggles my mind. I would never in a million years have thought that Colbie Caillat likes Notorious B.I.G. “Kick in the door, waving the .44, all you heard was ‘Poppa, don’t hit me no more.’” A. Yes! I love it! Q. Do you think you’ll ever incorporate those rap influences in your music — like how Taylor Swift did in her latest album?
A. I’ve always thought about it. When I first started out, before I even wrote my own songs, I knew this hip hop group. I would sing the choruses to some of their songs and I would try to do some of the raps.
I don’t know the extent that I can do it. I don’t want to alienate fans. But I’ve always been like, ‘I want to do a hip hop song, I also want to do a reggae song, I also really want to do an old 1940s song.’ Because I love all those styles.
Colbie Caillat plays Caesars Windsor (377 Riverside Dr. E.) with Christina Perri on Saturday, July 18. All ages welcome. Show starts 8 p.m.
Prices of available tickets start at $35. Go to the websites www.caesarswindsor.com, www.ticketmaster.ca, or the casino’s box officer to purchase.