Photography & Interview by Elise Abotomey

Words by Josie Lyttle

Canada’s (and now London’s) Cate has curated a sound that is both pop and country, raw and fun. Her lyricism extends into the zeitgeist of woman and girlhood, creating music that provides a deep sense of being understood, all the while leaning into a light and levity that permeates throughout her captivating performances. Cate, who is currently on tour in Australia alongside Gretta Ray, sat down with Pleaser’s Australian Photographer Elise Abotomey, in Sydney/Warrane for an interview talking all things sound, musical influence and her new single release “One Hit Wonder”. Elise, who fell into a warm and friendly hug from Cate on meeting, reflected that her bubbly and insightful interview felt nothing short of the feeling of meeting an old friend after years apart.

Elise: You’re having such a busy year with tours, new music, how would you describe 2023?

Cate: Definitely hectic because this is the first year that I have been actually able to tour and see the world, so definitely hectic but amazing.

E: You’ve entered a new era with your new songs, what have been your core inspirations for this?

C: I just wanted to have more fun with music this year because all of the projects that had come out before I’d written years before, my first EP I had written two years before it came out and my second one was a year and half to two years so I wanted to write songs and put them out in the same year. I was definitely listening to a lot more fun music like Shania Twain and more country pop. I feel like I’ve soft launched going back into country pop.

E: We agreed that these songs are the ones you want to dance around to and sing loudly in the car with your friends. What do you hope the fans experience when listening to your new music?

C: I think that’s it, I was playing the live shows and I realized I need more fun songs, I can’t sing all these heartbreak songs about awful men. I was listening to so much Charli XCX which is where I think “Girlfriend” got inspiration from. I wanted the shows to be a fun place, now when I play “Girlfriend” live, even acoustically like this tour it's so fun because everyone is screaming the words. I feel like my songs before there were a few you could scream like “Stupid” I just wanted to have more songs like that.

E: Talking about different sounds, do you feel like you are going to be exploring new sounds?

C: Yes I feel like “One Hit Wonder” was, as I said, like a soft launch into country pop because I did a lot of country music in high school and then naturally as any teenager does I thought that was uncool so I went super pop like hyper pop almost. I feel like my career will always fluctuate between super pop and country pop.

E: Can you tell me a little bit about London and living there?

C: I moved there 3 years ago so I was there for lockdown. I moved there with my friend Tessa, the music scene there is really supportive and cool and it kind of made me fall in love with pop music again. I love it there! The city is really inspiring and there is always so much to do. I’m a North London girly for sure. London is very quick and when I go home to Vancouver, it's so different.

E: Do you think London has impacted you creatively?

C: Oh totally! I feel like the way I write music is a lot different now that I’ve moved to London. It’s interesting doing country pop there because nobody had that in their childhood whereas for me it's so nostalgic. I went to Nashville recently and it was so cool to write there and then go back to London. I feel like my life is balanced now that I am going between both cities because they are polar opposites. My second EP was ingrained with London and different places in it, it was almost a love letter to London whereas now I’m stepping out and going to Nashville a bit more.

E: Your new song “One Hit Wonder” is out, congratulations! It came out the day you arrived in Australia, how did that song come about?

C: It feels like it's been out forever because I’ve been here (Australia) but it hasn’t, it's only been a few days. I was in a session with my friends Elle and Corey and I was doing a vocal take and we were a bit delirious and Elle said “ooh she’s a one take wonder” so that’s how it started. Then Corey said “could we make this about a man?” So we did that and then we finished it with our friend Andreas the next day and it was a joke for a while but now it's out! I feel like I’m offending a lot of dads with this one but justice for the One Hit Wonders!

Cate’s “One Hit Wonder” is out now! It is fresh, playful and delivers an electric sound that not only reminisces on songs of the past, but provides a healthy call out to the one hit wonders of the dating scene in 2023.