The Toronto-based multi-award-winning folk artist and singer-songwriter Camie releases a poignant and compelling new single, just in time for "Winter."
Camie is best known for her delicate queer-feminist croonings, rich vocal tones, and lush, poetic imagination. The alternative-folk artist uses her writing, performance work, conceptual art to not only make a lasting mark on the listener but expand her international attention and critical acclaim.
Recently releasing her soothing and breathtaking single, "Winter," the song was produced by Mike Tompa and tells the tale of a young woman sinking into loneliness while the coldness of winter rolls around the corner. Camie's chilling vocals and her melancholy instrumentals truly make this song one for the books.
Diving into the new single, "Winter," we're greeted with a soft acoustic guitar melody alongside a cinematic string section and Camie's breathy background vocals. As she begins to make her passionate and ethereal vocal appearance, Camie tells the saddening story of heartbreak and yearning to feel a sense of warmth during the cold winter nights. We love the ambiance of this single; Mike Tompa's production paired with Camie's lush vocals offer nothing but a transcendent listening experience.
What's all the more compelling is Camie's descriptive and sadly relatable lyrics that touch on her heavy heart while thinking of someone who left her in the dust. This song is food for the soul; Camie does an impeccable job of portraying those haunting and lingering emotions that add weight and sadness to our days. As we make our way to the outro, Camie closes the song on a profound note of introspection.
Do yourself a favor and experience the raw emotion of Camie's latest single, "Winter," now available on all digital streaming platforms.
Welcome to BuzzMusic, Camie. We were truly taken aback when listening to the raw emotion and relatable lyrics of your single, "Winter." What inspired you to write such a compelling and cathartic single like this?
Wow, thanks so much! I actually wrote this song when I was 19 (I'm 24 now, it's been a few years!). I was going through a period of feeling unlovable, undesirable, and a tad self-destructive - I think most people go through similar phases in (and beyond, lol) their late teens and early twenties. I remember that I had a burgeoning crush on a good friend who loved someone else, and November was turning into December, and these blizzards were rolling through Southern Ontario, and everything felt very tender and visceral. I wrote this song based on a collection of images and experiences from that era of my life. I recorded a bedroom demo of it years ago and posted it online, and people really liked it! For years it was one of my top played songs on Spotify, even though the old recording kind of sucked. So when I started making more professional recordings (with producer Mike Tompa), I thought it would be cool to re-do this song. Besides, I'm going through a phase where I'm carrying a lot of the same pessimism and sadness and angst that my 19-year-old self carried, especially around love and romance! So it was fitting. Haha, it's weird how things are cyclical like that.
What was it like working with the renowned producer Mike Tompa for "Winter?" How did he help execute your vision and bring it to life?
Tompa's the best. We made an EP called troubadour earlier this year, which we released in August. I knew that I wanted to work with him again, and I had this Winter song that people really liked. So I said, what the hell, why not? I love our collaborations because Tompa's amazing in cracking my songs open and building the cinematic universe of each piece we do together. I usually come in with the completed music and lyrics and some weird imagery (like, "Tompa, I want this to sound like a lonely street lamp shining during a blizzard!"), and he makes it happen and better than I could have ever anticipated. He's the most generous collaborator. I'm super grateful to have worked with him and to (hopefully) be working on more stuff in the future!
Do you usually create music that sounds like it straight out of a diary, similar to "Winter?" Are vulnerable releases a staple for you?
Definitely, I think my musical/lyrical inspirations are obvious - Joni Mitchell, Phoebe Bridgers, Fiona Apple, Julien Baker, Laura Marling, Damien Rice. They all thrive in their confessional prose. So many men told Joni that Blue was "too much," that she was giving too much of herself away, that she should keep things to herself. I love feeling like I'm super immersed in the world of a song. And for me, that happens when the lyrical prose is really intimate and hyper-specific. I think the best songs are the songs that sound like they could have only been written by the artist that performs them. Do you know what I mean? Like nobody else in the world could have written that song or could have experienced the world in that specific way. That's also the beauty of a really good poem. So many of the emotions we feel and the desires we have as human beings are -- or so I'd like to think -- the same. Or, at least similar. But I want to be taken through a song, or poem, or story, and be shown that emotion -- and to feel that emotion -- in a way that I haven't before. And I think that happens when songwriters get specific when they aren't afraid of letting us directly into their world and body when they can no longer tolerate keeping us at a distance.
Could you tell us more about what your strive to represent as an artist and what you want to stand for? How does your music emphasize who you are?
This is a hard question! I'm a very multidisciplinary kind of artist -- I work across a lot of different mediums: playwriting, music, digital and multimedia stuff, photography, etc. And in this industry you're always told to put yourself in a box, to strengthen your brand - and while I understand how that's "good" advice, I think if the self were a bath it would be overflowing. I stay true to myself by dipping in and out of different personas, mediums, genres, styles of writing and working, whatever. So I guess I strive to represent multidimensionality, multiplicity, and doing whatever the f*ck you want because we're not alive for very long. While we're here, we might as well follow our intuitions, pursue our passions, show our teeth.