Photo: Courtesy of Republic Records
Grammy Award-winning, singer-songwriter Colbie Caillat r
eturns with a brand new EP,
Gypsy Heart and a powerful new music video in which she makes a powerful statement about unfair beauty ideals by shunning hair and make-up. Here, we talk to Caillat about the man (yup!) who inspired the song,
the impact of Photoshop, and why
all women hate the way they look in photographs:
I went into the recording studio with Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds and I told him that I was getting a lot of pressure to be someone I’m not, both musically and image-wise. Although I don’t want to do it, I’m just going to make these people happy. He started laughing, and said, we’re not going to do that. That’s not you, and that’s ridiculous of them to ask. That right there gave me the creative freedom. He said, “Let’s write about exactly what they’re asking you to do—to change yourself." We started checking off all these things that all of us girls do everyday to get ready to go out. I told him that before coming to the studio I wanted to look pretty so I had my nails done, I made sure I had the best outfit on, I had my hair and makeup artist come over and make me look all polished. And the thing is that I like myself when I’m not that way, but I feel like other people might not like me that way. And I know that most women go through that. When you have blemishes on your skin, gain weight, or my friend has crooked teeth, or my mom’s roots are going gray. And everyone is trying to hide their faults from each other when we all have it. So Babyface inspired me to write this and it’s all from a personal experience.
Photo: Courtesy of Republic Records
It’s funny because one would think that these messages are coming from a man to make a woman look a certain way. But here’s a man encouraging you to write about it.
I know, and a very powerful man at that. It’s so true that you can go so far down the rabbit hole of altering yourself to where you’re not happy anymore. And Kenny gave me that freedom and it’s really helped me with the direction of this album. I don’t have Photoshop on my album cover. At the video shoots, I’m doing less hair and makeup. For the “Try” video I didn’t prep or starve myself and over-exercise. And then I didn’t get my nails done, I didn’t get my hair done. I didn’t get a facial. I didn’t have a stylist.
It really does take a lot.
I still love getting all dolled up. And then most of my days I love walking around with no makeup, my hair dried straight from the shower, in workout clothes or pajamas.
What is the hardest part about being a female in today’s society?
Trying to live up to other people’s expectations. When we do get dolled up, we get more compliments. It’s just what happens. When you have a cute outfit on and your makeup looks amazing, the first thing people comment on is your image. When you don’t wear makeup, you hear things like, “Oh wow, you look tired or you’re so brave for not wearing makeup!"
Photo: Courtesy of Republic Records
It’s very easy to get caught up in what’s considered the norm. But I think it all begins with our parents. Was there a lesson that you learned as a kid that you still use today?
My parents are total hippies. My mom never wears makeup and she hates getting her hair done—exactly like the song. She doesn’t think you have to try for anyone. She thinks you should be yourself. My grandma, too—they’re so natural, and everything they put into their body is clean and they just live a clean life. And growing up with a mom who never pressured me into looking a certain way was really great because it embedded that it’s okay walking around with no makeup on most of my days. It’s more for the public appearances as an artist that I feel like I have to be polished, and now I’m excited to stop that and just kind of go as I naturally am more often.
Do you feel responsible as an artist? Do think about the message the music videos, album covers, and magazine spreads send to fans?
There’s major responsibility. When I see gorgeous models and singers and they look perfect on their album covers, it makes me want to look like that, too, and it makes me feel like if I don’t Photoshop my skin on my album cover, I’m the one who’s going to look a little off and everyone else is going to look perfect. And that’s what everyone is used to seeing. They’re used to seeing people on the album covers completely Photoshopped. On one of my album covers, my arm was shaved down and it made me look very skinny. I think that gives a false reality. When I did the lyric video for “Try,” and I asked some of my celebrity friends if they would send a picture of themselves, you have no idea how difficult it was. Some of them said no, some of them said they’ll send me a picture in a couple of days because they have a pimple on their chin, and they didn’t want it showing in the picture. And I was like, no, no, no! That’s good! Let’s let all of our fans know that we get them too, because otherwise they’re just think that they’re the only ones who get acne. We all get it, so let’s just kind of laugh about it together. And then some of the girls still wore makeup in the pictures because they felt like they needed to at least look–I don’t know, in their eyes, decent or something when they still look beautiful. It was so hard for them to show any degree of realness.
Photo: Courtesy of Republic Records
I think that once a person gets used to something, it’s hard to change your habits. In the video you took your hair tracks out, you took all the makeup off–did you feel naked? And how did the other women in the music video feel?
We shot the video in reverse, we started bare, and by the end we finished with the full hair and makeup, and then reversed the film for the finished product. All of the women were amazing. My favorite was the woman who has no hair. I first saw her completely bald, no makeup, with a huge smile, she was just so happy and confident. She was so beautiful to me. And then we kept getting more hair and makeup on, and the next scene I saw where she’s in full make-up and wig, I was like, Who is this woman? She was not the same person. She still looked beautiful but it wasn’t the same beauty that I saw when she was liberated, showing who she really was. When I shot the first scene with no hair and makeup on in front of an HD camera in my face, flashed with bright lights, everyone was watching. I thought, “Oh my god, I bet they’re all looking at my blemishes, thinking that I should cover them up, or that I should put some volume in my hair." But it also felt really cool to be on camera with zero on, like literally nothing on. And then when it got to the full hair and makeup, I actually felt gross. I was just so caked on.
