FEATURE: Spotlight: Charlotte Sands

FEATURE:

Spotlight

Charlotte Sands

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AN incredible artist…

whose latest single, Tantrum, is among the best of this year, I wanted to highlight the wonderful work of Charlotte Sands. I am going to come to some interviews from this year. In fact, I will start with one from January, as it gives us some background and biography about the sensational Sands. SPIN spoke to her about life during the pandemic, her musical influences, and the success of the epic song, Dress:

“When Charlotte Sands posted a TikTok at the beginning of COVID asking Yungblud to let her open for him on tour, she didn’t know that it would actually happen. The idea was something the blue-haired singer-songwriter had been putting into the universe for a while, and it finally seemed like her unrelenting hope was paying off.

“I genuinely have been manifesting opening for [Yungblud on tour] for about two years now,” Sands laughs over the phone between hours of tour rehearsals in Nashville. “I’ve always been a fan of his message and everything he represents as an artist and as a person. He has always been a really big idol for me.”

Born in Massachusetts to a musician father and actress mother, Sands was always surrounded by music. As a kid, she found herself inspired by storytelling songwriters like Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow and Grace Potter. By her teen years, she began writing music and discovered emo and pop-punk bands like All Time Low and Taking Back Sunday. Trying to find that middle ground between those 2000s rockers and childhood favorites has been an ongoing challenge she’s embraced as an artist ever since she moved to Nashville two weeks after high school ended.

“The quest that I’m on is trying to mix all those influences together,” she says. “Because they are so weird and are different parts of who I am as a person and as an artist.”

After years of building up her songwriting chops, the stars finally seem to have aligned for the 25-year-old alt-pop singer. At the end of 2019, Sands signed a publishing deal and became a full-time songwriter. By February 2020, she headlined her first sold-out show and planned to tour both coasts. Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic then put those plans on hold.

In the interim, her fanbase grew exponentially thanks to a viral song. In November 2020, Sands penned “Dress” — a direct response to conservative pundit Candace Owens and the negativity surrounding Harry Styles’ Vogue cover where he sported a Gucci ball gown. “I love the way you wear that dress / Making everyone upset / Burning that cigarette, boy / Swear to god I’ll confess, boy,” she swoons in the chorus. It didn’t take long for the song to blow up on TikTok, and it currently has 1.3 million views and counting. For Sands, the surprise hit wasn’t just a statement about redefining masculinity.

“‘Dress’ started from a place of me realizing that my type — the kind of people that I’m attracted to — had changed,” she says.

The success of “Dress” gave Sands some much-needed momentum to carry on despite quashed tour plans. In November, Sands finally released her debut EP, Special — a six-song compilation of vulnerable pop-punk anthems — and now she’s followed it up with Love and Other Lies, an EP that combines her raw folk songwriting and alt-leaning melodies. In developing the framework of her sound for these two EPs, she’s found inspiration in Kelly Clarkson, P!nk, Avril Lavigne and Katy Perry.

“These incredible women were so angsty, and they always felt like they weren’t doing what they were supposed to do, but in the best way,” she says. “They were always kind of rebellious and different and outspoken. Pop music has certain stigmas for women to create certain types of music about certain types of emotions or relationships. It’s really amazing to see female artists have this place where they can be angry, make aggressive music, be energetic and all these things, and people are applauding them.”

This mentality fuels Love and Other Lies, a seven-song amalgamation of tenderness, rage, heartbreak and jealousy. Ahead of the EP release, Sands shared “Every Guy Ever” — a sticky anthem about being fed up with manipulative men. A few months later, she dropped “Keep Me Up All Night,” a pop-punk gut-punch about being in love with someone and watching them be in love with someone else. That emotion also bled into “All My Friends Are Falling in Love,” a track that encompassed the loneliness Sands felt during lockdown as the regular fifth wheel with her coupled-up friends.

“It’s probably one of the hardest universal feelings, feeling unwanted or left out,” she says. “I remember crying in the bathroom [during lockdown] and having this overwhelming sense of loneliness in knowing that I was the only one going home to nobody and I live alone.”

Perhaps the most striking moment on the EP is also the softest. On the title track, Sands warbles about her family dynamic in a hazy ballad. But its opening is particularly meaningful for Sands. For two years, she held out hope that she’d play her biggest gig yet: Bonnaroo. But bad luck struck the festival again in 2021 and the site flooded, officially canceling the event. It emotionally crushed the singer, until her mom called when she needed it most and left her an encouraging voicemail. It’s stuck with her, and she thought it could help her listeners, too.

“Some people don’t get to have moms call them and tell them helpful, inspirational things to get them out of where they are,” she says. “Because they don’t have that, they can have my mom.”

Despite releasing two EPs in such a short period of time, Sands isn’t necessarily rushing to release an album. It’s something on her radar, but she’s got plenty of other ambitions for now — like dream collaborations with Yungblud, Machine Gun Kelly, Raitt, Perry or Gwen Stefani in the future. Slowing down isn’t even on her radar.

“I’ve always lived with the idea that you have to earn the time and attention of an album,” she says. “I think it really has to do with where I am. There’s a lot I have to check off my list in the next few years.” And she’ll get to that album… eventually”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Nickalaus Stafford

Charlotte Sands is coming to the U.K. next year but, if you are in the U.S., you can see her this year. An amazing live act and fabulous artist, I know that she is going to go very far. The scene is ripe and overflowing with amazing women across all genres and corners of the musical landscape. The turquoise-haired Nashville-based artist is really on the rise and making music of the highest order! Melodic Magazine chatted with Sands earlier in the year about touring with YUNGBLUD, in addition to whether it is easy to balance her influences with an original and personal direction:

“Picking a favorite song is like picking a favorite child – but do you have a favorite song to perform, or a favorite lyric you’ve written?

My favorite song to perform right now is “Keep Me Up All Night” because it feels like a ballad but also keeps the energy of the rest of the show which is really fun for me. It’s the only song that’s slow enough that I can actually focus on my voice and how it sounds and also check in on myself and my body during the show to make sure everything feels right and I’m not over or under performing.

I think one of my favorite lyrics is from the song “Love and Other Lies” when it says “we’re only human we’re all singing the same song”. It’s so simple but I love it because it’s a reminder that we’re all just people doing the best we can with what we have and that’s enough.

A few years ago you began manifesting opening for Yungblud – and it came true! Is the idea of putting things into the universe common for you, and something you want your fans to do as well? It seems in this day and age especially; we tend to be harder on ourselves and our dreams.

I definitely believe in manifestation and speaking things into existence! I’ve seen such an insane difference in my life since I’ve started vocalizing my goals and I don’t know if it’s the universe or a higher power or maybe just my own subconscious working harder for the things that I’ve said out loud but it works! I also believe that when you speak to yourself in a positive way and you talk about things you want to achieve in a way that’s claiming them as if they have already have happened, you start to convince yourself that things are possible and you work harder to make them happen without the constant obstacles of self doubt or fear. We live in a world with so much judgment and criticism and I think that anyone could greatly benefit from the idea of manifesting your dreams and shamelessly being your own champion.

Are there any other moments that have stuck with you and generated songs or specific lyrics that you could share with us?

In the second verse of my song “Bad Day” it says “I wish I felt everything less, can I be sad for a minute and not be depressed” and as dark as that sounds it was actually a note entry in my phone that I found when we were writing the song. I’m such a 0 to 100 person and I always feel every emotion so deeply which can be a blessing and a curse. I’m grateful I can feel so much because it’s why I’m able to write songs but it can also be a really heavy weight to constantly carry around which is what “Bad Day” ended up being about. It’s the story of allowing yourself to be where you are and to feel everything without automatically correcting yourself or trying to be more positive like we’re constantly told to be. It’s okay to have a bad day and writing that song has allowed me to be easier on myself when it comes to my own emotions.

You’re inspired by contrasting genres, from storytelling artists like Bonnie Raitt on one end to pop-punk bands like All Time Low on the other – creating your own distinctive sound. As time has passed, have you found it easier to create a middle ground combination of your influences, or is this something you are still seeking?

I definitely find it easier to combine all my influences now because I’ve realized how similar they all really are. All my favorite songs are so different but have so many things in common like the storyline or the quality of lyrics and overly melodic choruses. I have so much fun figuring out how to create music that sounds like mine and that reflects my influences and it doesn’t feel as daunting as it used to. I trust myself more and I’m a lot less interested in genre or whatever box that I’ve been told I fit best in which allows me a lot more freedom these days – I’m very excited about that”.

I am going to wrap things up with an interview from Alternative Press. A remarkable artist that everyone should know about, it is fascinating reading interviews with her. I really hope that Sands gets more dates in the U.K., as her fanbase is growing over here:

"Nashville-based singer-songwriter Charlotte Sands is truly having a moment right now. Between the breakout success of her single “Dress,” playing shows with YUNGBLUD and My Chemical Romance and providing guest vocals on several high-profile collaborations in the rock, alternative and pop world, Sands is an unstoppable force. While her rise to stardom has kicked into overdrive within the past two years, the young artist has been grinding it out as a songwriter for nearly a decade, and her success is a testament to her hard work and relatable ethos.

On “Dress,” Sands offers a stunning directive for her listeners to be themselves, defy societal expectations and embrace everyone’s unique characteristics. This has not only positioned her as a role model to a growing fanbase but has also created an entire community of supporters who are unified through a safe space rooted in the power of music. Now, Sands plans to make next year the most exciting and eventful it has been for her career while also giving back to her community in the process.

This leads us to the announcement of Sands’ first-ever headline run, the Love And Other Lies tour, which kicks off this fall with support from rising alternative artists John Harvie and No Love for the Middle Child.

You've had a meteoric rise as an artist. One can only imagine what's coming next for you, and it seems to be a very exciting time. What was the journey like to get here?

I pinch myself every day with how much we have been able to accomplish in the last two years, let alone the last 10 plus that I have been doing this. Overall, I have really tried to expand a network of people I love working with that inspire me and make me feel more creative. Once you build that community of people who love and respect your art, it helps create this web of like-minded people, which makes it more enjoyable.

Nashville has a history of having a strong community of songwriters and producers. What prompted you to move there, and what does the city bring out in your art?

Nashville is still where I believe the highest quality of songwriters exists. There is this quality and love for the story of the song and lyricism. The songwriters who live here, including me, experience this respect toward lyrics, and ever since, I’ve been obsessed with that relationship with words. I moved here because my favorite songwriters Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt and Michelle Branch were here making albums, and when I was growing up, I had this feeling that this was where I was supposed to be.

With “Dress” being your breakout single, I find it so interesting that you leaked the song initially. Did you immediately know that you captured something special that needed to be shared right away?

To be honest, none of it was a strategy. I was in this position where I was home, I couldn’t tour and I didn’t feel like I had an output for my creativity besides releasing a song every six weeks. I hadn’t really gone down the TikTok hole at that point, but it got to a point where we had nothing else to try, so we just did it. I leaked it a couple of days before Thanksgiving, and I turned off my phone not thinking anything of it, but my manager called me and told me that something was happening with it. I was thinking it was probably a prank and automatically thought that there was no way this was real. I’m really grateful for the reaction to the song. There is such an important message in it of self-expression, questioning gender norms and being your authentic self.

There's such a strong message behind “Dress.” With that being said, do you recognize that you are now becoming a role model for so many of your fans?

I honestly have such impostor syndrome when it comes to that stuff. [Laughs.] I haven’t done anything — I just wrote my feelings in a song. I see activists and people who are donating their life to these causes, and I feel like I’ve done the bare minimum, but I do have so many people who have had an incredible reaction to it. I think the most wonderful thing for me is if I have given anybody more confidence because knowing that there is a community that supports you as you are and everyone is safe is something that I take a lot of pride in. Being able to curate a community is something I couldn’t be more proud of in my life. It’s so much more than a song.

You've also been involved in so many exciting collaborations with a wide range of artists, from Underoath and Sleeping With Sirens to pop artists like Mokita and the Maine. What was the process like getting together with these artists, and what makes collaboration so important to you?

I think every single collaboration has come out of a friendship. With Underoath, I wrote with [drummer, vocalist] Aaron [Gillespie] for my project, and he’s just the most beautiful human, and that’s how I got the Underoath feature. It was the same with Mokita. He lives in Nashville too, and it finally just worked out. The funniest thing about the Sleeping With Sirens collaboration was that I was on a podcast, and I was like, “I would love to do a collaboration with Kellin Quinn,” and of course, he saw that clip, and he told me he had a song he wanted me on. I think it’s important for me to push the box of the genre that people see me in. I grew up on such a wide range of music, and it’s important for me to not be pigeonholed as one type of artist.

Having the opportunity to share the stage with so many acts such as My Chemical Romance and YUNGBLUD must have been really special. Did you learn anything from these artists in the process?

It’s endless. With YUNGBLUD, that was my first tour ever, and he just breathes stardom. I think he is going to be the David Bowie for millennials and Gen Z. Watching him every night was so inspiring. Watching him have that power to captivate people so easily made me want to make people feel the same way when they’re watching me. It taught me so much. For the My Chemical Romance show, it was the biggest show of my life, and it was 32,000 people in a stadium. I blacked out a lot of it, and I remember walking onstage not being nervous and just kept telling myself, “This is what you are meant to do being do, so prove why you worked so hard and trust the work.”

That leads us to now with your first headline tour. What can we expect, and does it feel exciting or daunting?

I feel like the timing couldn’t be better. I’m itching to play more shows and play longer sets. For the first time ever, I get to curate an experience that is my own that I think the audience will enjoy. The preparation for it is daunting but it’s just one of those things where there’s so much to do that you just need to let go of control and know that it’s going to work out for the best. It’s going to be a magical experience, and it’s going to be the biggest thing I’ve done in my career. I’m so overwhelmed in a great way. I’m so excited!

With the music industry changing so much, a full-length isn't always needed anymore, but are there plans to put out a larger musical project down the road?

I have always said that you have to earn an album. You have to earn the amount of time it takes for someone to listen to your project front to back. I want to earn it, and I think I am at a point now where I want to do bigger projects. Being able to make multiple songs that feel like they are a part of each other and the same story is always really fun for me. Hopefully, next year is when I can put an entire project out”.

One of my favourite new artist, Charlotte Sands is primed for great things. I have been following her music for a bit, but I know the next couple of years are going to be really huge for her. I wonder whether there is an album in the back of her mind. If you have not heard of her yet, make sure you follow and listen to her now! This is a simply wonderful artist that you need to…