FEATURE:
Ready to Go
PHOTO CREDIT: Adama Jalloh
a couple of times on my blog before. I put her in the Spotlight feature last year, and I recently include her among other great artists as part of the BRITs’ award shortlists. I am compelled to feature her again, as I think that she is going to define this year. Burns has already been placed fourth on Radio 1’s Sound of 2023 poll. She is also set to perform at the BRITs next month. I am going to come onto a couple of other interviews. First, I want to look back to earlier this month, when the BBC spoke with Burns about her career and the success of her best-known song, go:
“From busking on the streets of London, to becoming a platinum-selling songwriter and supporting Ed Sheeran on his stadium tour, Cat Burns had a pretty incredible 2022.
It was all thanks to Go, a defiant break-up song she first released three years ago, but which found a second life on TikTok,
A slow-burning smash, it entered the chart at number 57 last January, gradually moving upwards until it peaked at number two in June.
By that point, Sam Smith had added a guest verse to the song and whisked 22-year-old Burns over to the US to play the song on James Corden's The Late Late Show.
She ended the year with a nomination for the Brits Critics' Choice award; and now she's come fourth in BBC Radio 1's Sound Of 2023 - which tips acts for even bigger success next year.
"I always thought Go would be the song that introduced me to people, but not in the magnitude that it has," says the singer, who's still coming to terms with the success.
Family and music have always been intertwined. Burns grew up on her mum's record collection - falling in love with the gospel songs of Donnie McClurkin, Kim Burrell and Kirk Franklin, alongside the classic soul sounds of Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson.
Her mum sang in choirs, and encouraged her daughter to join up, too. She remembers after-school clubs and summer camps in Wales where she'd holler the songs from Disney's High School Musical at the top of her voice.
Music wasn't her only talent. Burns was a promising basketball player, whose coach told her she had the potential to play professionally.
"And that was what made me realise I didn't want to do it," she laughs. "Because if you want to pursue it, it becomes your whole life... although I guess to an extent that happens with music, too."
By that point, she'd started writing her own songs, orchestrating everything in her head, as she hadn't yet learned to play an instrument.
"They were rubbish," she laughs, but Burns had enough raw talent to win a place at the Brit School, passing her audition with a rendition of Jimi Hendrix's All Along The Watchtower.
Many graduates are reluctant to discuss their time at the academy, fearful that its "fame academy" image undermines any semblance of cool or credibility - but Burns has no such concerns.
"The Brit School gave me the confidence to know that I can pursue a career in the arts and achieve it," she enthuses”.
Having risen to prominence and featured on shows like Later… with Jools Holland, and Graham Norton’s chat show, here is an artist primed for incredible things. Make sure that you follow Burns on Twitter and Instagram. I would suggest people check out Burns’ 2022 E.P., emotionally unavailable. It is a supreme work from one of the best artists in the country. The London-based Pop/R&B artist is going to keep rising through this year. I want to bring in sections from a Music Week interview from earlier this month. Burns talked about the success of go, TikTok, and navigating the music industry:
“We saw that it was growing on TikTok, so I want to say that I posted loads more TikToks but in reality I didn’t. I highlighted on my posts that it was growing within the algorithm and that helped push it even more. We kept talking about it on other platforms as well. TikTok can really do wonders and when the song picks up, the work gets done for you. We did loads of interviews and shoots. We wanted to make sure people knew the face behind the song.
“Luckily, I think this song lent itself to different genres. Goddard did a bootleg version, the drum & bass one. Someone took a screenshot and sent it to me and said, ‘Oh my gosh, this guy’s done a drum & bass version of your song and it sounds really cool.’ I showed my manager and he was like, ‘Wow, we should put this out.’
“There are eight official reworks. Sam Smith, Goddard, Loski and Russ Millions on the drill one, Sam Fischer’s one and then the Lower & Slower and Higher & Faster versions, the Piano Version and the Nervous Freaks house remix.
“The Sam Smith one came about quite randomly. We asked Sam if they wanted to do it then my manager messaged me and said, ‘Hey, Sam’s going to do a version of Go,’ and I was like, ‘What?!’ I finally met Sam and it was a perfect pairing because we genuinely get on and that has shown through when we’ve performed together. There have also been other bootleg versions, I know there’s an Amapiano one. I’m really lucky we were able to do the number we did and people didn’t get sick of it.
“The trick was not really letting the song die and creating different versions of it to live in different places. I’m really happy that the original has the most streams, because that’s just me by myself and it shows that people like the song full stop.
“Luckily, people didn’t really have an image of me as someone who just created a song that blew up on TikTok, because I did a good mix of teasing originals as well as posting covers, so people knew that I sang my own songs, and those went viral too.
“Labels want to create a name for the people behind the songs so that artists don’t keep having just one hit. Go is quite slow for radio, so their steering was more like, ‘Let’s create a version for radio that doesn’t have to live on DSPs.’
“That was nice because my music is acoustic pop and it is slow. There’s some that are a bit faster, but generally the songs I love are acoustic. The label hasn’t steered me anywhere bad because the song that has changed my life is the music that I want to make. So there’s no butting heads or intensity because the song has done well.
“The industry is new for me and I’m not a very trusting person, especially in the business. I always remind myself that I am the product, I have to make people money in order for them to be happy with me. I’m not under any false pretences about getting comfortable in the industry”.
One of my favourite songs from Cat Burns is free. Burns identifies as Queer. In an interview with Gay Times, she stated how she initially struggled to reconcile her sexuality with her ethnicity, stating that, as a Black woman, she wants to be seen and heard. There is a vulnerability that comes with a lot of different and complex emotions. Being Queer adds a layer to that. I want to skip to this Refinery29 interview from last year. Burns discussed authenticity and why it is important that Black Queer people talk about their experiences:
“Your new EP is out and sounding beautiful. Why did you choose ‘emotionally unavailable’ as the title track?
CB: “I came up with the name ‘emotionally unavailable’ back in 2020 because that was where I was at in my life, I was extremely closed off to love of any kind and had so much to work through. I chose it as the title track because I felt like it summed up our generation so well. We’re not just emotionally unavailable for no reason; there’s a lot we go through on a daily basis.”
You’re such a profound writer. Have you always found it easy to be vulnerable through music? When did you start writing?
CB: “Music is the one place I’ve never struggled being vulnerable. I struggle to say how I’m feeling normally and get overwhelmed when trying to express it. Music is a safe space for me to sing what I’ve always wanted to say. I started writing back when I was about twelve. The songs were awful then but I learnt so much about how I wanted to write.”
I read that you want to help “Black queer people tell their stories” — why is this so important to you?
CB: “Because I am a Black queer person and feeling seen, heard and represented means everything to me.”
How important is it to be just as authentic on your social platforms as you are in your music?
CB: “It is extremely important. I’m quite private about personal things but I still want people to feel a part of my journey because they are.”
How would you advise your generation — particularly young, Black, queer people — to show up as their authentic selves in their lives?
CB: “Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to be anything or do anything. Just take things at your own pace”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Melanie Lehmann
I think we are going to see a lot more from Cat Burns this year. Her new singles, people pleaser and sleep at night, were released in October. It would be wonderful if there was a debut album this year. So many eyes are on the terrific Cat Burns. I want to finish with an interview from DAZED. In July, they featured an artist who went from busking to becoming one of the most promising artists in the country. Cat Burns’ stunning E.P., emotionally unavailable, is someone who has a huge and bright feature ahead of her:
“Burns’s EP emotionally unavailable has solidified her position as a rising artist who can effortlessly capture our collective, generational struggles with loneliness and finding community. The six-track project grapples with the feelings of living in the modern world, including “anxiety”, “we’re not kids anymore” (which reminisces over the end of a friendship) and “ghosting”. “All the things on emotionally unavailable are taken from personal stories, I’ve definitely felt lonely and anxious,” she says.
Vulnerability is at the heart of everything Burns does. Last year, she released one of her most personal tracks to date “Free”. “There’s no way you can tell me who I’m supposed to be / See now I’m free”, she sings triumphantly on the track which recalls her experience when coming out to her family. She hopes her supporters can benefit from connecting with each other, in the same way connection has helped her. “[Having a chosen family] means a lot. Just having people who chose to be in your life is important and they help you feel less alone, especially if you’re feeling the same kind of things they are.”
Burns wants her legacy to be one that unites people and reconnects people in a time when most of us are disconnected. “There’s lots of pressure that young people have on them,” says Burns, “which makes sense with the society we live in. I think [rates of] depression and anxiety are the highest they’ve ever been and it’s our job as musicians to just help people feel something. Music is therapy. So having a song, or a couple of songs that are out there that make you feel like it's been written for you, is always good. I want people to feel heard and listened to whenever they hear my music. I just want them to feel less alone.”
It’s been a busy year for Burns with a Late Late Show performance under her belt, an upcoming headline show at London’s KOKO and for the summer, Burns is travelling across Europe supporting Ed Sheeran on tour, performing to the largest audiences in her career so far. It’s a far cry from busking and TikTok and Burns is ready for it. “It will be my first time in pretty much all of these places and it feels good. These are the things I’ve wanted to do and I didn’t think it would happen this quickly,” she says. “When I started posting on TikTok, it was genuinely for fun and out of boredom – I wasn’t expecting anything from it. All of this is a bonus... ”.
I wanted to write about Cat Burns, as she is someone who is going from strength to strength. She is performing at the BRITs next month, and I am sure that there will be more music soon. Tipped for success through 2023, I would encourage everyone to follow her. It has been a busy and successful past year for the amazing Cat Burns. I do think that this year will be her most memorable to date. It is going to be richly deserved. That is why I wanted to salute…
A remarkable artist.