Everyone has that person they wished they never went out with but you can’t scrub from your past. Some of us are lucky enough to get a good song out of the story. It's always the guys who say they’ll marry that end up making out with some random girl at a bar.
Cate reminisces over a situationship that was doomed from the start and full of red flags. “It was sours every Thursday/ Good at playing games/ Kissing in the hallway/ Driving me insane/ Acting like you want me then saying I’m too much for you”
Tomlinson is ever-evolving her musician stylings to capture the essence of the story she is telling. An artist who can truly paint a clear picture and translate raw emotions into her work with her stellar and powerful vocals narrating the tale. Experimenting with more rock-centric elements has brought a new element of grit - reminiscent of her cover of Ruby Soho - to Cate’s signature indie-pop sound. Tomlinson isn’t one to shy away from embracing inspiration, when rock called she picked up the phone and made it her own.
"A boy and I were on and off all last semester, and it finally ended one night when he proposed to me in the back of the uber, kissed to seal the deal, asked me to pay his cover for the bar (which I had to do twice cause the bouncer didn’t see the first one), then I came back with our drinks to find him making out with a random girl. It took him five days to venmo me my twenty dollars, but I got a great song out of it! We haven’t really talked since but he knows there’s a song coming and I can’t wait for him to hear it :)
It was really easy to write. It’s easy to write stuff when you have a specific series of events to pull from, and it was also fun because I’ve been working on including more details in my lyrics and I definitely got the chance to do that for ‘hurt you.’ Some of my favorite songs by other artists are ones that tell a story from beginning to end, and that was my goal with this. I was obviously mad when it happened and wanted to capture those feelings, but I also wanted to keep the vibe light and a little sarcastic. I feel like I did a good job with that. Like I’ll be able to listen back to it with my friends and yell the words and be glad that I at least got a song out of that experience.
There is nothing like the feeling of creating something ultra-specific and personal and at the same time having it be something you genuinely want to share with other people. I was really mad and frustrated and the process of writing it out and liking the product was weirdly cathartic. It was like a weight lifted off my chest when it was done."
Cate Tomlinson is a 21-year-old singer, songwriter, and performing artist from San Francisco. Her music is inspired by pop, soul, and electro. The young self-made artist is now based out of Boston and is working to develop her unique voice as an artist at Northeastern University as a Music Industry major. Continuing to explore her craft and passion, this young vocalist is bound to make waves this year.
Links to socials:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catetomlinson/
Website: https://www.catetomlinson.com
Press release by Hannah Schneider x Unheard Gems