Courtesy

You could call Colbie Caillat’s rise to fame the ultimate 21st-century success story. In 2006, Caillat was working at a tanning salon in California. At a friend’s urging, she posted her music — cheerful, simple pop songs — on a MySpace site. Six months later, the site was getting thousands of plays daily. Soon after, the record labels came a-knockin’, and the singer/songwriter signed with Universal Republic. The No. 1 hit single “Bubbly” helped her 2007 debut album, Coco, go platinum. Before heading out on a summer tour with John Mayer, Caillat (pronounced ka-LAY) hits Sunset Station on Saturday, May 10, as part of Mixfest with Maroon 5, Simple Plan and Ryan Cabrera.

Caillat, 22, talked to 210SA about her stage fright, favorite drink and positive outlook on life.

Do you think you would have gotten where you are today if it hadn’t been for MySpace?

No, I don’t think I would have, or it would have taken a lot longer just because I grew my own fan base, and they spread my songs. They got me to be noticed by record labels. If that wouldn’t have happened, I would have taken a long time to do it because I’m really shy and not pushy with that kind of stuff.

What’s it like to sign with a major record label when you are already successful from something like MySpace?

It was great. We were recording the album when the record labels came into the picture, and it was awesome because we were worried someone was going to come in and be like, “All right, change this and switch producers because yours isn’t a well-known producer.” And I wasn’t going to do that. So luckily, I had my fan base and people liked the songs for how they were. And the label liked them, and I just made them promise me I get my artist freedom and creativity rights, and they said yes.

You dropped an improv class in college because you were so shy. How are you able to perform in front of crowds?

It took a long time, and it’s still taking time to get over but every show I get more comfortable. My band makes me have fun up on stage, and I’m learning how to deal with it and enjoy it and different techniques to overcome my stage fright.

What techniques?

I talked to this public-speaking therapist. She told me every time I get scared, to tell myself, “You’re not here to prove yourself to anyone. You’re here to make people feel good.” And so once I realized that, that I kind of made it, I don’t have to prove myself anymore, and I look at the crowd and everyone’s singing along, I just have to remember to smile and take deep breaths. It really works. And having a drink before the show helps as well.

What’s your drink of choice?

I like Grey Goose and Vitamin Water. I don’t really like alcohol too much, so it has to be kind of sweet, and I can’t drink that much of it.

You write feel-good songs. Is it important to you that your songs be positive?

Yeah, I don’t like being sad or depressed, and usually when you write songs, you’re kind of in that place because that’s when your emotions are coming out. So when I do write a song, I try to turn it around and make it more uplifting, like, the first verse will tell the situation that something’s wrong. But then the second verse and chorus will be like, “but it can get better.” I try to make things better, I guess.

Jessica Belasco | 210SA contributor