By: Bridget Sinden
Abbie Callahan is bringing a kaleidoscopic “ever changing” sound to a currently ever changing genre, her writing is full of wit and charm all while weaving a thread of gut wrenching honesty that ties her creative narratives together. She’s an artist that challenges the confines of genre convention, with a fun and mystical optimism about it. She’s having a whirlwind of a year so far with her latest release, a cover of ABBA’s “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (a man after midnight)”, as well as her song “2:38”, a collaboration with Brendan Walter reaching one million streams on apple music alone, and supporting Carter Faith on select stops for the Cherry Valley tour!
She’s branded her sound as “kaleidoscope country” which, in her words she describes “At first it meant trippy, maybe a little bit 70’s, a little bit psychedelic, mixed in with bluegrass. And now, a year later after saying Kaleidoscope country, I feel like it means that it’s ever changing and evolving-like a kaleidoscope. So it’ll always be those elements but it has room to move and change.”
She released her first record titled “Grossly Aware” just last year, its seven tracks are a mix of upbeat modern folksy songs like “The Garden” and “Mary Jane,” to heavier cut- yet just as clever songs like the project’s final track “I’ll bring flowers” her lyricism and ability to create interesting sonic soundscapes work in tandem to create a stand out debut album.
The title “Grossly Aware” was a decision she came to after the album was completed as she tells us, “I listened to the project top-down, and just wrote down lyrics that stood out, or feelings that it gave me, and in the last song, I’ll Bring Flowers, the second verse of it says I’m grossly aware. And I was like, ugh, that’d be such a weird title for a project, and it oddly is all-encompassing, too.”
The writing of this record she says was in retrospect, saying, “Mostly I was reflecting on the year prior, and writing it takes me a second to sit with emotions so, every song had happened a while ago and I was just able to write about it, so it’s a pretty reflective project, it’s not the happiest but i’m proud of the writing and I did a lot of it alone.”
One of her most recent singles “Simon Says” is a testament to her playful artistry, as she uses the game “Simon Says” as a metaphor for the harsh realities of modern dating. It’s a song currently resonating with fans and drumming up a lot of attention on social media, as we joked for its “situationship awareness”. With the release of the track she asked fans to tell her about their “Simon,” which she says, “You know modern dating- all of them were so depressing I was like ‘what have I done!’”
Something that sets Abbie apart as an artist is her bold visuals and style that feel authentically her. The cover of “Grossly Aware” contains many elements she talks about in her music and really brings the record to life, we asked her what inspired the physical elements of the record and she surprisingly told us that, that is a struggle for her as an artist, saying “Cassie Ashton did a lot of the styling and world-building with me, which was so helpful, because I can build a world musically, but aesthetically, it’s just… it’s hard to get those to connect the way you want them to, but she does that so effortlessly. I was very lucky that she was able to work with me, but I guess the inspo was how to introduce myself to people, and that was in the fairy land, and keeping it, like, weird. I don’t know…I like that it’s artistic, and it’s gonna keep getting weirder. Which I think it should be. I feel uncomfortable in photoshoots if I’m just like, posing and trying to look hot, that doesn’t feel like me. So, putting on a strange headpiece and an artsy outfit, that feels more like my brand.”
Most recently Abbie makes probably the strongest point of this visual brand with the cover of her latest single, “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (a man after midnight).” As it pictures her with a unicorn mask head on in a dive bar. It’s something that is strikingly Abbie, as she tells us she’s always loved unicorns since she was a little girl. The uniqueness of the cover in contrast with the disco-bluegrassy rendition of the classic ABBA song just makes sense, as Abbie puts it “the people who get it, get it.”
Abbie Callahan is on the rise and continues to evolve, sharing that she’s working on her next project that is “similar but different” than her first. Be sure to stream her latest singles on all major streaming platforms!
Stay wild, stay mystical, stay country
