Long Read // Charlotte Sands - can we start over?
‘can we start over?’, the debut album from Charlotte Sands, is stranger, heavier and more mature than her previous projects – after she learnt to back herself.
She’s picked up a vocal fanbase from viral singles like ‘Dress’ and collabs with some of rock’s coolest names, but she never foresaw a full-length project even a year ago, when she was opening for PVRIS in the UK in January 2023. “It’s so strange, at that time, I had no idea what I was going to do or going to make or any of it,” she told When The Horn Blows. As an independent artist, she backed herself to get the best songs if she didn’t rush. “I think that’s why I was able to get so many songs that I love so much.”
Album opener ‘use me’ – “about stepping into your own identity and disregarding people’s criticism or judgement of you” - is one song she couldn’t have written last year. “I wasn’t aware of the fact that you can say no to other people’s judgement and what they want you to be and who they want you to be, especially being in this industry. I think that was a huge lesson for me to learn.”
It’s a cathartic start to a rollercoaster 31 minutes on ‘can we start over?’, composed of 10 songs that bring a different vibe to Charlotte’s previous releases. “These songs felt very much like they were supposed to live together. Automatically, I felt it was a completely different experience and we were making a different project.”
The cornerstone of the album might be ‘spite’, which became an early fan favourite after she performed it supporting 5 Seconds of Summer last autumn. Even hearing clips on her social pages made it felt like it had been around an age, but the massive song remained unreleased until the album dropped on January 24.
From ‘use me’ to the title track, it is tied together with a sense of dissonance, unusual chord choices and stranger sounds. It represents where she is now - exactly what a debut full-length should do. “I really wanted to make something more cinematic and dramatic, which is very different than anything I’ve ever made. I tried not to follow the structure of songwriting all the time. I tried to experiment with different sounds and let myself break the rules a little bit.”
She moved to Nashville to improve her songwriting around the best songwriters, but made the bulk of ‘can we start over?’ in LA. “I think because of how long I’ve been in Nashville, and how important the actual songwriting aspect is to me, I’m able to bring that with me, even when I travel to make different music. That’s always a part of my core and my roots is how important the songwriting is and how intentional I am still with that, and with the story behind the song.
“My priority is to write songs for myself, and write them about my stories. I think as you grow older, those things can get deeper and those things can feel heavier. But also, I really try to also write songs that can feel universal in their emotions and in their feelings so that anybody at any age can relate in some way.”
Not many albums put the title track last, so Charlotte wasn’t inspired by any other albums doing that. “The reason that I chose that was because I thought it was interesting having a song called ‘can we start over?’ as the last song, since it was like “Can we start the album over? Can we start the experience over?” It just made sense with the words and the meaning of the song and continuing that process of reintroducing yourself.
“Hopefully people take it literally and stream the whole album again!”
She’s already plotting how to make the “massive” title track a moment in her headline shows. “I think the tour is the thing I’m most excited about, and being able to sing these songs with everybody and travel around the world. I think I’m the luckiest person in the world, I get to just have this experience with so many people and be surrounded by so many wonderful personalities and people that I love so much.”
The show will be most of the new album – if not all of it, thinking her fans will be excited by ‘pity’ in particular “because it’s so in your face and so loud”. There’ll be room for older songs crammed into her headline shows though. “It makes people remember these sweet moments that we’ve had together. It feels nostalgic, even if it was put out a few months ago. That’s so fun for me. It brings everyone back to this community of how we all met, and how we all started.”
2023 was full of “cool things” she always wanted to do, but personal growth means her ambitions have shifted. It used to be arenas and stadium tours – “and a Grammy or twelve wouldn’t hurt”, she joked – but now its about finding “sustainable joy” in a notoriously tough industry. “I think finding the childlike sense of joy in music and in art and in creating and making sure I’m able to contain that and hold onto it for as long as possible. That is my goal.”
After five years of singles and EPs, she’s glad it’s finally out there. “I feel so excited. I can’t believe it’s all over. I feel we put so much work and time into this, it’s so exciting it’s all built up until now.” A pre-release Zoom with fans was “a rewarding experience” as they were kind about her favourite songs ‘teeth’ and ‘can we start over?’. “Whenever I have my favourites, I’m always nervous that other people aren’t going to love them as much. And so I get a little nervous about that, but everyone was so excited and loved them so much, so that made me feel a lot better.”
Previously, she’s been working too hard to celebrate a project, but a debut album is a worthy exception, so there was a proper release party for it too.
So, in the spirit of starting over, is there anything she’d do differently if she was beginning her career again?
“Nothing. I wouldn’t do anything differently. If I did anything differently, I wouldn’t have the songs that I have. I wouldn’t be working with the people that I’m working with. I wouldn’t sacrifice that for anything. I think there’s lessons I could have learnt earlier, or I could have learned at a very young age to not put so much weight into other people’s expectations of me or their ideas of me. But at the same time, I really am so happy with my life and what we’ve been able to create. And the fact we have real fans and real people that show up. It has nothing to do with virality or this quick moment, it’s about people who are there over and over again, even when all the odds are against me. And so I think everything we’ve done in some way or the other was meant to happen and is working exactly as it should. I’m really proud of that.”
‘can we start over?’ is out now on CS Records.
Feature by Samuel Draper
