Catlea On the Making Of “Crumbling”
Can you tell us about the inspiration behind "Crumbling" and the story it tells?
I wrote “Crumbling” about a relationship where there was no way I could live up to my partner’s expectations. The beginning of the song is what you’d expect. A sad piano ballad about being lost, confused, and completely falling apart. But then the story takes a turn and suddenly I’m singing an upbeat pop song where I’ve realized it isn’t my fault that I couldn’t be perfect, so instead I find the humor of the situation. The end of the song creates a clear image of what the end of a relationship can feel like through chaos and layers of different thoughts running through my head.
Can you talk about the recording and production process for this song?
I wrote this song when I was 17 but it wasn’t until recently that I got to record and release it. The production of this song was actually really cool because all of the instruments except for the piano and my singing was done by one person: Claudia Mills. She’s the lead singer for BITTERS and one of the most talented people I’ve ever worked with.
As for the piano, I came up with the basic chords of course, but what you hear in the song was written and recorded by Nick Tsang, who has worked with so many amazing musicians like Ed Sheeran and Lewis Capaldi and who truly helped to make the song into something special.
And finally, the mixing and mastering were done by a producer I work very closely with, Jason Boshoff at Room To Studios in Barcelona, Spain. He’s also responsible for the production of “Like Me,” “Lying,” and all the rest of the songs I have yet to release from my album. He’s super talented and I’m eternally grateful I get to work with him and everyone else who’s helped me to make these songs come to life.
How do you feel "Crumbling" represents your artistic identity?
I think this particular song really highlights some key aspects of who I am and who I want to be. I want to help others to feel seen and understood, and I want to do that by sharing my own stories and not taking myself too seriously in the process. “Crumbling” is a really good demonstration of the kind of music I aim to create from the dynamics to the lyrics to even the cover art, which I drew with the intention of making it explicitly clear that the person in the center of the piece is having such a truly awful, no good, very bad day that it’s almost comical. They may be falling from a crumbling tower into a raging fire while actively being struck by lightning as tarot cards fall from the sky in an apocalyptic fashion, but hey, if they live through this (somehow) it’ll make for a fantastic story later!
How has your music evolved since you started as a singer-songwriter? What have been some key milestones in your artistic journey?
A lot of people like to measure progress in numbers, and I do deeply appreciate those milestones of course — my songs have been streamed collectively over 8 million times and just on YouTube alone I have over 1 million views which I can’t even begin to comprehend — but the most important markers for me have been more tangible. Getting to travel to Spain to finish my album and create my live show, performing and getting live feedback from people, and finally my biggest milestone so far: Completing my album, Language Barrier, which is releasing on January 17, 2025, has been the most impactful to me so far.
Language Barrier is so important to me as a milestone not only because it’s my first full album, but also because it’s a concept album that takes you on a journey through a real relationship I was in. It’s about the struggle to communicate, broken trust, isolation, fighting through heartache, dealing with complex feelings and messy situations, and ultimately growing from it all and finding your own voice in the process. I essentially navigate you through the stages of grief, starting with anger and ending with acceptance.
Have you received any memorable feedback or messages from fans that touched you deeply?
Every day I get messages from people all over the world that are so unbelievably kind and supportive. I can’t put into words how much it means to me. It hits me especially hard when I’m on stage because many people will come up to me after a show to tell me how my songs made them feel and it blows me away every time. If I had to pick just one moment though, there was a little girl who sat as close as she possibly could to the stage at one of my shows, clapping and dancing to every song. She came up to me with her mom after the show and asked if she could get a picture with me and if I could teach her to play piano. She could barely reach my keyboard but she was extremely determined and I spent about half an hour teaching her how to play. She said she wants to be a musician like me one day. I fully believe she will be.