Chelsea Cutler is an American singer, songwriter, and producer who has over 13 million listeners on Spotify and has been gaining mass popularity ever since she dropped her viral debut single “Your Shirt” in 2017. She is currently on her When I Close My Eyes tour and at her Columbus show I got a chance to sit in on her VIP Q&A session where she answered all her fans’ burning questions.
Cutler has an album called Sleeping with Roses which came out in 2018. She created this album in her first New York apartment bedroom. The past couple years, because of COVID, she was craving collaboration in a way that she hadn’t before. With her 2021 album, When I Close My Eyes, she got the opportunity to travel and she wrote most of it in LA with other artists like Quinn XCII and hazey eyes. In the past when people tried to schedule songwriting sessions with her she would dismiss them because she enjoyed writing alone more than working with others. However, after quarantine with her parents she was eager to hang out with people in their 20’s again.
Chelsea Cutler has a song called “New Recording 28 – Lions” and she shared some insight into the symbolism behind the “lion” that she is singing about. Cutler shares that her girlfriend has crazy hair, and they always joke that she looks like a lion. In addition to this, it also symbolizes her strength. Cutler also said that she left the “New Recording -28” in the title of the song because it was originally a voice memo.
Cutler says she gets over her writing block with a technique that she learned from some Swedish writers. The exercise consists of putting headphones on some basic cords and singing whatever comes to mind. This helps Cutler when she doesn’t have a melody or lyrics that come to her, and this method helps her get into a rhythm and let loose. She shares that this method helped her in writing her song “Under”.
Her most memorable performance was Red Rocks because everyone was just coming off the pandemic and she hadn’t performed in a really long time. At Red Rocks she performed with Quinn XCII, Jeremey Zucker, and Ayokay and she said it was special to get to do that with her best friends. She also adds that the tour that she is currently on is really special because she hasn’t headlined in so long and it has been giving her a lot of confidence/ allowing her to feel like herself again.
Her four favorite tracks that she has ever written are “nj”, “crazier things”, “devil on your shoulder”, and “under”. Some of Cutler’s pre-concert rituals consist of drinking one or two red bulls, warming up, secret handshakes with her team, and then a team huddle where they give an inspirational speech that gets them ready to perform.
Personally, Cutler’s music is a favorite and I recommend you give her stuff a listen if you haven’t heard her stuff before. She is still on tour and tickets are available if you are interested as well. I can’t wait to see what’s next for Chelsea Cutler!