Meet Caroline Robertson

We were lucky to catch up with Caroline Robertson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Caroline, we are so deeply grateful to you for opening up about your journey with mental health in the hops that it can help someone who might be going through something similar. Can you talk to us about your mental health journey and how you overcame or persisted despite any issues? For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.

I have struggled with mental health issues for most of my life, and music has always been a helpful tool for me in managing my mental health. When I was younger and didn’t understand these feelings that I was having, listening to music, singing along, and dancing to it helped me feel less alone, understand that there were other people out there feeling like I was. I’ve always been a very lyrics-driven person and I used to write lyrics I connected with the most over and over into notebooks, as doodles on the side of my homework or class notes, even on my arm if nothing else was available. When I started writing my own songs I found that to be another tool in letting out those feelings and understanding them better. I wrote, and still write, many poems and songs to get out the thoughts that my head just wouldn’t let go of. Recently, as I’ve been performing more, I’ve found a new way that music helps me – by realizing that those songs that I thought were too dark or weird and wouldn’t be relatable to other people actually can be the ones that are most relatable to other people. I recently have been performing a song I wrote called “I Can’t Stop Being Weird” about my anxious racing thoughts and my fear of how other people perceive me. I had initially dismissed it as too strange, but I have had many people come up to me afterwards and tell me about how they feel the same way. It is a really incredible feeling to find out that something you thought only you struggled with and assumed other people would be put off by is actually something that they enjoy and that it even made them feel better.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I am a singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist. Currently I am involved in two different musical projects: my solo music, under the name caro, and my band, Desert Radio.
As a solo artist, I tend towards writing sad songs and spunky songs. My sad songs focus on topics like heartbreak, and my anxiety and depression, and my spunky songs tend to focus on more feminist topics, on my anger at how women are often treated. I’ve written about how it feels to care about an addict, about my hatred for catcallers, about a mother’s reaction to finding their child dead, about being talked over and down to constantly by men, about a terrible boss I had who ignored sexual harassment. I write things that are true to myself and my lived experience.
Desert Radio is a post-apocalyptic rock band. We are a seven-piece band, with two co-lead singers, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass, keyboard, and drums. Having so many people in the band is a lot of fun; we feed off of each other’s energy and present a powerful wall of sound during live performances. It has been a lot of fun collaborating on lyrics with the other singer, and I’ve learned a lot from it. He focuses more on world-building — creating the atmosphere of the song and describing the wasteland or the desert or whichever world we have created for the song, whereas I focus more on the emotions behind living in the world. He comes more from a metal background, and I from a pop and R&B background, and the fusion that our two styles create is a unique and fun sound that has something for everyone. We are working on finishing our first album and are hoping to have it and a few more music videos out by the end of the year.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

My father always taught me to be a “say yes” kind of person, and I think that has been a very valuable trait in my life. When someone invites you to join their band, say yes! Even if you don’t think it’s your style of music, even if you’re not sure it’s going to be the right fit, it’s always better to give something a try than never attempt. You learn a lot more doing things that are out of your comfort zone than just by sticking to the things you already know. And if it doesn’t work out, there is nothing wrong with that; you’ve simply learned that this particular thing isn’t for you. Saying yes has granted me many opportunities and friends that I will forever be grateful for.
That being said, it is equally important to practice the skills you already have and keep at the things you’re trying. Everyone is bad at everything the first time they try it, you just have to keep doing it over and over until you’re good. The more you do something, the better you’ll be, which is why it is so important to practice practice practice. I don’t have a great practice space in my apartment, so I sit on my balcony almost every day playing and singing. I was worried about my stage presence, so I played more shows, went to more open mics, just kept doing it. It’s still a work in progress, but I feel a lot more comfortable interacting with a crowd than I did when I first started.
The third skill I think is important is sharing your work. It is really scary to share your works-in-progress with other people, but it is so valuable. You can get feedback, criticism, compliments, and all are helpful. I went to a songwriting program in high school and part of it was that we had to share everything we were working on all the time. And, we had to present it to the class with no disclaimers beforehand. We couldn’t say “I just started this so it won’t be good” or “I’m not sure about this one,” or anything of that nature, because that’s putting yourself down and that’s not fair to yourself or the people listening. Asking for specific feedback was allowed; you could say “I think the bridge of this song is missing something, what should I change,” and people would respond accordingly. If you don’t share what you’re doing, you’ll just get stuck in your head and may not end up putting out your best work.

What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?

In the past twelve months, my confidence has grown a lot. I felt very nervous performing on my own, and wasn’t sure that my songs were worthy of recording or performing. What has helped me gain confidence is realizing that those things don’t matter. It’s okay to perform a song and it not be great. You’ll learn that you should either improve the song or stop playing it. It’s okay to be awkward onstage; you can use that awkwardness to create funny and genuine moments. It’s better to record more songs and put them out than stress over whether the song is perfect enough to be released to the world. Basically, it’s all about throwing spaghetti at a wall and seeing what sticks. I’m still working on this, but I’m a lot better than I was twelve months ago and now actually feel good about my songs and performances, and I’m happy that I’ve been sharing them with the world.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/c.aaarrrooo
• Instagram: c.aaarrrooo
• Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/MjdZ6691dkFeaf9Z9
• Other: Bandcamp: https://carolinerobertson.bandcamp.com/album/caroline-robertson-live-at-the-hotel-cafe

Image Credits

Maya Holt, Rae Ainslee, Tim Lewis, Flasch