Wales’ next big pop star CATTY is spreading her sound further afield with her wonderfully dramatic new EP “Bracing For Impact”. She talks national pride and shaping her outlook.

 “What if Kate Bush watched Chicago?” wondered rising pop maverick CATTY when she sat down to concoct her new EP, “Bracing For Impact”. It’s a mantra that swims through the project’s six maximalist, drama-fuelled cuts. Huge hooks, vivid songwriting and slick composition amalgamate a confident and polished opus that builds on last year’s promising debut “Healing Out Of Spite”. 

Plucked from the Welsh scene and hurtling towards the pop-sphere at a quickening pace, CATTY has the intention and innovation to make more than a splash on the open waters of the mainstream. Below, she tells Wonderland about her new EP and questions why her nation is overlooked from across the border.

Listen to “Bracing For Impact”…

Read the interview…

What music did you grow up listening to?

My parents and their best friends all had kids around the same time, and they would alternate houses for parties, so it’s probably that Now 80s CD. “Come On Eileen” through the floorboards as we tried to watch a scary movie we were too young to watch. 

When did you first discover creating music, and how did that grow into something you wanted to pursue as a career?

I actually had no interest in being a songwriter, which is insane to me now because singing and writing go so hand in hand but for the longest time I just wanted to be a singer. I accidentally wrote a song with someone I asked for guitar lessons from, we released it, got signed. Which sounds pretty easy but that was the calm before the storm. I got dropped quick, ran out of cash even quicker and honestly I was living life like someone who should be writing songs about it. A cancelled Vegas wedding? Come on! So I’m a songwriter now. 

As a proud Welsh native, how do you find your nationality influences your music, and creative and personal outlook?

I think being from Wales makes you a bit creative and witchy in nature and that seeps into my work. I remember learning a lot about Welsh mythology in primary school and we always lived in really creepy houses so I’ve always just had that flair for the dramatic, witchy and scary. 

Do you think England sometimes forgets about the quality and breadth of Welsh music? 

Yeah, for sure. I think a huge part of being Welsh is screaming to be heard; our language, our stories, our songs. But there’s so much talent there. 

Who (apart from yourself) is next up from Wales?

I love Panic Shack!!! They’re cool as hell. But also, there’s a Welsh artist called Elin Fflur that I listened to when I was younger, and you should go back and listen to the Cysgodion album. I have such an attachment to it, I absolutely rinsed it as a kid, and I think you can hear some of that pop rock inspo in my songs now. 

Congratulations on your new EP! How are you feeling about the release?

It’s weird, because I wrote these songs almost a year ago and I’ve been working on them for months so they don’t feel new and shiny to me pre-release and it’s a bit of a ball-ache having to make TikToks about them, dare I say. But then I get a new lease of life when people hear them and get excited about them, they become sparkly again. So I’m so glad they’re out, I love my children again. 

What’s behind the project’s name, “Bracing For Impact”?

We wrote “Joyride” and the whole EP was inspired by it. It’s the first time I’ve ever kind of made a project with titles first, but I knew I was going to end the project with “Man on the Run”, so “Bracing For Impact” kind of wrote itself. A whole lot of driving references for someone who is too gay to drive. 

What was the creative process for the EP? Did it differ from how you’ve approached making a body of work previously?

One hundred percent, I’m distributing through AWAL now so I’m not only working with coffee shop money. I have a little budget, AND coffee shop money, so I was able to make a music video and rent some clothes and start bringing the vision to life. I think that’s always something I’ve missed. I always had this world in my head, my coven, I just couldn’t bring it to life because I couldn’t afford to. Taste and choice and money are a privilege that so many artists aren’t often given. 

What inspired the work musically?

I genuinely walked into the studio to write “Joyride” and said “what if Kate Bush watched Chicago?” – which is a quote I swore I was going to take to the grave and then just started spouting. But I’ve always loved that almost theatrical production, I’m a big fan of John Steinmen, the Bonnie Tyler (my Welsh queen) and Meatloaf stuff is always a reference. Which everyone rolls their eyes at but those classics are classics for a reason, fuck off!! 

What is the EP saying? What do you hope listeners take away from it?

You know what, that’s a good question and one, for the first time, I don’t really know the answer to. I think I really just made this EP for myself, of course I hope people like it, I hope people love it – but I’ve not really thought about what they take from it. All I can tell you is what I took from it is – life is extremely short and extremely long, falling in love is beautiful and disgusting, grief, heartbreak, love and death are universal. Strap in, strap on, brace for impact. 

You’re set to headline Colours Hoxton at the end of the month. What can attendees expect from a live show from you?

I’m going to use a Lady Gaga quote here and say “Surprise! A pop show! And the bitch can sing.” 

I’m really excited, a Halloween show and an October EP feels right to me. 

What else is to come from you, this year and beyond?

I’m going to get gayer and more talented x