We’re getting candid in our interview with Charlotte Sands.

We chat with pop-rock artist Charlotte Sands about how she opens up during the songwriting process to access true vulnerability, how she’s grown as an artist from making music as a teenager to now releasing her debut record, and we discuss the stigma around viral fame and being labeled as a TikTok artist.

Charlotte Sands is making a name for herself in the rock world, notably touring with 5 Seconds of Summer last year. Her debut album can we start over?, comes out on January 24th which combines her love of 2000s pop punk music with the storytelling of folk singer/ songwriters. She’s heading out on a world tour in spring 2024 that includes shows across the US, Europe, and Australia.

Listen to the full interview with Charlotte Sands on Name 3 Songs podcast and find a  transcribed excerpt below.

You recently released your single Blindspot. You’ve been building up to this with a series of releases that seem to tell a story of unrequited love or a situationship. Can you tell us a little bit more about the inspiration and the story that you wanted to tell?

Yeah, absolutely. It’s one of my favorite songs, if not my favorite song I’ve ever written, and it was such an organic thing. The whole process of writing it felt very special the entire time. We never really were trying to write a good song. It felt like we were just like, “let’s write something that we love.” And then it happened to turn out to be a song that I actually think is good too, which is wonderful. 

That chorus was just something that I started singing random words and this melody over an acoustic guitar. And then we talked about the story afterwards and what it felt like what the song wanted to be, and not trying to turn it into something it wasn’t.

To me, it felt like the story of watching someone that you care about and you’re so close to, but like not close in the way that you want to be. And that pain that I think a lot of people have experienced with their friends or watching their friends have crushes on other people when you secretly know them better than that person and you want them to talk about you the way that they’re talking about somebody else. I just love the idea of knowing these really specific details about somebody and knowing them so well, but that’s not good enough [for them]. It’s an experience I’ve had in my life and being on the outside of relationships and witnessing them. 

I grew up on Michelle Branch and Bonnie Raitt and Sheryl Crow and all these incredible songwriters. I always have just wanted to make a song that kind of felt like that 90s, acoustic sad story, and that is what happened. We tried not to worry about how long it was or should we do three courses at the end, and that kind of stuff. We just let it happen. And I was like, “I’m writing this one for me and nothing else matters.” And thankfully some other people like it too. I’m very happy about that. But for the most part, I was like, “I’m going to be selfish and make this one for me.” And I’m proud of it.