It can take years for an artist to form an identity to present to the world. They may go back and forth from the drawing board to the stage of their local open mic, only to scrap a name or image after one performance and start again. In the time it takes a lot of creatives take to find their first form, Cayley Spivey is on her second.
Not long after writing her first real song at 15, she assembled a band to play her tunes around her hometown of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, calling the project “Small Talks”. Due to Cayley’s determination and promotion strategy that focused on building real world relationships, the pop-punk act quickly gained traction, even surprising it’s ambitions captain: just two years after forming, Small Talks was playing Warped Tour (Oh, and that first song she wrote at 15? That was Small Talks’ debut single and fan favorite “New Dork Pity”). Many would rest on their laurels and put up with the jealousy and attempts by other acts to use their band as a token to show how they were “supporting women in the scene.” Cayley had other plans; She had to become something different: herself.
Cayley began releasing music under her given name, Cayley Spivey, beginning with 2020’s “Sfu”. With the name change came a shift in sound; She left pop punk behind completely and dove straight into pure-bred, synth heavy, danceable pop. Throughout her sonic evolutions, her lyrical prowess (she was a poet and writer before she was a musician) and ear for an infectious melody have remained constant. Her latest release, the ep “Camera Boy”, is perhaps the greatest example: fans looking for singable hooks will be well fed, and those looking for deep meaning will find innovative and original songwriting focusing on loss, obsession, grief, and much more.
Cayley Spivey appears to have already perfected her second identity, but if her past is any indication, she won’t rest on her new achievements either.
In this episode, Brylan and Cayley discuss growing up in the South as an outsider, the eternal debate on the distinction between an “artist” and a “musician”, as well as the importance of acknowledging humanity’s inherent darkness in art. Cayley also tests Brylan’s ability to suss out the truth in a game of “2 lies and a take” (and educates him on Girl in Red TikTok lore in the process). Later, the pair dive into two of the songs off of Cayley’s “Canera Boy” EP, and the discussion even helps Cayley uncover a hidden idea in her song “Ginny”.
