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span class="caption" style="width: 398px;">ReutersIt is hard not to think about sunshine and daisies when listening to American singer and composer Colbie Caillat’s songs, and it’s not just because of the sunny day video for her song “Bubbly”, which rocketed her to fame back in 2007.

Caillat’s songs, which reflect the “acoustic-soul” direction she follows when composing and performing, have a positive and honest — innocent, even, at times — feel to them, and the Californian said that the wholesomeness does reflect her personality.

“I can get sad and frustrated but through the most part I would like to snap myself out of it and bring myself to a positive place and try to remind people of that positive place that they should be at. I like to do that with my music. When I write a song about what I am going through I try to make it optimistic,” she said in a telephone interview with The Jakarta Post recently.

Calling from the Gili Islands in Lombok, she said she was having a good time exploring and eating what Indonesia had to offer before her scheduled performance at the L.A. Menthol Lights Sayfestville, a music and arts festival in Jakarta, last Friday.

During her poolside performance, Caillat revealed her life experiences not just through her songs but also through the little stories she told the audience in between them — this song is about a friend not being treated right by a boyfriend, that song is about her anger toward a certain someone, and so on.

“Bubbly”, however, is more about imagining being in love rather than actually feeling it. “I wrote that song about wondering what it was like to get those butterflies, when you want to be with that person every single day,” she said.

The song is included in her 2007 album CoCo, which debuted at No. 5 on Billboard’s Top 200 albums. “Bubbly” itself has been certified platinum.

Caillat has since released two more albums, 2009’s Breakthrough, which was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 52nd Grammy Awards, and All of You, which was released last year and contained the catchy “I Do”.

For her latest album, she worked with a number of other noted names such as composer and rapper Common.

In between, there was the Grammy-winning, long distance love anthem “Lucky” which she sang with fellow musician Jason Mraz, and a collaboration with singer Taylor Swift for the latter’s Fearless album.

Her current studio project is a Christmas record, which is due to be released this year.

Caillat, who owns about 10 guitars with one bearing her flower tattoo, said she enjoys songwriting and behind-the-scenes roles in music as much as performing.

“I love writing songs and I have a lot of songs I write that I personally don’t think much as myself exactly and I can share them for other artists,” she said.

The “soul-acoustic” genre she champions has firm roots, as Caillat recalls being raised on classic rock, reggae, as well R&B music

The Fugees’ version of “Killing Me Softly” was one of her first inspirations as an 11 year old.   

“I love the sound of guitar and that great acoustic feel in music. I love soulful singers like Lauryn Hill and Beyonce,” Caillat said.

Despite the sun-kissed singer’s success nowadays, her path had a rocky start. Various stories in the news revealed she tried out but didn’t make it on American Idol.

But her songs on the social and music networking website Myspace nevertheless began to catch the public’s interest, becoming one of the first boosts for her career before CoCo was eventually released and began reaping success.

“I have to remind myself every how far I have come from where I started. I love singing, people started listening to music on Myspace, and now I am playing a huge festival in Indonesia,” she said during a press conference before her show last Friday.

According to Caillat, even now she still gets nervous before performing.

“It’s gotten better … at the beginning I used to want to cancel shows and I would cry and be shaking before I go out, or even drink. But now for my first couple of songs I may be a little bit more shy and quiet and then I warm up to the audience and start having a good time,” she said.

Caillat’s strength grew to help her deal with other aspects of the industry as well.

“When I first started, I was very scared, timid, I don’t really know what to do and how I could do it. What I could say what I could not say. Now I have learned when I can say no and what to say yes to and how to present myself. So, I think I have a better understanding of myself and my career,” she said.

Those who are involved in an aspiring artist’s career, such as managers, publicists and even family members and friends, would recommend various things to the artist.

Thus, Caillat, said, one has to be “headstrong and know where you should stand and grow and also where your limits are.”

And she seems to be handling the situation quite easily nowadays. She already has a concept of going back to “simple acoustic music” for her future project after experimenting with a number of instruments on her last two albums, and already has the band Coldplay as the next artist she would want to work with.

Aside from her career, she is also a supporter of animal rights through her support for the animal protection organization the Humane Society in the US as well as the Farm Sanctuary, which rehabilitates animals rescued from stockyards, factory farms and slaughterhouses.

I have a passion for animals … and I feel so much love and compassion for them that I don’t want them
being hurt. I don’t want them being mistreated. I don’t want them being killed. I have changed my ways of living and eating. I don’t eat animals, I don’t buy animal products like leather and I won’t wear anything that was tested on animals,” Caillat said.

She has been a vegetarian for two years, and, according to her, is feeling “amazing”.  

“Learning about the ways in changing your lifestyle has been really fun for me,” Caillat said.

Another reason to smile is Justin Young, her boyfriend who also tours with her as her guitarist and
duet partner.

“I wrote some songs [for the latest album All of You] with my boyfriend Justin Young. It was really fun to work with him and write songs about our relationship,” she said, again, in that somewhat innocent and, yes, bubbly, manner.