After years as a solo achievement, with effervescent pop hits such as “ Bubbly” and “ Recognize, ” singer-songwriter Colbie Caillat offers formed a quartet with the girl fiance, Justin Young; her in long run collaborator, Jason Reeves and his spouse, Nelly Joy.
Eliminated West blends pop and nation in an intoxicating mix of four-part harmonies on display on debut EP, Tides , out Fri (Jan. 18). Today, Billboard premieres “ Confetti, ” the peppy, finger-snapping song that centers around co-writer Eric Arjes’ buoyant guitar groove.
“ We thought it would be cool in order to flip the script lyrically on the breakup song where when you get free from a bad relationship, you should celebrate this, ” Caillat tells Billboard . “ We use the word confetti in our daily discussions, and Justin hit us using the brilliant line, ‘No tears dropped, just confetti. ’ ”
While “ Confetti” definitely leans pop, other Tides tracks — such as the jangly “ Gone West” — have a much more country sparkle, helping to explain why CMT decided Gone West as a member of its Pay attention class of 2019.
The title track furthermore serves as a backstory for the group’ s moniker. “We wrote ‘ Gone West’ to explain where the title of the band came from, ” states Young. “ We’re all from western of Tennessee and when we’re not really in Nashville, chances are we’ve long gone west — back to Iowa, Tx, California or Hawaii. Each passage is about going to our significant other peoples hometown and bringing them to Nashville. It’s autobiographical and kind of the band’s theme song. ”
The four friends plus musical collaborators were inspired to create a band two years ago when they performe across the country together supporting Caillat’ s The Malibu Sessions album. “ It was a good acoustic tour and very harmony powered, and we realized how much fun traveling could be when you’ re together with your friends and significant others — and can bring your dogs on the road too, ” Caillat states. “ Justin and I moved to Nashville two years ago to try living in another city, and Jason and Nelly introduced us to all of their buddies, so it really feels like home. ”
