Chelsea Cutler: ‘I Didn’t Know That Music Could Be A Viable Thing For Me’

Ahead of her India debut at music festival Lollapalooza India which was held at Mumbai’s Mahalakshmi Race Course this past weekend, we caught up with American singer-songwriter and producer Chelsea Cutler. The artist talked to us about how her music began to gain traction, reflected on her two albums that are out, being in India, what’s in store next and more. Read excerpts below:

I want to take you back to when “Your Shirt” gained momentum. What was that feeling like for you when things started to snowball, and people began to pay attention to what you were doing?

It was crazy, I mean I was still in college. I didn’t even really know that music could be a viable thing for me. Seeing it get traction kind of started to plant the seed in my brain like, ‘oh man, you could really, do music if you want.’ So that was pretty mind-blowing.

You released your debut album How to Be Human in 2020. What was it like for you to have that full body of work out after releasing singles and EPs?

I think to be able to put together 16 songs on How to Be Human, that large and comprehensive of a project, felt like you’re just letting go of this massive weight that you’ve been working on for a long time. I was really proud of it.

Was the process different compared to what you had done previously?

I feel like there’s an inherent kind of pressure around your debut album. Everyone says you only get to have your debut album once, so there’s a little bit more pressure around that, but the writing process overall was pretty much the same.

Since then, you’ve been touring a bunch and playing tons of shows. How does it feel to be on the road and have people come out to watch you live?

I love touring. It’s my favorite thing to do. I’m really eager to get overseas more to do some touring. I feel I’ve done the domestic thing a lot, and we’ve built up a really good base there, this is my first time in India and in Asia overall. I looked at the map and I couldn’t believe it. I was looking at all the countries around and even on the plane, I was watching as we were flying over the Middle East. All these countries, in America, you only hear of, and you never think you’re going to get to go.

On your second album When I Close My Eyes. You’re a lot more vulnerable in terms of your songwriting and you open up about mental health issues and relationships. Was it a cathartic experience to expose more of that tender side of you in your music?

I think that with the pandemic I had so much time to think and I wanted to write about stuff that wasn’t just kind of my depression. I obviously wrote ‘Devil on My Shoulder,’ but after that, I wanted to kind of write about other stuff like ‘Someone Else’s Heaven’ or ‘You’re Gonna Miss This,’ just being grateful for where I am in life and for all the things that we have. I just felt like I wanted to push my boundaries a little bit of what I was writing about. 

Coming to why you’re here, Lollapalooza India, the first-ever edition of the festival to take place in Asia. What I want to know is, what does Lollapalooza as a festival mean to you?

Lollapalooza has given me so many defining moments of my career. I got to close out my first headline stage in Chicago this past summer and it was the craziest. I had never played for so many people and it was probably my most proud moment of all time. So Lollapalooza means a lot to me.

How excited are you to be performing in India?

I’m more nervous than I usually am. I usually don’t get very nervous for shows but being in such a new place I’m so curious If people are going to know the music and what it’s going to be like. So I just think I’m going to try to take it as it goes and see what happens.

Once you head back to the U.S. what plans do you have in terms of releases?

The third album’s pretty much finished, so we’re going to start rolling that out. ‘Men On The Moon’ was the first single put out and now we’ll announce a tour hopefully. We got a lot coming. 

And finally, a non-music related question. I think before you became a musician, you wanted to be a professional football player. Do you follow the sport or are you a fan of any particular team or player? 

I was really happy that [Lionel] Messi finally got his World Cup. I think he really deserved it and I think that he is the GOAT. I will go on record saying that, I think he’s the GOAT. I don’t play much anymore, I think because I travel so much, It’s hard, but I bring a soccer ball on the road a lot and just juggle in my green room alone.