Caity Baser is a whirlwind of energy, radiating excitement as she heads into her breakout year.

Words: Abigail Firth.

"Life for me is honestly the best thing ever," says Caity Baser. "I wake up every day, and I'm breathing, which is nice. And on top of that, I get to sing and write songs, and I get to go on tours and connect with people. It's just the best thing."

It's safe to say Caity is living the dream. With a huge year behind her, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone more excited about their job right now. So far, proving herself to be an unstoppable pop force, Caity's 2023 has consisted of an EP drop, 'Thanks For Nothing, See You Never', featuring the Top 40-cracking 'Pretty Boys', her first headline tour that ended at London's O2 Forum Kentish Town, collaborations with dance heavyweights Joel Corry and Sigala, and a festival season that put her in the running as the hardest working pop star in the business.

She's doubled down on that with the announcement of her upcoming mixtape 'Still Learning' and her biggest tour yet, showing zero signs of slowing down. We meet Caity just a few days after getting back from her first Australian tour, and unbelievably, jet lag appears to have evaded her.

"I've been busy every single day; the year has actually felt like a month," says Caity. "But it's been a year to remember. And I feel like a year where I've achieved a lot of things that I wanted to achieve, and now it's just time to make a new list of things that I want to achieve and do it all again next year."

Relentlessly driven from the jump, Caity worked one day at Co-op before attending a songwriting session that would flip her life upside down. She'd uploaded a TikTok of her song 'Average Student', which racked up a million views overnight on the app, leading to a DM from a management agency and a meeting with producer duo Future Cut, who'd notably worked on Lily Allen's debut album 'Alright, Still', who Caity would draw immediate comparisons to when her music arrived.

An impulsive decision to upload the track spiralled into the push she needed to go all the way. To Caity's shock, Future Cut immediately wanted her on board and have continued to work with her on practically her entire discography so far. They've helped shape her sound, which is distinctly British in her delivery, much like the aforementioned Lily and Kate Nash, with a splash of do-wop pomp borrowed from Meghan Trainor.

"It was the end of lockdown that really kicked me up the arse. I thought, I'll just send [the TikTok] out, and the second I got a chance, the second I literally got a little glimpse of what I could have, I just quit everything and put all my attention and time into it. It's like having a bonsai tree, and you want it to grow. And those fuckers take ages to grow."

While Caity is keen to constantly keep going these days (she mentions it only takes her a couple of days to recharge after a tour before she's ready to get back on stage or in the studio), her Duracell bunny energy wasn't always channelled into music. As a child, she took on sports, acting and dancing, but her heart wasn't in it.

"Every day of the week, I had a different thing to do, but I didn't really give a shit about any of it. The only thing that I really cared about was music," she says. "I used to put on little performances in front of my family. And then I used to sit there, and I'd go, 'Mum, what do you reckon to this song?' and it would be like the worst song in the world, and she'd be like, 'Yeah, it's fine. It's good'. Look at me now, Mum."

Caity grew up in Southampton ("Fuck that place," she says of it now) with her mum, dad and two older brothers, one of whom is, according to her, a great singer, and the pair would try to outdo each other in the vocal realm. She might have kept her real voice under wraps, though, until she got on stage and fully let loose in front of them.

"You know what it was, I did a show at my school, and I sang a solo, and it was a fucking massive song like a musical theatre song, and my brothers, my dad, and my mum were in the front row. And I remember, I opened my mouth and started singing every single one of them just went," she drops her jaw. "And then I got off when I finished it, and my brothers went, 'Caity, that was alright. That was really alright'. That means it was fucking class."

Despite her confidence now, it's surprising when Caity admits she never really felt like she fit in at school. Struggling to express herself back then, she says she knew exactly who she was but didn't have the confidence to live as her most authentic self. Coming into the music industry changed that perspective drastically, as she found a community of fans who embraced her exactly as she was.

"I felt like I've never really belonged anywhere. Like at school, I didn't feel like I could be myself. Now my fanbase is like an army of people that I just…" she trails off. "Everyone's friends and we're all nice to each other. No bad vibes, just good vibes only. I love them. I was a sheep when I was little, I would do whatever, wear whatever, just so people would like me. I'd be nice to everyone; I wanted to be everybody's friend, even if they were dickheads. Then lockdown happened, and all those people that I actually never liked, we stopped talking. I thought, oh my god, I don't miss you. I literally had nobody for a while and then started doing music, and I found a beautiful community of people that are just amazing."

That community came out in their droves when she started playing live shows, and that initial bug for performing she caught clearly stuck with her. Caity really thrives when she gets on stage and has proven that time and time again this year, undertaking a mammoth festival season bookended by her own headline tour this spring, and a brief stint in Australia this autumn. In 2024, she'll be going on her biggest tour yet, 12 dates winding up at London's Eventim Apollo.

"I have no words. I'm so excited. I find it crazy that last July, I did my first-ever show, and it was to 150 people. And then in about six months, I did a big tour, and it was like 15,000 tickets, and now I'm going on another tour, and that's fucking 40,000 tickets. Like, phwoar, it's amazing, honestly."

She continues, "Going on tour is like the most magical experience ever. It's the driving there; I'm with my band, and with my manager, and with my videographer. We're all like this big family on the road. I'm pretty sure I've been to every service station in the UK by now; we get a little Maccies. We get to the place, and then I get ready. Every single day is just beautiful. And every single day is the best day ever anyway, but every single day on tour is like the extra best day. It's so much fun."

The tour will be in support of her upcoming mixtape 'Still Learning', featuring 14 tracks, some of which we've heard plenty of; breakout hits 'X&Y' and 'Pretty Boys' make the cut, plus this year's uber-catchy '2468'. Although Caity's brutally honest lyricism has played a huge part in her come-up, 'Still Learning' turns a new page as her most vulnerable release.

"It's about me not having all the answers, me fucking up, upsetting people. You know, doing all these things but owning every single mistake that I've made and growing along the way. I think so many people are afraid to admit that they don't have all the answers, but why would you want all the answers? It's fucking boring. It's about fucking up and living as hard as you can and just growing… like a bonsai tree!"