Chicago singer-songwriter Catho. returns with a glistening new solo single “Notification” - her first since 2019. But Catho. (formerly Catherine Poulos) is no stranger to the Chicago scene — fronting and backing for a variety of bands (Nasty Snacks, Deep Fayed) showcasing her ability to sing R&B, blues, funk and pop. Throughout 2020, I was patiently waiting for each new video in series of covers and original songs Catho. would feature on her Instagram. I was pleased when I quite literally got a notification for “Notification” in my inbox. Catho.’s dynamic vocal ability allows you to hang onto every word and I’m thrilled she’s headed in this pop direction. For the track Catho. leaned on her old friend, collaborator and a friend of These Days — Carlile. Together they wrote the relatable (and all too familiar) track with start-to-finish production from Carlile.

We sat down with the two collaborators to talk about how the song came together, how they’ve managed to work through a challenging 2020, taking creative leaps and more. So turn on your notifications for both Catho. and Carlile as they get ready to release more collaborations and solo tunes in 2021.

Hello! Nice to connect with you both about this exciting new collaboration. Congrats on the release of “Notification” -- tell us how it came together! Have you two collaborated before? I believe you all have known each other for years?

Catho: Thank you so much! We’re really excited about it. We’ve sung backup for each other in other projects and were briefly in a college band together, but no we’ve never actually collaborated like this before. We’ve also been friends for 17 years, so yes - this was really fun for us to finally get to do together. 

Carlile: Yeah we both had braces when we met. So it was about time.

Could you tell us a bit more about what inspired this track? How did you approach the song writing process? Did the lyrics come first before the production?

Carlile: Cath sent me a voice memo of the hook and asked if I would help finish the song. She said something along the lines of “let’s make a pop banger” -- felt like a no-brainer. I spent the next two days doing my due diligence, which basically meant Ariana Grande on repeat in my headphones. No shame. I sat down at my computer and the rest unfolded pretty effortlessly. Cath wrote the lyrics and we workshopped them together. Building the production as we went along.

Catho. -- you have been posting some really cool interpretations of various pop songs on socials? What inspired that?

Catho: I’ve always loved playing guitar. It’s the first instrument I picked up and was the way I wrote some of my very first songs. Recently I’ve been missing it a bit and finally bought a new one, so I decided to show it off a bit! I’ve really tried to be more consistent in 2021 and learning a song a day on the guitar was a way to push myself to do that. I’m also trying to get away from the soul crushing “My Instagram feed has to be curated and perfect” vibe and move towards, “I’m a musician. This is what I do. This is the kind of content you can expect here...”

Catho -- have any of those songs you covered or have any songs/artists in this last year particularly influenced you when it comes to the songwriting behind “Notification”.

Catho.: None of those songs particularly influenced “Notification”, but during quarantine this year I pretty exclusively listened to pop music to just feel good, so artists like Ariana Grande, Justin Beiber, Charlie XCX etc, really influenced the track. I’ve always been a huge fan of pop music and of solid pop songwriting format. Carlile and I always talk about how hard it actually is to write a great pop song, and how underrated pop music really is especially in the Chicago circuit we were in; heavily jazz and R&B influenced musicians.

Carlile: She texted me the other day saying how satisfying it was to write simple, pretty pop music. We agreed that the world needs more art that doesn’t require a degree to understand.

Carlile -- Correct me if I’m wrong but is this one of your early forays into producing a song start to finish. How does it feel? We hope you’re going to do this more?

Carlile: It is. It’s certainly the first time I’ve felt comfortable using that label. Producer. Woah. There are so few non-cis-male producers (in 2019, only 2% of popular music was produced by women, yikes), and after a while I really started to internalize that lack of visibility. I’ve been producing for years, too scared to show or tell anyone, and finally just said fuck it. I’m going to claim this title. I deserve this, even if my work doesn’t sound like it belongs in the boys club. We’re slowly seeing more diversity on that end of the popular music industry (Chloe x Halle, Empress Of, SOPHIE to name a few) and it provides a bit of space for women, trans individuals and nonbinary folks to begin owning it. There’s work yet to be done, of course, but I digress.

I’m currently producing my first full length album, so yes, there is plenty more to come.

You two collaborated behind the art direction for the single artwork and promo visuals as well. Tell us about how working on the song together helped bring together the visual component as well.

Catho.: We went through a few ideas of what the visual aspect would look like and I think we both agreed that it should be colorful and fun to match the vibe of the song.

Carlile: The whole song is rather surface-y. No hidden message here. So it felt important to keep the artwork light and literal. Our illustrator/graphic designer Karin Schwarz did such a fabulous job. She’s kind of a master at matching the sonic depth with the visual.

Tell what it’s like for you both personally to be a creative during such a challenging year. Have you learned anything for how you will approach songwriting, production, content creation moving forward?

Catho: I mean, this year was tough for everyone, but especially musicians. I haven’t stepped foot on a stage in a year and that’s the longest I’ve gone in my entire 10 year career. I feel like my songwriting has always been guided by how the songs will sound live. Not having to think about that this year has really allowed me to dig a bit deeper and really try to craft the material in a different way, and I love it! I have a feeling some of my most honest and meaningful songs are on the way.

Carlile: I can get behind that for sure. I got my heart broken, moved to the other side of the country (in February, what a cosmic joke) and was left with more alone time than I’d ever had before. So there was plenty of self reflection to fuel my creativity in 2020. Sometimes more than I knew what to do with. I eventually learned to channel that into some healthy new practice habits and got on a nice production schedule. 

I think this year helped a lot of creatives align with something bigger than themselves. We’re collectively learning so much so fast, I feel like it’d be impossible not to do the same on an individual level.

Do you both have any more collaborations in the works? What else can we anticipate you both in 2021?

Catho: I’m definitely planning on releasing a few more singles, and I’m hoping to do more collaborations with Carlile and others this year. I feel like I send her voice notes and lyric ideas every day. She’s probably getting annoyed with me… 

Carlile: Yeah I’d really like for you to leave me alone already… 

The two of us will definitely do more collaborative work. It’s such a joy to work with someone I’m so comfortable with. I think that’s a really cozy way to develop as a producer. I’ve got two singles with Uuskhy out soon. Then like I said earlier I’m working on my first album. It’s been blessed by some of my favorite Chicago creatives, so I’m very excited to share that when the time comes.

Is there anything else you’d like to leave our readers with?

Catho: I’m really just so overwhelmed by the amazing support and great feedback I’ve received about “Notification”. It means the world to both of us that people seem to really enjoy it and continue to share it. It makes me so happy that we had this experience together as well. We’ve always been each others #1 supporters, so it feels good to be in this together. Thank you so much!