Colbie Caillat, who became an instant MySpace sensation in 2007, is now more comfortable onstage. She is touring behind her hit album, “Breakthrough.’’
(Justine Hunt/Globe Staff/File 2008)
At home in her own space
Colbie Caillat has grown into her role as a star
Colbie Caillat, who became an instant MySpace sensation in 2007, is now more comfortable onstage. She is touring behind her hit album, “Breakthrough.’’
(Justine Hunt/Globe Staff/File 2008)
Colbie Caillat went from MySpace to everybody’s space in record time when her frothy 2007 hit “Bubbly’’ dominated the airwaves and propelled her debut album, “Coco,’’ to multiplatinum success. The 24-year-old singer was prodded into learning guitar and songwriting by her producer/sound engineer father, Ken, who worked on mega-albums like Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumors.’’ Now he’s one of her producers and biggest fans. “They try to come to every show,’’ Caillat says of her parents with a laugh. “They asked if they could get another tour bus and follow my tour, it’s so funny.’’ The quintessential California girl - she often writes songs on the beach in Malibu - returned in August with her sophomore album, “Breakthrough,’’ with songs co-written by “American Idol’’ judge Kara DioGuardi and frequent collaborator Jason Reeves. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts, and its first single, the breezy “Fallin’ for You,’’ was a top 20 hit. We chatted with Caillat (rhymes with “valet’’) by phone from a tour stop in Reno.
Q. How does number one feel?
A. Unreal. I guess you can always hope for that to happen, but you don’t expect it. When I heard, I just wanted to call everyone who was involved with the record and say congratulations and thanks to them as well, because it was a huge team effort.
Q. There are a lot more uptempo songs on “Breakthrough.’’ Was that a conscious decision?
A. In a way it was because I know how concerts are. Whenever I was writing, [my co-writers and I] definitely put that in perspective: “Let’s make this one a fun up-tempo.’’ Even if it wasn’t written that way, we made it a little faster in the studio. It’s just more fun for people to sing along and dance to and for me to play at shows.
Q. Are you still battling stage fright?
A. No. That’s actually why I named my second album “Breakthrough,’’ because it took me so long but I finally broke through the fear. There’s times when I do TV performances when I get nervous, but now I look forward to every show every single night.
Q. Just like with “Realize’’ from “Coco’’ you and Jason Reeves share vocals and songwriting credit on “Droplets.’’ You two seem to have a special chemistry.
A. We do. We’ve been singing together and writing together for about four years now; he’s like the brother I never had. We call each other husband and wife through songwriting [laughs].
Q. People talk about overnight success, but yours really was. Are you more comfortable in the spotlight now?
A. I’m definitely more comfortable, yeah. Before I just didn’t know anything about it. I didn’t know that when I did TV performances that I had to open my eyes and smile at the camera. When I would go onstage I didn’t talk to the crowd. When fans would come up to me I would get weird, because I was like, “Why do you know who I am?’’ I just didn’t know any of these things. So now that I’ve been in it, this time around I know what to expect and I feel like I can do my job better.
Sarah Rodman can be reached at srodman@globe.com. 
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
