Caity Baser: ‘I’m so interested in the sea that it hurts’

Caity Baser is a giant ball of energy. After finding out she’d been nominated for a Brit award, the Southampton-hailing singer-songwriter said she “literally screamed for five minutes”. That big personality matches her big songs, too, with drum ‘n’ bass bangers stacked next to stream-of-consciousness ballads and stadium-sized pop.

The 21-year-old first found success after posting a song on TikTok in 2020, about being broke, which promptly blew up. While her career has snowballed ever since, she’s never lost sight of her fans, choosing to impose a price cap on her gig tickets amid the cost-of-living crisis.

Nominated for the Rising Star award at this year’s Brits, while Caity didn’t unfortunately take home the trophy on the night, simply being nominated is a major coup, as they’re tipped as the next big thing by music editors and critics (including woo). In the run-up to the big night, we attended a brunch thrown by Instagram and the Brits, alongside nominees past and present. We sat down with Caity to find out about her OG fan group chat, passion for marine biology, and what she has saved on her phone.

Lizzo, last year... It was my first time going to the Brits, and I felt a bit nervous – I never really get nervous, but I was sat at a table next to Harry Styles and I was like, 'What am I doing? Why am I here?' And then Lizzo came on and I was screaming, ‘Oh my god, it's Lizzo!’ Then I was fine after that. She perked me right up, and then I had a great evening.

I have a group chat filled with all of my fans. Not all of them but a few of the OG ones, we just talk to each other. My manager’s in it now, some of my friends are in it, and we just talk to each other! It’s great. It’s funny.

‘Leave Me Alone’. I released it and, because it didn't go viral on TikTok, I was like, 'It's not a good song, everyone hates it. Why do I even make songs?!' And then I did festival season, and every single time I sang that song, everybody screamed at me. And it made me realise that going viral does not matter if you make a song and people like it. That's what that is. And it made me feel pretty good!

Blend in.

The ocean. Sea creatures. I'm so interested in the sea that it hurts. That's my Roman Empire, humpback whales. I know lots of shark facts. My year five project was on sharks and whales and I literally remember everything.

There's a shark called a cookie cutter shark and they're one of the most dangerous sharks because they leach onto you and cut you like a cookie cutter. That's a horrible fact.

Marine biology, or helping the whales. Cleaning up the ocean. Something to do with ocean animals. Like, diving and protecting, that's what I'd do.

Every time before I go out on stage, I look at myself in the mirror and I go, 'Caity Baser, you're going to be the biggest pop star in the world.' Also I have honey, hot water and lemon and I do some dancing and some stretching. Actually – before I go on stage my manager stretches both my legs up above my head so that I can do my splits and my leaps without being in pain after.

I don't. I just keep going. And then I crash like a four-year-old child and fall asleep. And then I wake up and do it all over again.

Connecting with people and making them feel empowered and happy. Every time I do a show, no matter where I am, the fanbase is the same. Like, I'm happy that I've made all these people feel comfortable enough to lose their minds and have a really good time, just have a giggle. Life is so serious now and there's so much to worry about, so I'm happy that – I dunno! – I’m a ray of sunshine bringing happiness.

For more of our dispatches from this year’s Brit awards, check out our TikTok.