An Interview With Singer/Songwriter Cate Downey

Need new music to play on repeat? Cate Downey has got you covered with her amazing song “Boulder” and her amazing songwriting skills. I was lucky enough to be able to have a Zoom meeting with Downey to learn more about her career and what she is doing with music!

Tell me a little about yourself. Who you are, what you are doing, etc?

 

“I’m Cate, I’m 19, I’m from Denver, Colorado originally. I’ve been doing music kind of my whole life… I started writing songs at about 12 and honestly the first time I wrote a song I was like ‘Okay that’s it. That’s what I want to do. That’s kind of just what I’ve been doing ever since.” 

Downey said that after graduating high school, she found a music school in Norway called Lillehammer Institute of Music Production & Industries. She graduated from that program last year and has been writing and singing ever since. 

How did you know that you wanted to do music? And how did you get started in the music industry?

“I had a teacher when I was 12, like a vocal coach, and one day she played me a song and I was like ‘Oh my gosh, that’s really good, what is it?’ and she was like, ‘I wrote it.’”

Downey told me that that moment was what sparked her interest in writing and singing music for a living. In regards to her start in the music industry, she claimed that, “The school I’m going to was kind of a big part.” She learned a lot through her time at the Lillehammer Institute and said, “I’ve made a lot of connections through that.” Along with her school, she mentioned that she made connections in the industry by going to music programs at CU Denver and the Durango Songwriters Expo while still in high school.
 

What was the inspiration for the song “Boulder” and how did it feel to release your first song?

“It was my first release and it was really scary because I really love the song and I wanted it to do well.” Downey shared, “It was scary but I was also really excited to release it.”

She also became very enthusiastic and happy when she was talking about how people are listening to her song and liking it. Downey explained that she had been in Norway for eight months, the longest she’s ever been from home.

“I knew that I wanted to write a song about home…I knew I wanted to call it ‘Boulder’.”

She spoke to me about how Boulder was such an influential place for her and had great memories in the town. “I had just gotten this phone call from a friend who I went to high school with who had gone to college in a different state and called me and said that he was going back home because he didn’t like college.” Downey says that the phone call she had with her friend sparked the idea for the whole song. 

Who are some of your music inspirations?

“I love Maggie Rogers, she’s like one of my biggest inspirations right now… I love Lennon Stella, Julia Michaels, those kinds of artists. But then I also love old stuff, like, the Beatles are always going to be on all of my playlists because I think they’re so timeless,” Downey said.  

What message do you want to send to people who are aspiring musicians and have no idea where to start? 

“If you don’t know where to start, just write songs, sing songs, send them to people, put them online.”

She wants these messages to be heard by any aspiring musician who doesn’t know how to start, but she acknowledges, “I think we’re very lucky living in this time where you can produce everything yourself… in the old days, you couldn’t release music unless you were signed to a major label and now I’m not signed and I was able to release ‘Boulder’.”

Downey wants aspiring musicians to take advantage of the social media platforms that we have so that musicians are able to spread the word about their songs. “Get out there, write songs. You can’t be afraid to mess up because I feel like, especially in the beginning, you’re learning who you are as a person, you’re learning who you are as a musician and you need to experiment and write… and success should come with it.” 

What are your plans for the future with your music career? Any new songs you plan on coming out with?

“I’m gonna release in January, actually, and then I have a new single coming out, I think every month, so one in January, February, March, April.”

Downey said that she had already planned on coming out with new music at the beginning of next year, so definitely look out for that!

“I also am a songwriter first, so I’m hoping to continue songwriting for other artists that I love and have those artists release songs that we’ve written together,” she said. She also claimed that she will hopefully have some new songs coming out next year by other artists that she has written for. Downey finished by saying, “Next year!”

Anything else you want to share about yourself and your music?

Downey gave a shout out to the Colorado music scene by saying, “I think the Colorado music scene has been important to me and I definitely wouldn’t have gone this deep with music if I didn’t grow up in a place where there was so much live music and so much good music.” She understands that her roots are what truly helped create her love for music.

Thank you so much to Cate Downey for talking with me and definitely go check her out on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube and basically everywhere you can listen to music. You won’t regret listening to her music! 

– Ivie

• music
• Singer Songwriter