New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Cf Watkins has unveiled "Come Around," the latest video from her new album, Babygirl, released in October via Whatever's Clever Records. "'Come Around' is about addiction, and watching someone you love not being able to show up for themself or for the people they love," Watkins says. "The helpless feeling of wishing you could pull someone out of their own shadow."
For the atmospheric clip, Watkins turned to director Griffin Hart Davis, who was also at the helm of her previous offering, "The Tell," to interpret the story. "Griffin rented a huge gymnastic trampoline for the slow motion shots. As soon as I got on set for the first day of shooting, he asked if I could jump up as high as possible, get my body parallel to the trampoline, free fall with my eyes open, and then catapult myself back up... all while looking relaxed. I just remember looking at him with my mouth wide open, and saying, 'Let me see if I can remember how to jump on it first!'" Watkins laughs. "I was worried that I wasn't going to be able to get the shot he wanted, but after many takes we got it- and I was very sore the next day!"
Based in Brooklyn for the past nine years, before moving to Nashville this fall, Watkins' Americana-pop style embodies the influences of her North Carolina roots. Performing since the age of fourteen, she has shared the stage with acts like Langhorne Slim,
Future Birds, Chatham County Line, Wilder Maker, Lowland Hum, and Alpenglow. Her 2016 debut release, I Am New, as well as the single, "Frances and Jack," were produced by
Daniel Goans of Lowland Hum at White Star Studios.
On Babygirl, Watkins collaborated with Max Hart, a producer and multi-instrumentalist who has worked with artists like The War On Drugs, Katy Perry, and Melissa Etheridge. The recording itself was a unique, bi-coastal experience. At the time, Hart was living in LA - and frequently on tour with Etheridge - while Watkins was in Brooklyn. "Recording the record happened over the span of a lot of time, a lot of emails, and phone calls. Max would tell me when he would have a week off to go into the studio and I would fly out to L.A. where we would spend five days at a time working tirelessly on songs that we had already started planning over long-distance demos," Watkins explains. "It had its challenges and frustrations but I think the constraint of time and space forced us to be really intentional, and also allowed us to really reflect after we had finished an intense week of recording."
The album portrays her growth as both a person and an artist. "When I think about my last album, I feel I was writing songs about weakness," Watkins says. "With this album, I made a conscious effort to write songs about the power of choosing yourself."
Cf Watkins is an artist who understands the urge for connection and the goodness in finding it, who sings with a kind of knowing about the ways we need each other even when, especially when, we feel weak. "I continue to play music because I want to connect with people," Watkins says. "Babygirl is an expression of gratitude for those bonds that inform and renew us."
