Get To Know... Blossom Caldarone • Neu • DIY Magazine

Hello and welcome back to DIY’s introducing feature, Get To Know… which aims to get you a little bit closer to the buzziest acts that have been catching our eye as of late, and working out what makes them tick.

If you’ve managed to catch English Teacher live in the last year or so, you might recognise Blossom Caldarone. The classically trained cellist has often lent her soothing strings to the Mercury Prize-winning band, but it’s in her winking solo project where she takes centre stage. New EP ‘Might Smash A Window’ reintroduces audiences to her diaristic style of songwriting - full of lyrics far too quick-witted to be scribbled carelessly with a gel pen on the tube, but carrying that feeling all the same. Stark, sarcastic musings on modern love and big city blues are bolstered by bright keys and cinematic strings to create something bigger, always poignant and always entertaining. To mark the project’s release, Blossom tells us more about what her twenties have taught her, eschewing guilty pleasures, and the art of a really good gossip.

Describe your music to us in the form of a dating app bio.
Hey! I’m Blossom and being emotional comes very naturally to me, even though I try to fight it. My dating history is chequered, but I am always happy to talk about it.

You’re a classically trained cellist - not necessarily the most common instrument of choice for sparkling popstars-in-waiting. Tell us a bit about your route into the classical world, and how it plays into your solo sound. What, for you, is the throughline between your different musical influences?
I started playing cello around five years old, so it’s always been a big part of my life. Being a cellist plays into my sound in so many ways, I think leading with melody being the biggest one; making something tuneful and memorable is something I love to do. The cello is such a lyrical and melancholic instrument, I always write with it in mind as a vocalist.

I feel the throughline between my influences is the presence of arrangement, whether that be electronic, vocal, orchestral or anything else really. The music I love often follows patterns, but within those patterns is chaos and colour. I like to approach my music in the same way; there are sonic tropes I love, but there is always intentional variation within them. I feel like I know what’s happening at every point in my music - nothing is that off the cuff. (And I believe this is because I am a control freak).

Your songwriting style is distinctly diaristic, but also shot through with quite cinematic allusions and winking pop culture references. How do you walk the line between complete autobiography and taking creative license with your storytelling? Aside from your own experiences, what else informs your writing?
I’m not sure it’s conscious really - I tend to just follow the current Blossom Caldarone events. However, I think presenting micro issues we can all relate to with a sense of drama and hyperbole is my speciality. ‘Might Smash A Window’ specifically presents some pretty universal - and what I believe to be mundane - ideas from the perspective that “I am the only person in the world this has happened to”. Broadway Market has become the Teatro alla Scala to me. So naturally, I am working with creative license.

Aside from this, other people’s stories will always inform my writing. I love chatting, and I love hearing how people’s stories are similar to mine; life is famously cyclical and we are experiencing much of the same most of the time. Bouncing off people gives me ideas, and helps me recognise the headlines in mine. Always keep chatting is my MO. I wish I could say I was inspired by film or art, but I tend to find consuming them more validating than inspiring. It’s nice to know both Picasso and I were as devastated as each other.

“There is a joy in growing older in that you curate your life; hopefully you surround yourself with people who love you, opportunities that excite you, and places that inspire you.”

‘Might Smash A Window’ is your first project in three years, since you’ve been busy on the road and in the studio with other musicians. How would you say you’ve developed as an artist since 2023’s ‘Maybe In Love (Maybe Not)’? Are there any particular pearls of wisdom you’ve gained?
I think I’ve just found where I fit now; both as a person and as an artist, with the ‘person’ bit primarily informing the ‘artist’ bit. There is a joy in growing older in that you curate your life; hopefully you surround yourself with people who love you, opportunities that excite you, and places that inspire you. I have certainly done this in the last three years, and consequently I feel I’m in the best place to flourish as an artist. I’m much happier now, and I don’t creatively thrive in pain as some do, so this is a good thing for me as a writer.

I’ve worked with so many different people over the last few years, and have been given insight into how they work too. It’s fascinating, and thought provoking. I think I’ve just relaxed a bit too. Being an artist is freeing if you take away all the noise that comes with making it your career. “Dance with life” is my Mum’s pearl of wisdom; it helps a lot.

What is a) your guilty pleasure, b) your party trick, and c) your meal deal of choice?
a) I don’t believe in them, Jemima Kirke has some amazing insight on the concept of a guilty pleasure.
b) Disappearing.
c) Chicken salad sandwich, Diet Coke, pineapple or Dairy Milk.

Who would you cast in the Blossom Caldarone biopic?
Danny Devito.

Finally, DIY are coming round for dinner - what are you making?
We’re ordering food because I don’t like cooking at the moment, and then we’ll bulk order sweets, chocolate and cigarettes on GoPuff.

‘Might Smash A Window’ is out now.

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