The Sydney pop queens return with an energetic and clubby mixtape that’s unapologetically themselves.
Cat & Calmell are inseparable. The pair have been friends for over a decade and do basically everything together.
Calmell says it’s “convenient” that they “move as a unit.” It helps with being vulnerable. Their last project was 2023’s How Do You Feel?, a softer indie pop trip delicately processing their emotions.
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“That was our headspace,” Cat says. “We had to get all the depressing shit off our chest.”
Afterwards, they tapped into a party energy on the Lucy Blomkamp-produced track Give Urself 2 Me.
“We wrote that when we happened to be in Melbourne,” Cat says. “We had gone out the night before, and we were hungover as fuck.”
Capturing that post-night-out hangover vibe marked the start of their wild new era: LIVE LAUGH COOL STAR, a mixtape of defiant, self-indulgent and club-ready songs.
Described as “neo-indie-sleaze-trap-pop-star-type-shit,” it sees the duo at their most chaotic. The over-the-topness of it all is a complete 180 from everything before, but it’s pushed them to be truer to themselves.
“We didn’t sit down and go, ‘Let’s write something super swag and electronic,’” Calmell says. “We were still going through all those depressing things – that’s never really left us – but we put so much emotional energy into this project, we wanted to shake ass and have fun and not be serious.”
Take, for instance, the reveal of Cat & Calmell’s new era: an Instagram post of the two besties with matching Facebook cover and profile pics for the New Year, skyrocketing with over 1.4 million likes.
“That was not even planned,” Calmell admits. “It really set the tone for how people see us. Like, we’re constantly referred to as the ‘Facebook Girls’, which I’m not mad about at all.”
“It was like a revival of when the internet used to be really fun for us, which was in 2013–14, when we were literal tweens,” Cat adds. “We had just got Instagram, and it’s like 17 filters on every photo, just doing cute shit that you find fun.”
Not only has being themselves made the rollout more enjoyable, but friends and fans have noticed their music and personalities fully overlap now.
“That’s been the best feedback we’ve received. That’s so affirming because it is us,” Calmell says. “When we first started making music, we made it a point to everybody that we’re constantly changing and evolving.”
Cool Star was the first taste of the mixtape, an anthemic dance tune about self-expression, with a debaucherous and hectic music video. “We filmed a lot of it in this house we’re in, which took months for it to recover, by the way,” Calmell adds.
The alluring and self-assured Hotness!!! celebrates feeling sexy without the validation of others. Never has the duo sounded so confident.
Meanwhile, Rot is a revved-up electropop banger hiding more than it shows, featuring morbid, introspective lyrics.
“From our first project, we wanted our lyrics, if you pay attention to them, to make you go, ‘Oh… Are you okay?’” Cat says. “But we still want the music to feel upbeat or positive.”
Cat continues: “We’re leaning into a tongue-in-cheek, ironic way of talking about serious things in an unserious way, being quite jokey about it and having the tracks be super pumpy, clubby, trashy and fun. It’s very much recession pop, very nihilistic Gen Z vibes, where everyone’s constantly online making memes about the most traumatic shit that’s ever happened to them.”
The Cat & Calmell 2.0 experience is coming to Fitzroy’s Laundry Bar on 20 December. From the sounds of it, they’re more than ready to get the party started.
Macbook photobooths, secret special guests and an exclusive DJ set by Calmell are some treats that’ll draw partygoers into the buzzing atmosphere.
“I’m just so fucking keen to play all these songs in one show!” Calmell says. “We want these shows to feel more like a party and celebration with everyone.”
Cat echoes her enthusiasm: “We wanted to write songs that would make a live show super fun to attend. That’s made us most excited to do these shows because it’s happening!”
When pain strikes, Cat & Calmell’s remedy is nothing but fun: dancing through it all without a care in the world.
