Charlotte Sands wants to reintroduce herself.

Authenticity can’t be faked. It’s a trait that comes with humility, dedication, and a true love for people and the world. Charlotte Sands has made it beautifully obvious that she’s making music to grow— not only that, but to fall in love with that growth. Each lyric is crafted from something so raw and personal, so much so that it almost feels like the words were made for you. Like an older sister that wants to be there for you while still learning about the world herself.

There’s something to be said about having a goal, consistently working towards it, and achieving it. Charlotte has worked so hard throughout her career, and it shows in the headlining tours and upcoming performances at Idobi’s Summer School tour, and later in the year Warped Tour. She’s bring her most recent release “Hush,” 2024’s can we start over?, and all of her classics on the road with her.

Back when you released your first song “Phantom Pain,” where did you see yourself at this point in the future? Are there any goals that you feel like you've accomplished by now that you had at that time?

Yeah. I feel like my priority has always been to tour as much as possible, and that's always been my favorite part of being an artist and a creative— those moments on stage. I do feel like I've been able to do that, which has been so amazing, and I feel so lucky. That's the full circle moment that all the songs I make really feel like they're released out in the world. Yeah, the full circle of the creative process for me is when I’m performing them live.

That's an insanely relevant goal because it feels like you've been touring a lot, and you're going to be touring a lot more, which is really exciting.

That's always been the main goal, and I would love to keep doing that for the rest of my life.

In 2024, you released can we start over, an album that feels so refreshing in its honesty. The energy is infectious, and there's so many beautiful lyrical moments that really hit hard. I love the line in “pity” that goes, “I talked to God said she's his favorite, I swear.” Can you tell me a little bit about that song and what emotions were put behind the making of it?

Yeah, absolutely. All of my songs are about personal experiences and trying to be gentle with yourself while learning more about yourself throughout your life. And, I think being curious about ourselves and who we are, what we're becoming, and the whole process of changing…That song was really about discovering changes with my sexuality and things that I had never really talked about because I've always grown up just having such supportive people around me. I never felt like I really had to have these conversations about my sexuality, which is such a a privileged position to be in.

That song for me was celebrating this, exciting but also scary and confusing feelings of, like, okay, how do I love two different people? Or how am I why am I attracted to two different people? Kind of trying to tell that story, but also making it feel really casual and really normal, because it is.

It was kind of a cathartic experience to write something that I feel like I hadn't really written about, and just be able to tell the full experience of it. This is a normal life and this is a normal experience, and it can be fun. It’s the human experience of learning and growing with yourself and evolving, I think.

That's so beautiful. That one really hit close to home for me. Is it one you're planning to play live?

Yeah. I'm playing that one on the this tour coming up, and I'm really excited about it.

That's awesome. It's going to be so good to see live. Okay, I have another question about a different song from the album. The closer and also the self-titled track, “can we start over?” feels like a cathartic finale of pain and release and the most perfect comedown from nine other songs that are so full of emotion. I would love a run through of this track. What was the creation and writing process like for it? It's so powerful.

Oh, that's so nice, thank you. I mean, I really wanted to write something that felt like it was the trailer song for a movie. Obviously, we've all seen, like, Vampire Diaries and Decode and the Paramore moment. I think I've always just been so obsessed with that type of cinematic music that builds, and then it just gets so, so massive. It's an entire experience in one song. I went into the session with the intention of making something that felt like that, massive and cinematic.

What's so funny is I actually had a poem saved. It was, like, in my Pinterest. I'm a big Pinterest girl. There was a poem that was basically saying, like, if we started over, would we be able to come back to each other knowing everything we know now and knowing, and knowing our mistakes and knowing our flaws? Can we start over as who we are now from this place? I just thought it was so beautiful, and I had wanted to write it for a while.

I kind of took inspiration from that story and that idea. I thought there was something so cool about also writing about my career at the time of, like, I want to reintroduce myself, and can we start over? This album being the introduction to this phase I'm in or this era I'm in. So it felt like a reflection of where I was in that era. But also, the idea of meeting somebody where they are after their evolution and after growing up and being able to accept people for who they are in their life, instead of who they have been in the past and kind of just like relearning people, re-meeting people, me to my audience, audience to me, and then my personal life as well.

It's such a beautiful reintroduction. You were mentioning cinematic, and it was funny because I was listening to the song last night and I was thinking about Twilight, and I was like, this would be such a good track for someone to make an angsty Bella and Edward Twilight edit over.

Oh my god. I should make one of those. I should get a Twilight fan page and just start knocking those out.

It's like the perfect edit song in the most, I don't know, angsty way. Switching gears, I have a couple questions about Summer School tour. You're about to hit the road, can you tell me which songs from the most recent project you’re most excited to play live for new and returning fans?

I love “spite.” It’s always one of my favorite songs to play live because it's just such a fun jumping song. Everyone immediately has so much fun, and everyone's dancing and it's high energy. So I'm really excited about that. I also love performing “use me.” That song is so fun and dramatic, which I love. I also just released “Hush,” which is my latest single, and we're doing that one live and we kind of reimagined it for the show, which is gonna be really fun. I can't wait to do that one.

Are there any essentials that you're bringing with you on the road?

Oh, that's a good one. I'm a big snack person, so I always bring, like, my seaweed snacks, and I have to bring something from every texture and every flavor. Just in case it's late at night and we're on a bus and I can't stop. But I think the biggest thing for me is having a wind down routine. I love having some sort of calming routine, whether it's, like, drinking your tea before you go to bed or doing a face mask or anything that kind of feels relaxing to bring down the adrenaline after a show. My necessities would probably be those things.

That's a really good answer. I feel like having a good routine also just helps everything move so much smoother.

Totally.

You're providing fans with limited VIP pop up events on this tour. Can you tell me a little bit about what they can expect for this experience? It looks super fun and intimate.

I'm really excited about these ones specifically because, usually, they've been at the venue. But because there's so many bands on this tour and so many soundchecks happening, we decided to have them at locations near the venues instead. I think it will be even more fun because it’s a more intimate space and experience. We're gonna do some acoustic songs, which I'm really excited about. I’ve designed little crafts and fun things that people can take home that are one of one. They kind of get a reminder of the experience and a good memento for that VIP experience. I think that's always my favorite thing— memorabilia of those moments.

We have posters that I'm so excited about that they'll be getting. I love being able to talk to people one on one and have more personal conversations and check in with people and catch up because so many of them I've known for years. It's great to get to hear how their lives are and how they're doing.

That sounds like such a beautiful experience and so unique, too. Not many artists do something so one on one where you're actually getting to talk with everyone. Kind of like a bonding activity!

It really is, I'm so excited about it.

You're also playing Warped Tour in Orlando. It's so beautiful to watch you find such a meaningful place in the scene, one that's well deserved. How do you think young Charlotte would react to all these amazing shows and tours?

Oh, I mean, she would just be so excited. I found one of my goal lists that was, like, my dreams, and it was from maybe ten years ago. One of the dreams was just to release a song and to play a show outside of Nashville and things like that. I wasn’t aware at that point in my life that this would be what I was constantly getting to do and that it would be such a big part of my life. I think it would she'd be so excited. I'm still so excited, and I forever feel like a little kid when I get to asked to do these things, and I'm just so lucky to get to do them.

It's so fun to find old goal lists and all of that and see how far you've come, especially when it's in your really old handwriting. You're like, I was so small then, so little.

Totally. 100%.

I'll finish up with one more question. If you could have a drink with any musician dead or alive, who would it be and why?

Oh, that's a good one. I think Bonnie Raitt is my first my first answer, like, immediately. She's just always been my idol and my number one inspiration when it comes to music. Maybe also Joan Jett. She is such a badass, and I would just love to talk to her. But there's so many. There's so many incredible women, but hose are the first two that come to come to mind.

Those are really good answers. Thanks for talking with us!