On November 29th, 2024, I got to meet up with Carol Ades, an artist I last saw in 2022 opening for superstar singer/songwriter Lizzy McAlpine. I have always found Carol’s music to perfectly encapsulate what it is like to be a young adult, trying to navigate their way through life. Ades perfectly combines the whimsicality of childhood with the stark honesty of adulthood, packaged in beautiful set design with the stage dotted with quilted stars and a quilt displaying ‘Carol Ades’ in patchwork as the set backdrop.
It is always a privilege to be able to have a meaningful conversation about art and its importance, especially at times when it is needed the most. Below is a transcript of our conversation.
Cassie Limberakis: Hello Radio DePaul! This is Cassie Limberakis tuning in with Carol Ades. How are you doing Carol? Carol and I are not strangers. We have met before when I saw her open for Lizzy McAlpine!
Carol Ades: I’m doing good, how about you?
CL: I am doing good as well. I just wanted to ask you a question: Have you ever shotgunned a capri sun? You mentioned this in your song ‘Late Start,’ which is the title track of your most recent album. I am a little bit confused on this front. Were you actually shotgunning a capri sun while you were writing this song?
CA: Oh my god! I was more wanting to get the term Shotgun, like in the car (Shotgun, drinking our capri suns). I have literally never thought about it like that before.
CL: Because the way that I thought about this song was poking a hole through a capri sun and just drinking it like you would shotgun a beer.
CA: I’ve only ever shotgunned 5 beers in my lifetime and I was not very good at it. Maybe if I were to start shotgunning anything it would be a capri sun!
CL: Time to really jump into things here. What was the creative process like for making your debut album, Late Start?
CA: Hm. I mean the creative process was really long! I have been writing it for five years, unintentionally, but still writing it for five years. I was just writing songs, not sure for what or why. So I guess in some ways that was easy because I was just writing about things that have been happening in my life. The hard part was putting it together in some sort of shape, you know? Writing the songs was the easiest part of the hard thing that I was going through. The easy part was writing a song and putting that pain into something else if that makes sense.
CL: Yes, absolutely. And I think that ‘Late Start’ has a common thread of being a late bloomer. It makes me think about someone saying, ‘Oh I was ‘this many’ years old when I came out with my debut album. I am not going to be ashamed of that. With a lot of these songs, I have heard them before. It’s very interesting to see how all of these songs come together into this beautiful project.
CA: Yes! I know. It’s cool and crazy to meet people on tour and to meet people that I met on tour two years ago, like you. That was the first tour I have ever been on and I’m sure there are moments in everyones lives where people realize that time is so weird. I’m still doing the same thing and I’m telling the same stories but every time a little bit differently and hopefully a little bit better. I just can’t believe I have been doing this (being a touring musician) for three years.
CL: That’s wild. If you could pick three words to describe your most recent album ‘Late Start,’ what would they be?
CA: Oh! I think nostalgic
CL: Absolutely.
CA: I want you to feel like ‘Oh! I am just a girl.’ Ok, nostalgic. Oof! It’s gentle, but it’s not gentle in a way where this album could lull you to sleep all of a sudden. I think the tone of my lyrics is gentle because I am trying to be gentle with myself. That’s very hard. I guess the third would be honest/ It’s truthful. That’s where the gentle part comes in is saying things that are hard for me to hear but doing it in a gentle way, doing it nicely so that I don’t cry and run away!
CL: No literally, because my Mom and I had a conversation about this yesterday where she told me, ‘Cassie, you need to stop running away from your problems!’
CA: Ok I get why you want to do that.
CL: You have to face things when they come to you and I feel that very much so. I love those words that you used. I think that telling yourself things that you don’t want to hear in a nice way is something that I struggle with.
CA: That too is so hard because you drill this hard truth into you and you still don’t get it. Sometimes the only way to move on from something difficult is to be delusional. Sometimes that is a form of gentleness too to say ‘You know what? I am in this state right now and I know what is around the corner and maybe that’s more reality-based, but I am allowed to feel what I need to feel in order to move on from whatever I am facing.”
CL: Yes, I love that. The next question. Through listening to your music, I realized that many of your songs follow the intricacy and rawness of human relationships, like Mom Song. It’s so sweet! How has this affected your songwriting process?
CA: Oh my gosh! Human relationships are everything. My girlfriend and I talk about this all the time about how we see ourselves in relation to other people. I am the kind of person that tries to read your mind by going to my own mind first. I can relate to you by relating to myself first. Whereas some other people relate to themselves through relating to other people first. I need to figure out what’s going on with me before I can even begin to understand how I fit into any dynamic with anyone else.
CL: I am the same way.
CA: A lot of my friends are not like me at all and sometimes I literally feel crazy.
CL: I think having that, for me, is a very neurodivergent trait of relatability. I need to figure myself out first before I can iron anything out.
CA: Oh my gosh yes I feel the exact same way!
CL: Ok, next question. One thing I’ve noticed is you wear the same thing every night while you perform: The navy blue pinafore dress and a collared white shirt underneath. It’s very cute. I love it.
CA: At first, I wore it for a music video for my song ‘Brunette Caroline,’ which was about uniformity and wanting to fit into the bigger group and at the same time be the most special girl in the room. These two feelings in my life have fought each other and have always created this noise in the middle. I thought this is the perfect representation of everything I am trying to do here which is wanting to understand how I belong in the bigger group. I want to belong. But I also want to know that I am unique. I have special experiences. I wear this same outfit every night because it reminds me of my girlhood. It is a way that I can do it over again with more information.
CL: That definitely makes sense. I saw you were wearing it on Lizzy’s tour too.
CA: That is the thing! Three years later and I am still wearing this outfit! One day, I mean one day soon, I will transition into the next thing. But for now, it makes me think of having an alternate life. I also never wore a uniform in school, so I am living a whole alternative life.
CL: It reminds me very much of Catholic school vibes. One last question. You mention Little Women a lot. I thought of Saoirse Ronan and Lady Bird as well. How does this relate to your artistry? What is going on there?
CA: I just love stories about girls. I love stories about girls who want to do something big. Big and loud and also a little misguided. This is also how I feel. I want to do something big and loud and I am aware of my misguidedness. In my dreams I am Jo March. Lady Bird, yeah, she is so outspoken and I was not like that in high school. I want to be more like that. I want to be more like her.
CL: So, I’m a twin. I think my sister is like Amy and I’m like Jo. It’s the same as a dichotomy. I feel that 100%. Last Question: I found your music in 2021 during COVID. Something I do is I look at the Spotifys of my favorite artists to find new music to listen to. I noticed you listen to a lot of Imogen Heap. I definitely hear it in your music. Which other artists do you use for inspiration?
CA: Hmm. Yes, I use her for inspiration for sure.
CL: I promise, this is finally the last question. I need to know: What are three no-skip albums for you?
CA: I’m a song person less than an album person. Ben Folds? I like him. Job Bellion: Human Condition was my favorite album. I love Jon Bellion. I listened to that album non-stop for three years. Yes.
CL: Thank You so much for taking the time to sit down with me.
CA: It’s so good to see you!
