Shining How We Want, Brighter Than The Sun
Each summer brings a new song to match the sunshine and warm weather. Often, it’s an uptempo anthem about sunshine, beautiful people, and a hint of excess.
In the summer of 2007, we got something a little different, though just as festive. We were treated to an upbeat piece of acoustic folk rock with an inescapable earworm that paired perfectly with summer sunsets and warm weather. The song was “Bubbly” by Colbie Caillat.
From The Beginning
Born in 1985, Caillat came from a musical family; notably, her father, Ken Caillat, was an engineer and producer who worked on albums by Fleetwood Mac, Lionel Richie, Harry Chapman, and others. After piano, voice and guitar lessons during her youth, she would eventually meet Mikael Blue, who would become one of her co-writers and eventual producer of her first two albums. After a few auditions for American Idol that didn’t pan out, it was ultimately having her songs on MySpace that helped draw attention to her and her music.
Coco and Collaborations
It was in 2007 that Coco, Colbie’s debut album, saw the light of day, propelled by the singles “Realize,” “The Little Things,” and, of course, the inescapable earworm, “Bubbly.” The songs on the album were co-written and produced by Colbie, Jason Reeves, and Mikael Blue, with additional production by her father, Ken. As mentioned by Allison Stewart of the Washington Post: “‘Coco’" is the gentlest of albums, a wispy and amiable exercise in coffeehouse soul that draws equally from Carole King, John Mayer and, more to the point, Jack Johnson, who shares Caillat's love of mildly played, determinedly pleasant folk.”
Coco was the first of many albums released by Caillat over the years, as she went on to release seven more solo albums between 2009 and 2025, spawning several additional hit singles.
Besides her solo work, she has collaborated on numerous cool projects throughout her career. Between 2018 and 2020, she, along with longtime collaborators Jason Reeves, Nelly Joy, and Justin Kawika Young, released the album Canyons under the name Gone West.
Listeners were also treated to another acoustic pop gem in 2008 with the release of “Lucky” on Jason Mraz’s album We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. Co-written and performed as a duet between Mraz and Caillat, it performed well as a single and remained memorable. The track also earned Caillat a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals in 2010.
Caillat also collaborated with Taylor Swift on the song “Breathe” from Swift’s 2008 album Fearless. Although never released as a single, the song contributed to Caillat earning another Grammy Award when Fearless won Album of the Year at the 2010 Grammy Awards. She later participated in the new version of the song on Swift’s 2021 release Fearless (Taylor’s Version).
The Thalia Connection
Jonathan Wyndham is a fantastic guitar player and sideman who has worked with Caillat for many years. Wyndham is also a fan of Thalia Capos.
When Jonathan approached us about designing a capo with custom artwork for Caillat, we jumped at the chance! He noted that she uses a small flower as her logo, which inspired the capo's artwork. This flower also appears on the left side of her debut album, Coco:
The little flower was used to create a custom-made mother-of-pearl capo for Caillat. This capo became a unique and functional accessory that looks stunning and (we believe) captures the vibe of her music.
The team enjoys making great tools for musicians and feels even greater satisfaction when they're used in the real world. This custom capo can be seen with her in concert, including this performance of “Bubbly” on THE SONG TV YouTube channel.
Thank you, Jonathan, for giving Thalia Capos a chance to create something special for this talented singer-songwriter! We’re always happy to see artists use our products and have them be part of their work on stage and in the studio!
Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’ll go help ourselves to another slice of Colbie’s catchy pop. Just don’t mind us dancing around the halls in the process.
