Cam hopes to make Harry Styles, Avicii and Sam Smith fans proud with new album The Otherside

21 October 2020, 16:24 | Updated: 7 January 2021, 16:44

Cam is just about to release her brand new album, The Otherside, on October 30th - but stopped by to tease what fans can expect from the new album.

Cam has been working on her new material for five years, but the 35-year-old country singer revealed there was added pressure to "get it right" when picking her track listing and making sure she did her collaborators proud.

Speaking exclusively to Smooth Country, Cam said: "I’d say, most of these have been around a while, and maybe the last bit was ‘Classic’ when I flew up to New York and worked with Jack [Antonoff] and then also writing ‘Girl Like Me’ with Natalie [Hemby] - those were probably the last two.

"And the other ones have kind of been in the mix for a decent amount of time. The tricky part for me is that I just keep tweaking the production, because I feel like, 'If I have more time then I can really make this perfect', and the added pressure too of having – it’s a good pressure, it’s a good responsibility – of just trying to honour the people who are collaborators.

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"Trying to make Tim [Avicii], his fans and family proud, and make the Harry Styles fans proud, and make the Sam Smith fans proud.

Cam - Classic (Official Video)

"So, if it wasn’t enough pressure I put on myself just to get it right, I think that added to it, so there was a lot of tweaking, just to make sure it was perfect!

"So the last couple were probably ‘Classic’ and ‘Girl Like Me’ but most of it has been 98% in this shape for a while."

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Cam, who performed at C2C festival and later toured the UK in 2019, gave birth to her daughter Lucy in December, but largely had the album already to go.

While Cam has collaborated with several artists and songwriters, the singer noted how she usually writes her own songs when releasing music herself.

Cam - Diane (Official Music Video)

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Giving advice to songwriters, Cam continued to Smooth Country: "Oh, you know, I do have to say, I’m not usually one who takes outside songs. I always see song writing as such a personal thing.

"Really listen to your gut, and when I say that I mean my actual stomach – I can feel it in my stomach when I have a line and a melody that makes me say, 'Ah, I have to tell that story, I have to do that for myself, and people I know that need to hear this'.

"And so I kind of grab it from the subconscious and wrap it up in a story – and it’s tough work, so I have to love whatever that real nugget is - of wisdom or hurt or truth - and then to go all the way to the finish line with it, I have to really love it.

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Cam - Redwood Tree (Official Video)

"So I would say, really listen to your gut and do it based on that. I think sometimes all of us, our editor, and our critic, and our judger steps in too early, and I struggle with this all the time.

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"You try and edit something before you let the little spark become an actual flame and you just put it out. So I think stay in the ‘play, creative, intuition feeling’ mode until you really have it going in front of you, and then maybe let it breathe, and then come back with your editor head."

Cam, who will join Smooth Country on air on Friday, went on to tease that fans will be "singing along" to the new album, adding: "I promise!"