NXTSTYLE’s 2020 New Music Guide: Cat Clark

“Vert”

“Vert” was created when my friend RicFade came over to check out my new crib in LA. We were vibing and listening to his beats and I really gravitated towards this one. Two songs came out of that impromptu session, starting with writing and voice memos of the initial melodies and lyrics. He’s always been like a brother to me, so I feel very comfortable creating with him, and he also has a great ear for composition, both sonically and lyrically. The original version had a completely different chorus, so our final session came with that rewrite, as well as some tucked melodies and adlibs by RidFade. The writing depicts my *fuck what everyone thinks, this is how I feel* attitude that I express in some tracks. It’s just basically a lot about the feeling and melody to me, not super meaning based or genius lyricism. This song is fun to me; lighthearted with some relatable lyrics. Sometimes you feel a vibe and just have to express it to its fullest, so that’s what we did.

“Stay Here With You”

I have been good friends with the DJ group Coast Club for a while now, and we decided it’d be cool to collab on a new song. Trevor of Coast Club and I linked for a writing session and he expressed their desire to create a song about wanting to share a moment in time with someone, to “Stay Here With You”, as the chorus expresses. I went ahead and wrote some verses that depicted the feelings of love and companionship that I cherish the most. That is listening to vinyl, chilling out on a rainy day and being immersed in the sensory stillness that love brings.

“Young Rich”

Young Rich was actually written a good while before it’s actual release date. I was in the studio with Juss Swoop And JoPnda of OnBoyz. Juss Swoop put on one of his beats and I just started humming the chorus. They immediately took to it, and I was feeling it as well. So later I went back, wrote the whole song and recorded it with RicFade, who helped with the final vocal production, mixing and mastering. The song isn’t really about being “Young and Rich.” I was living in my car when I wrote it. Trying to work as much as I could in LA while escaping a crooked living situation, I was forced to sleep in my car and make a way. The song highlighted this feeling. “I’ve never been to the top before, but if i did I’d let you know how all the lights look from up here, how the city glows.” I understood something deeper about my humanity and that was the power of imagination because at this point in my life, I had close to nothing. To me, it was far more important to interpret a richness in my music and a story in my lyricism than it was to have the world on a silver platter.

I want my music to help them to get up and do something with their life because they see the light in themselves. I want them to be motivated by my music and I want to be able to share my drive and passion. I think the world gives us hidden gifts that we are meant to uncover on our own. I don’t want people to see my gift and to worship it like some artist desire. I want them to seek it in themselves. I want to see people living more consciously, and aside from my music, I have a dream of sharing my views and my vision with the world. Because no matter how important it is to make a hit record, it is even more important to me to leave the world with a more honest and rounded mindset than they had before. I think true art has the ability to translate those deeper ideals and connections between humans.


“I should go now quietly, for my bones have found a place to lie down and sleep. Where all my layers can become reeds, all my limbs can become trees. All my children can become me, what a’ mess I leave, to follow.”- “Smother” by Daughter.

I connect with this because it is possibly the most beautiful lines of poetry I have ever read. It is such a precious depiction of the life cycle, and it really hit me emotionally. She is a brilliant artist.