Chatterbox: Nick Catoire chats mental health, vulnerability and reconnecting with the self

Hey Nick Catoire, thanks for taking the time to talk to us today. Could you tell us a little known fact about yourself?

A little known fact about me is that one of my hyperfixations is the TV show Buffy The Vampire Slayer. And I can talk about it endlessly for hours, days, weeks even. Kind of like how I just used this interview question as an excuse to bring it up. Buffy fans, hit me up.

Your new single ‘There For You’ feels like a whispered confession in the early hours. What was the moment or memory that sparked the writing of this song?

Honestly, there wasn’t a specific moment—it was more like the accumulation of years of feeling like I was living as a ghost. I had been isolating myself in my room, scrolling through my phone endlessly, trying to distract myself from reality, including the reality that someone I trusted had completely failed to show up when I needed him most. I remember sitting in the dark, thinking about how many times I’d ignored my instincts because the fear of being alone seemed worse than the fear of being wrong. And then the chorus came—”Promise I can be there for you”—the exact words that he said to me. Which, as it turned out, was a lie.

How did the physical space of your dark bedroom where you wrote the song influence its sound?

That darkness is in everything. I mean I literally shut out the world because I didn’t want to be perceived or hurt anymore. And I was trying to capture the feeling of being small and hidden. From a production standpoint: we kept everything stripped back, almost whisper-close, because that’s how it felt to write it—like I was confessing something in the dark. The acoustic guitar is muted because I felt muted. And the way my voice sits so close in the mix– I wanted people to feel like they were sitting right there with me in that room.

Do you take any steps to your own mental and emotional well-being when making something so personal and raw?

For most of my music, the making of it is like a version of therapy for me. I write these words so that I can get these thoughts out of my head. So that I can let them go, in a way. And the singing- that’s the part that’s always been my therapy from as far back as I can remember.

I used to say in interviews a lot that I write songs to help people feel less alone. And that is -mostly- true. But, I think it actually probably helps me more than anything. It helps me feel less alone. It helps me feel like my pain is being heard. But hopefully it’s a two-way street.

The stripped-down acoustic and 3/4 rhythm are a departure from typical pop formulas. Was that a deliberate choice to reflect the song’s emotional weight?

The acoustic and raw vibe was definitely intentional. The 3/4 rhythm not really, that just happened naturally.

‘There For You’ is the lead single from your upcoming EP, Hollow. How does this track set the tone for the rest of the project?

The ‘Hollow EP’ is the darker, moodier, sadder answer to my last EP, Stranger. Where ‘Stranger’ was about the manic, catchy pop highs of being queer, Hollow is about the lows: the comedown phase. It’s the late-night car ride coming home from the club, the unhealthy coping mechanisms we use to mask our loneliness, the heartbreak, and that feeling of being faded and feeling hollow inside. ‘There For You’ pretty much sets the tone for that.

The sound itself is a lot more raw, more r&b and indie folk influenced. It’s an honest reflection of where I’m at right now.

What’s next for you?

I’m continuing to learn. Hopefully for the better. I’m going to read more Ocean Vuong books. Going to watch more Buffy. Going to get these Hollow EP songs out into the world.

I want to do some intimate acoustic performances—maybe house shows, or small venues. There’s something about performing these songs in spaces that mirror the small room where I wrote them. I want to recreate that feeling for the audience.

But overall, I’m just taking it one song, one show, one conversation at a time. There’s so much going on in the world in 2025, and my anxiety is always at a level 100, so I’m learning to just apply a little patience. And learning that, much like the healing process, the music process shouldn’t really be rushed.

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