Colbie Caillat On Conscious Living 

Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter, Colbie Caillat has captured our generation with her effortless music style and timeless harmonies, but her work and passions extend beyond the stage to be a longtime advocate of animal rights and conscious living. Her new album The Malibu Sessions, was inspired by a love for the beach and ocean breeze and is a celebration of slow life. In our recent interview, Colbie shared about her passion for advocating for animal rights and sustainability - and some of her favorite resources for learning more.

We love your new album, The Malibu Sessions! Can you tell us a bit about your inspiration for the album and what you enjoyed about your first all-acoustic tour?

Thank you! This album was actually recorded almost 4 years ago and was supposed to come out before my last album, Gypsy Heart. While writing this the album I was inspired by Paul Simon's album Graceland and other great classic rock albums with all the beautiful harmonies and bright acoustic guitars that fill them.

This tour has been my favorite by far because I finally felt myself on stage. It was my first acoustic tour, with my best friends High Dive Heart and my fiancé Justin Kawika Young in my band with me and they all opened the show as well. My favorite people on 1 tour bus, it was the most relaxed and mellow tour I've ever done. Plus our dogs were there. :)

Sounds amazing! This album is your first under your own label, PlummyLou Records. What was it like having a greater level of creative control on this project?

Well it was a lot more work for sure! It was something I needed to do, going out on my own. It took all the pressure off of me and I was able to fully dive into the creative side of this record and tour. I always had the creative control but it's such a different process when you don't have a ton of people weighing in on and critiquing every decision you make on something you created. There were no barriers and it felt amazing.

We know you are passionate about animal rights, ethical fashion and sustainability. What fuels your interest in living consciously?

For me, speaking up for animals is my biggest concern and goal. They can’t speak for themselves and it breaks my heart seeing how a lot of humans treat them.

Well for so many reasons it's extremely important we all are conscious of what we are contributing to our planet and everything on it. For me, speaking up for animals is my biggest concern and goal. They can't speak for themselves and it breaks my heart seeing how a lot of humans treat them.

Factory farming is the worst and it's something everyone needs to become aware of so we can make a change for these innocent animals. I know the whole world won't become vegan but everyone needs to know what their wants and needs create and that we should all demand animals being treated humanely and that will only happen if we allow ourselves to be aware of the situation. With that comes how the environment is being polluted by the factory farming of cows and by the overproduction of our material items across the board.

Watching documentaries about these worldly issues will inform us of what's going on that we had no idea about. What fuels me is knowing how the animals suffer and how the planet is suffering with them.

As a longtime advocate for the ethical treatment of animals what are some ways you would recommend people can care for and advocate for animal rights?

I would recommend watching some documentaries so you can educate yourself on the topics. Then encourage your friends and family to watch them and educate themselves too.

  • Consume less meat and dairy or none at all or if you do, make sure you know where the meat comes from and that the animals were treated humanely and not injected with hormones and other horrible things. You don't wanna put that kind of meat in your body anyway cause it's not good for you.

  • Purchase clothing and furniture that are ethically made.

  • Adopt your next pet instead of purchasing from a pet store or breeder, so many good animals need homes.

  • Donate to a charity you believe in and make sure you do your research on them.

  • Visit animal sanctuaries and animal shelters, volunteer if they need help.

I know this all may be difficult to many at first, but you'll find the lifestyle change becomes easy and you'll feel great.

You’ve been a vegetarian (nearly vegan) for several years and I’m curious if you have tips for eating well on the road?   

Eating healthy on the road is very difficult. We usually stop at Whole Foods often cause we know we will have great options. Try eating lots of fresh foods, stuff locally grown. There's an app called Happy Cow that tells you where vegetarian/vegan restaurants are around you which is super helpful.

What are you favorite resources for learning more about ethical living? 

Documentaries To Watch:

Book To Read: