Cera Gibson will be headlining the opening night of the Mind the Gap Festival in Salt Lake City. She’s not only playing Soundwell on Friday night, August 22, but she’ll be debuting her new single, “Eclipse”. We had the opportunity to chat with Cera leading up to the show and release. Enjoy!
Interviewed by Kevin Rolfe
Utah Concert Review: Well, it’s good to officially meet you.
Cera Gibson: Yeah, you too. I’ve always loved the coverage you guys have done of me. You covered my “Daddy” release show a couple years ago. It’s cool to actually talk.
UCR: Well, thanks for taking the time. You’ve got another single release coming up.
Cera Gibson: Yeah, my song Eclipse is dropping this Friday on the 23rd.
UCR: You’ve had such an interesting career. I know you as a musician and a singer. But you’ve blown up on social media and, and many other outlets. It’s just interesting to see how things have gone with all that. Has that surprised you? Or were you wanting to be multifaceted like this whole time?
Cera Gibson: It definitely was a surprise. Because when I started out, I was purely just a musician. Was only ever striving to be a musician for a very long time. It was the pandemic, where I started posting silly videos on TikTok because I was bored. There was nothing to do, no shows to play, and started popping off.
People thought they were funny so I just kept making them. And then it took on an entire life of its own, where now I have this like mommy daddy persona thing going on.
And my content has turned a little bit more into like commentary and rants as of late. But yeah, the multifaceted nature of it was not something I planned for. But it did come with elevating my music a little bit, it exposed it to a lot more people.
And so even though I really popped off for making jokes about wieners last year, it all started to kind of feed itself. And now I get to do voice acting and conventional acting and all sorts of stuff.
UCR: It’s the understatement of the century, but the pandemic was so weird. And especially for artists and musicians. You couldn’t tour, you couldn’t even get into a studio at one point. I think it’s great that you found ways to engage and diversify yourself.
Cera Gibson: It’s a wild ride. I mean, with social media, it’s been interesting because I kind of hit this point last year where I felt like the funny stuff was starting to overtake my music.
So now I’m kind of like correcting for that this year, where I’m putting more emphasis back on the music because as awesome as all of that is, music is my thing. And it’s been interesting to battle the algorithm that’s used to me making funny content, and it doesn’t really know what to do with the music content right now. Everything adjusts, everything is up and down, you know?
UCR: I’m glad you brought that up because I wanted to ask you about that. It seems like it’d be easy. How do you balance that? You have a great audience, but it just seems tricky to balance both of those. Because is seems like one facet is going to be like, “No, no, no, keep doing more of this”, but then maybe another is going to be like, “No, no, no, I want more music”. So how do you find that balance?
Cera Gibson: Really great question. That’s been my entire thing this entire year is trying to find balance. Because for a while there, last year in particular, I was like, okay, I think I can do both of these things. I can be like this viral comedian, and I can also do my music, and I’ll push it simultaneously. But even though the comedy did uplift the music a little bit, it also created a massive barrier to it in some ways to where the comedy was already doing so well that people didn’t really care to deviate from that and see what else I was doing.
My old manager would reach out to agents and be like, “Hey, can we set up a meeting?” And they’d be like, “Isn’t she just a comedian?” They’re like, no, but he’d send all my music to them. They’d be like, “Well, this is all great, but her comedy is doing so good. Really, there’s no point in her doing music.”
And to me, that was a really big bummer, because, to me, the point is that I love it. The point isn’t whether it’s more successful than my comedy or not. It’s just that it’s the thing that I’m most passionate about. Because I’m very commercially successful in some ways. But I realized I need to be commercially successful with music. I had to let that other thing take a hit. And so I’ve consciously done that to where I’m okay with disappointing some people.
I feel like the ride or dies are there regardless of what I’m doing. And so I consciously was like, comedy has to take a hit so that I can make sure that I’m able to make a living with music eventually so that that can get the kind of momentum that I feel like it deserves. And also, I’m not going to be young forever. I’m already so tired. I feel like comedy and the other stuff are things I can do until I’m 80, you know?
UCR: That’s a great point. So might as well go for your true love.
It seems like a lot of what you do is just your personality. Who you are that makes the reason people are drawn to is because you’re just being authentic.
Like in the social media world, even with your music, your personality could draw people just because you’re being you and then they hear and like your music. It’s like in a concert in between songs when people are funny or tell stories. That can make the concert more engaging. So hopefully they’ll merge a little bit more.
Cera Gibson: I appreciate you saying that. Because I think one of the reasons why it surprised me so much is I did go into everything. I was just being myself. I think last year, I started to kind of have this conundrum happen where I was then trying to make funny content instead of like, letting the funny content come to me. But now it’s like, I’m still going to post funny content if it comes to me 100%. That’s part of who I am. I’m not trying to like squash that.
But I also am just like, hey, instead of trying to make funny content, let’s try to make music content and then let the funny content happen organically. I think that’s probably the best way to merge those two worlds is just to make sure that my conscious energy is going to music instead of to comedy because comedy is going to happen regardless.
UCR: Let’s get into some music. You have a unique style of music. The thing that always interests me when I do these interviews is where it was decided to do the type of music the artist ends up doing. Like you have a very unique pop sentimentality. But does your music come from all different places? How did you decide, this is the kind of music I want to do? Or has it just evolved to be this is you style of music? Because I don’t know how people get to this point.
Cera Gibson: Good question. So as a little kid, I was a little metalhead. And I loved Rock and Roll. I started out making rock music when I was like, 16, 17, 18. So I started making rock music, I got into a really crummy recording contract for four years, and we only got like three songs out of it, it really like set me back. It was like 17 to 21. It was crazy, just like it’s a block of time where nothing happened. And so that happened. I got out of that and I decided I just wanted to separate myself from this entire thing. It was such a huge pain. And I just wanted to learn something new.
I decided to learn how to make pop music. And because I’ve never really listened to mainstream pop until recent years. I’ve always listened to that darker, grungier, heavier stuff, my pop music ended up being kind of on the darker side. Not that it was grungy or anything. It just was constantly kind of living in this really dark space, which was fun. As the years have gone on, and I’ve gained proficiency in my skill and I’ve grown and my perspective has grown. I think a lot of it does still come from a dark place. But I’ve infused more of like my silly personality into it. So then you get stuff like my song “Daddy”, or “Famous by Accident”. But then you know, there’s still the dark stuff like “Come Down” where you’re like, this could be the theme song for a vampire that likes to club.
So I think the musical sentimentality around my music has always been the same. But the medium that I’m currently in was a conscious choice. And then, in the last two years, I’ve just let it evolve a little bit with me. And I’ve let it break outside of what it’s historically been since like 2017.
UCR: So tell me about “Eclipse”. How did the song come about? Was it just time to release a single? Or is this part of something bigger to come?
Cera Gibson: I wrote a “clip”Eclipse” last summer, early summer. It was around the solar eclipse last year. I saw this meme where somebody was like, “If I hook up with my ex, I’m blaming it on the eclipse.” And I thought that was so funny. So just for fun, I threw it into Chat GPT. I was like, write me a song about hooking up with your ex under the eclipse. Of course, it wrote me the most hideous song ever known to man. But it had one line. And the one line that said, “Don’t make it serious. It’s just the eclipse”. It said, it’s just the eclipse baby, got rid of the baby. I was like, that’s money.
I took that and I wrote an entire song off of it. And that’s the first line of the song is “Don’t make it serious. It’s just the eclipse” and wrote the entire song off of that. I guess I’ll have to give chat GPT a 1% rate. But it ended up being it’s very akin to I guess the stuff I’ve already made, but it feels like it’s the culmination of it.
Like all of the different sounds and stylings and like lyrical and melodic content that I’ve had in my past music. This is that like turned up to 10. And so I got it produced last year, but I was really just trying to wait for the right time to drop it. I ended up deciding to do my song “Famous By Accident” and “Come Down” before it and drop this one now. We did make an incredible music video in April for it that’s going to be dropping on the same day on the 23rd. And it feels like the perfect timing. Like end of summer. It would have been cool to drop it during the eclipse, but it didn’t pan out that way. I think the song is really fun because I didn’t write it necessarily off of a specific experience that I had.
But I think it’s something we can all relate to where we’re making choices that we want to be making but we aren’t willing to come to grips with the fact that that is our choice right now. Even though we know it’s not good for us. So this fun premise of it’s the solar eclipse that has nothing to do with me like we’re blaming astrology on this one.
UCR: You’ll be headlining night one of the Mind The Gap Festival at Soundwell on Friday night (August 23) in Salt Lake City. Tell me how that came about and what people can expect from that show.
Cera Gibson: Initially a few months ago, I reached out to Joey Tron of live night events because I wanted to put on my release show.
So I initially, a few months ago, I reached out to Joey Traum of Live Nite Events, because I wanted to put on my release show. Originally it was going to be for a larger body of work, but it is the “Eclipse” release show, which is stemming on more releases and a larger body of work. But I reached out to him about it, and he was like, “Hey, I have an idea.I want to connect with Sydney. It would be cool if we combined this with the Mind the Gap festival. I think it would fit it really well. I think you would help them, they would help you, and it would just make the event all the more special.”
I was a little skeptical at first, because I’m like, how the hell is that going to work? But we talked it through. I had never actually been to the Mind the Gap Festival. It always aligned with shows that I was playing, so I never had a chance to go. But the more I was looking into it and like reading about their ethos and uplifting women and minorities and stuff, I was like, you know, I think this actually would be a fabulous collaboration. It’s so in line with my brand online and my values that I would love it to be a part of my release show and for my release show to be a part of it. So that’s how that ended up happening.
I’m headlining that night, which is crazy. I was like, no, I don’t need to be the headliner. I’m like, have somebody else do that. But I think it’ll be really fun. I got an entirely new live rig for it. So the sound is super locked in. I have backup dancers, costume changes, the whole nine yards. I’ve literally never done something to this level. I’m already so happy with how it’s turning out. So I’m stoked for other people to see it.
UCR: That sounds really fun. Ok, last question! What’s it like performing in Utah compared to other places? I know you’ve played places like The Viper Room in Hollywood and you’ve been on tour. Do you notice a difference at all? Is it better here in some cases? Is it better when you get out and like people don’t know you as somebody necessarily from Utah? I’ve always wondered for an artist from here when they go somewhere else how different it is.
Cera Gibson: So it really depends on a case by case. Because when I perform here to like a queer crowd for like a drag show or something, incredible energy. It’s unmatched truly. I performed at a gay club in Colorado Springs, which was incredible as well, like similar energy. So I think within that community, you always get the best of the best to perform to regardless of where you are. But I think more in like the pop and the rock world, it’s a huge difference.
So like here (in Utah), a rock show, people like come out and they have good energy, or like a metal show, they’ve got really good energy. And I tend to play on like mixed bills, a lot of the time, because my music is, like you said, kind of pop, like sort of pop. So it, you know, tends to work better for mixed bills instead of like purely pop bills.
Pop shows here, I hate to call out this state, but they are so underwhelming. They are so underwhelming. I think people just don’t know what to do with pop music here unless it’s at Delta Center or the Maverik Center. It’s so hit or miss here. Out of state, people tend to be a little bit more excited about a pop show. They’re a little bit more there, they bring the energy, the excitement, especially in LA.
LA is one of two things, people are either way too cool to even be close to the stage. I remember I played this show at 71 Studio Bar in Hollywood. And there was like 100 people there. And they were all just a solid 20 feet away from the stage. There was this other little room that had the bar in it. And they’re all cramped in there, like peeking through the door. I’m like, “you guys can come”. I eventually got people to come into the room. But it’s either that or people are like unabashedly so hyped just to see live music. Because I think in LA, it’s either competitive, or you know, we’re all doing the same thing.
So they’re excited to support people that are doing the thing they’re doing. Especially if they feel like they’re doing it well. It’s really hit or miss. Pop crowds are better outside of Utah rock crowds are great in Utah. And then queer crowds are great everywhere.
UCR: I’m originally from Southern California. So I’ve seen what you’re talking about. They can be too cool for sure with this feeling like, “you have to impress me before I actually get up close to the stage”. It’s, really frustrating because once they get going, they’re as good as any crowd anywhere. I can see why you would think that. But hey, thank you so much.
We’re very excited for your single release and hope the show goes well. Thank you for taking the time to talk with me.
Cera Gibson: You’re awesome! This was great.
You can see Cera Gibson at Soundwell in Salt Lake City on August 23. On that date, you can also listen to her new single “Eclipse” wherever you purchase or stream music.
Click here to purchase tickets the Mind The Gap Festival and Cera’s show.