If there is one good thing to say about TikTok, it’s that the algorithm just gets me. So when a music artist appeared on my For You page one day promoting her song that had an extremely catchy beat, I was immediately intrigued. My curiosity encouraged me to click on her page. And thus, I was introduced to Cayley Spivey.
Cayley Spivey is a 22-year-old singer/songwriter/musician from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. From a young age, Cayley was drawn to music. She frequently used it as an escape from the complications of childhood and growing pains. Yet, despite her affinity for music, she denied herself the exploration of this passion for the longest time.
Cayley is a queer woman, and much of her music is inspired by her sexual orientation and the experiences informed by her identity. In order to write music that she could be proud of, she had to face a truth that she had been repressing for years: “I would say a lot of [the denial] was [because of] dealing with complications growing up in identity, because I couldn’t fully process my sexuality.”
Her hesitancy to embrace this passion was also influenced by the fact that she never saw someone like her, a queer woman, in the mainstream. But since she has started her music career, Cayley has turned this fear into her motivation. As more spaces for queer artists open up within the industry, she believes that it is the responsibility of queer adults to take ownership of these spaces in order to provide young queer folk with a community and role models they can look up to.
Cayley first began her endeavor into music with her band-turned-solo project Small Talks, releasing an EP titled “Until It Turns To Petals” in 2017 and an album called “A Conversation Between Us” in 2019. Small Talks found success in the pop punk scene, even being offered a support tour with With Confidence. This is a source of pride for Cayley — not only was it the first time Small Talks was performing for a lot of people, Small Talks was the only band on that package that had a female singer — something rare in a music subculture that is dominated by men.
“I felt like I was doing something for the audience, ya know.” Cayley grinned and gestured at herself, “cause look this is a girl in your scene, this is a girl singing in front of the band! And a lot of people told me that too, [that] it was really cool to see a girl [on stage].”
Shortly after the support tour with With Confidence, Small Talks won SkullyCandy’s 2017 Stay Loud Showdown, a vote-based competition that invited the winning artists to perform on the SkullCandy stage at Vans Warped Tour. Small Talks was unknowingly nominated for the competition, but once they learned what had happened and what it meant, they were all in, reaching out to local radio stations, printing business cards and talking with family and friends in order to gain their support — Cayley would even message Facebook friends she didn’t even actually know to ask for their vote. Clearly, her strategy worked.
She grew increasingly excited as she talked about Vans Warped Tour and what it meant to the band: “It felt like we were in one of those TV shows, ya know? Like with a music battle … we got to tour on this SkullCandy bus … we had a bus driver and beds and a shower … keep in mind, we didn’t even have a van yet, we had been touring in a Ford Explorer!” Even though it has been years since then, she was still clearly in disbelief that Small Talks was able to accomplish something many small artists dream of.
But recently, Cayley made a huge decision. She has decided to retire Small Talks, and instead begin releasing music under her own name, Cayley Spivey. This change was inspired by two reasons: one, she felt like she needed to pull out of the pop punk scene and explore other genres, and two, she was no longer afraid to be who she was.
Even though she had overcome her anxiety of creating music as a queer artist, she was still very uncomfortable with attaching her name to her work: “I just didn’t feel comfortable going by my own name. I just didn’t think that I had the look, or that I was what people expected for an artist to be like.”
Releasing music under the name Cayley Spivey is her opportunity to be truly authentic for the very first time. It is her chance to own her artistry, her stories and everything that she has accomplished through hardwork and determination. Of course, she will never forget Small Talks, and will always be so grateful for what that project gave her.
“cause look this is a girl in your scene, this is a girl singing in front of the band! And a lot of people told me that too, [that] it was really cool to see a girl [on stage].”
Cayley Spivey
Cayley just released her first single under her actual name, titled “SFU,” which stands for “so fucked up.” And the response is everything that she has ever wanted.
So far, “SFU” has accumulated nearly 200,000 streams on Spotify. “Everything has gone so well, and I’m so grateful for everything that has happened. And that’s just the first song!” she giggled. Her smile faded into a more somber look. “And it was a big risk, I was really scared. What if I did this and I lost all that Small Talks worked for?”
Cayley has certainly not lost anything.
Her sound as an artist has always been unique, which is very evident on “SFU.” Her inspiration? Movie soundtracks. Cayley is a storyteller. She draws inspiration from overwhelming emotions that she associates with life experiences; processing and reflecting upon her own memories and feelings are the foundation of her work. This is not only seen in her lyrics, which are “put through a filter” in order to turn her words regarding personal experiences into a story that is digestible and relatable to all audiences, but in the music itself. Cayley and her producer Eli tie specific sounds to certain words and emotions throughout her songs. This way, when the listener hears that sound, they are brought back to a very specific time, place, feeling or memory, which builds a storyline and creates an engaging experience for the listener. In a way, Cayley is creating the soundtrack to the movie that is her life, which she also describes as a “self study.” Most importantly, these songs bring closure for all the obstacles she has faced in life.
“Every bad thing that I have experienced in life, if I couldn’t get it out of my system [through music], I just think I would have let it hurt me. And hurt people hurt people … music has been a huge fix for that.”
“SFU” tells the story of a doomed relationship that the singer does not know how to escape:
“But it’s true I’m still a fool for you / No matter what you do / I keep coming back every time.”
The cyclical nature of this relationship is emphasized by the looping backtrack. The song is actually inspired by the first time Cayley was ghosted, which largely affected her mental and emotional state as she wondered what was so wrong with her that someone could just disappear from her life with no warning. This song is part of her own healing process from that experience.
As the interview came to a close, we ended with a conversation about where it all began — for me, at least. All roads lead back to TikTok.
Her first TikTok to go viral was actually one of her very first TikToks ever shared. New to the app, she had a limited understanding of its features. So, she uploaded her song, “Better For It,” sat cross legged in front of her camera, shimmied to the beat in hope that the TikTok algorithm would pick it up and grant her some free promo.
Since then, the video has accumulated over 74.4k likes. She notes how happy she was watching those numbers go up, especially since it was her own song that was drawing that amount of attention. On her TikTok page, she has assembled a community of 187.5k followers, sharing content ranging from promoting her music projects, to talking about relatable queer experiences and even dropping the occassional thirst trap. She has 5 million likes across all her videos, with many others also going viral.
Yet, even with this mass supportive following, Cayley has still faced negative comments, which has only taught her how to be more comfortable with herself and has shaped her advice for other queer creatives.
Being open about being queer online made her vulnerable to hate. She’ll receive hate comments and DMs, all of them inherently linked to her sexual orientation, from people using the f-slur to writing nasty thoughts about the way she presents herself. At the same time, however, these are the qualities that so many people love about her and feel like they can connect with her.
“You need to have strength inside yourself, and focus on what is important,” she advised. “Hold onto your truth.”
“Cayley and her producer Eli tie specific sounds to certain words and emotions throughout her songs. This way, when the listener hears that sound, they are brought back to a very specific time, place, feeling or memory, which builds a storyline and creates an engaging experience for the listener.”
So Cayley holds onto her music. Even if she receives hate comments, or if the TikTok algorithm decides to shadowban her for a couple of days, she remembers why she is doing all of it in the first place. She is here to share her music, tell her story and consequently, connect with people from all over the world.
At the beginning of our interview when Cayley told me she was 22, I was shocked — despite having followed her for several months, I never realized how young she was, especially given everything she has accomplished thus far. I noted my surprise, and congratulated her for all of her achievements as a musician at this young age.
She chuckled, and said very sweetly and graciously: “I feel so behind, that’s funny.”
I think that quote summarizes who Cayley is as a person and musician.
First, she is extremely humble. She has accepted her identity in a radical act of self-love, toured on Vans Warped Tour and accumulated over 30,000 monthly listeners on Spotify with a rather sizable social media following — all without a record label due to her own hard work and determination. Furthermore, she is extremely grateful for all of the support she has received. Everytime she talked about her fans and the things they have done to help her achieve her success, I could have sworn there were stars in her eyes.
Second, she is hungry for more. She is constantly creating. She is always thinking about what is next and how to reach that goal. She doesn’t confine herself to one box or label (hence, breaking the pop punk label and heading to a more indie pop sound). She views this time of her career as the beginning for what is yet to come. She envisions a world tour in her future. She currently has a bunch of singles lined up for release, and a music video in the works. She is a dreamer, and we should dream along with her.
Listen to Cayley’s music:
To stream “SFU,” click here.
To stream Cayley’s music under Small Talks, click here.
To connect with Cayley:
Ingstagram: @cayleyspivey
Twitter:@CayleySpivey
TikTok: @cayleyspivey
grain of salt 