With three simple words, Caroline Kole says so much: “I’m freaking out.” Anyone alive can relate to the themes in Caroline’s new video for “Freaking Out!”, premiering here on HollywoodLife. In the visual, Caroline stands surrounded by words hanging by wires – “I CAN’T” “TRUST” “DOUBT” “JUMP” and the like. It’s a minimalist setup that accentuates the message in the song. “I wanna fly just like everybody else does / But I’m not sure / I’m gonna be good as everybody else is,” she sings, showcasing a remarkable honesty within her powerful songwriting. In the age of power anthems that celebrate being flawless, Caroline’s song connects on such a universal sentiment of self-doubt and stress. There is strength in her admitting her weakness and courage in confessing that she’s scared. This dichotomy in the lyrics indicates that, despite her anguish, she’ll rise above the challenge…once she’s done freaking out a bit.
“I just graduated college last month, and that’s a pretty momentous thing!” Caroline tells HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY. “With the end of that chapter comes a brand new one, and the day we wrote this song, I was plagued with the fear of uncertainty. It’s so easy to be afraid of the unknown, and I really was! Now I take it a day at a time — and honestly LOVE life after school!”
“The song came from a really vulnerable place, so it made sense to have the video feel very much that way. I’m in all neutrals, scared of these big words that have been thrown at me, and by the end of the video, I’m straight up crying, cracking under the self-inflicted pressure.”
“Freaking Out!” is the title track of Caroline’s 2019 EP, which saw over a million streams after just two months out. Before that, she released her EP Only Slightly Emotional in April 2019. In October 2018, NYC-based electronic duo VAVO released a tropical house version of her song “Right Now,” which peaked at No. 32 on the Billboard Dance Charts.
Caroline began her singing career as a young girl. 8-year-old Caroline began playing the beach bars in her hometown of Clearwater, Florida. Five years in, Reba McEntire discovered her while Caroline performed at the legendary Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee. This led to a management deal with Starstruck Entertainment and a publishing deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing – when she was just 13 years old. Since then, her career has skyrocketed. She landed a Top 30 country album on iTunes, two #1 videos on CMT, and multiple features on SiriusXM’s The Highway.
After taking a year-long break to focus on songwriting, she found herself influenced more by pop than Country, which saw her shift her career. After taking that “leap of faith,” she began her life as a pop star, releasing tracks that are great for your playlists full of Twenty One Pilots, Julia Michaels, Katy Perry, Rihanna, and The Killers. Since making the change, she’s been featured on Spotify and Apple Music playlists, aired on SiriusXM, and a synch placement in a popular Snapchat original series.