Camille Blackman at The FADER office in New York.
Vivian Medithi / The FADER
Camille Blackman’s music is like a razor blade in a haystack. Camouflaged beneath textured guitar and her clear-toned vocals, Blackman’s bedroom folk songs are unexpectedly sharp, speckled with wry humor and idiosyncratic lyrics. Take the D.C.-via-LA singer-songwriter’s May single “the view,” where breezy chords paint a halcyon backdrop for Camille to turn her back on a wishy-washy lover: “by the time you realize that your shut eyes put me so off of you / my ass will be your view.”
Or consider her August 2025 single, “can’t have your fish and eat it too,” which opens, “I’ll wrap you up in parchment paper [...] you’re my favorite taste to savor.” As the slow-grooving song unspools, Camille iterates on the central theme, diving into a well of aquatic metaphors and riffing on idioms like “plenty of fish in the sea.” Paired with a knack for catchy toplines, her pleasantly meandering songs lodge curious turns of phrase into your brain.
Raised in Northwest D.C., Camille began teaching herself guitar in the seventh grade before joining jazz band in high school. During the COVID era, she “started fucking around” on Logic, gradually working her way up to posting her music on TikTok for a couple dozen likes. Eventually, a clip of her song “Mouse” picked up traction on the platform, eventually leading to a record deal with Mom + Pop last fall.
In 2026, she’s released a steady drip of singles, including “just friends,” “the view,” and “be in my band v2,” and found fans both at home and abroad. Nowadays, Camille boasts nearly a quarter million monthly listeners on Spotify including one Suki Waterhouse, who found the singer through Instagram and describes her sound as “rock-soul.”
When Camille stopped by The FADER offices in late June, she had just opened for British-Ivorian singer Sekou at Elsewhere, with a touring stint on the road with Gigi Perez and a pair of U.K. festival dates ahead of her. While her solo output in 2025 was often softer and hazier, the live arrangements were brawnier and more insistent, and Camille’s belted vocals rose to match the intensity.
The FADER interviewed Camille Blackman about “Mouse” going viral, jumping into live performances, and what fans should expect from her in-the-works album.
The FADER: When did making music become more serious for you, or something that you were doing more regularly?
Camille Blackman: Pretty early on in the process, it became something that I was trying to do as often as possible just 'cause I loved it. And then it wasn't until maybe a year and a half ago where I had one TikTok kind of go. I think [that clip of my song “Mouse”] got 400 likes. Which, for me, I was like, "Yo, that's fire!"
400 likes is a lot.
No, I know! At the time when I was getting 6 to 20 – I was like, "Yo, I'm kind of popping off right now." [laughs] That's when I first started getting DMs like, "Yo, I'm an A&R, blah blah blah," and I was like, "Yo, what the fuck is happening?" So a year and a half ago is when I started getting more motion, I guess you could say.
I feel like your live show's a lot different than the on-wax arrangements.
It's something that's been kind of a problem recently – everyone's like, "Yo, the live sounds so much better! Who's mixing your shit?" And I was like, "I was mixing it when I was 20 years old on my bed." [laughs] I feel bad 'cause I was like, "I have no idea what I was doing."
When I was making these songs, I didn't think that I would be performing them, so I didn't have a live arrangement in mind. And then when it's live, it's just going to sound different. So now I'm like, "Shit, these do sound really different." But it's been cool, people fuck with the live performances.
Taking it back, “Mouse” starts going viral on TikTok, you're getting DMs from A&Rs. What were you doing kind of like during that summer? Like, what was going on in your career or your music?
In my career in music, that was pretty much it. [laughs] Which was super awesome for me, but I was working at a wine bar like 5 to 6 days a week. And yeah, I wasn't really playing a lot of shows or anything. Still trying to make music, but that was probably the most buzz I had ever gotten music-wise, so that was really cool. Just working, clocking in.
Are you working on an EP or an album? Are you going to be dropping something this year?
I'm in bigger project mode right now. It's looking like we're making an album. I have never made a bigger project before, so that's been a new process for me, but it's been super exciting. But before the end of the year, definitely want to release a couple more singles, keep the ball rolling.
Besides music, what are you getting inspired by for the new project?
Honestly, this is corny, but like, life, I guess? Like, situationships and crushes, and [laughs] I don't know.
I feel like the way I make music in general, I kind of sit down and write whatever is going on in my head. I'm never really one to l, write before and then get in the studio and bring that to the table. So it's honestly very conditional, more feelings-based.
Once you’re in the studio, are you writing a song through and then singing it or are you doing it line by line and punching in?
It's kind of piece by piece. I like to do things in one take, or at least have a verse in one take, chorus in one take. So usually we'll start with a jam, and then I'll just start humming and hooting and hollering and saying random shit. And then I'll be like, "Okay, I think I'm ready." Then we'll record something, and I feel like as the song grows, the lyrics come, too.
Do you feel like the live performances are informing how you're writing your songs and structuring them now?
100%. Just seeing the reaction to some of my older songs being performed live has given me a new perspective on my voice and what my songs can sound like.
And I feel like that's been also a plus about working with producers that have these skills and techniques that I don't, or never really did. They've been good about being like, "Yo, your voice, like, we can do this, this, this, and you should try this." And I feel like it's helped me be more confident in my voice and arranging songs to sound more similar to what a live performance would be like.
Of your unreleased material, what are your favorite songs you're excited to drop?
I'm excited to drop this song called “Limbs.” I was working with my friend Sora Lopez. He's fire, insane producer. This song “Velcro” I worked on with him and our homie Dylan. There's a lot of cool stuff; this song “2 Step” I worked on with Julian Cruz, he's super sick. Super excited.
