Colbie Caillat Revisits Her Hits With Maren Morris, Walker Hayes & More: ‘Duets Felt Like a Fun Way to Reimagine the Songs’

Colbie Caillat was 22 when she first reached the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Bubbly.”  A string of upbeat Adult Contemporary smashes followed, including “Realize,” “Lucky,” “Fallin’ For You” and “Brighter Than the Sun.”

Now, more than 15 years later, Caillat is recasting her hits on This Time Around, a duets album coming Aug. 29 that pairs her with Maren Morris, Gavin DeGraw, Walker Hayes, Chris Young, Russell Dickerson and more. The set also includes three new songs, “Live Without,” “Can’t Say No” and “Kinda Single.”

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For Caillat, it was the realization of a project she’d long wanted to tackle. “I’ve wanted to revisit some of my older singles for years, but never really carved out the time. My voice has matured a lot since I recorded them in my early 20s, and so has my production style and musical taste,” says Caillat, who is now 40. “Making them duets felt like a fun way to reimagine the songs and bring in fresh energy through collaborations with some of my favorite artists.”

Caillat moved to Nashville and crossed over to country with her quartet Gone West, which disbanded in 2020. She recorded the duets in person in Nashville with most of the artists joining her in the studio with exceptions being Jason Mraz, who recorded his vocals in California for their remake of 2009’s “Lucky,” which originally appeared on Mraz’s album, We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things; and Amos Lee, who recorded his part in Pennsylvania.

“Each artist brought something unique. Being in the studio with Maren Morris was unreal — she’s one of my all-time favorite vocalists,” Caillat says. “Walker Hayes brought such a positive, fun energy to the room, and working with him was a joy. And I’m a longtime superfan of Lee Brice — getting to write with him and become friends was a true bucket-list moment. I absolutely love his voice.”

The lone cover is Post Malone’s 2019 hit, “Circles,” although Caillat does have a long connection to the pop hit. “The melody is gorgeous, and the lyrics really hit home — I was in a relationship at the time that felt like that song was written for us,” she says. “I started playing it live at shows and loved how it sounded acoustically. Plus, it was easy to play on guitar, which made it even more fun.”

The album will come out on Caillat’s own Blue Jean Baby imprint, whose name, of course, pays homage to a lyric in Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer,” but also holds other meanings for Caillat. “Honestly, I went through a list of about a thousand names that held personal meaning to me — and somehow, they were all taken,” she says of the search for a label moniker. “When it came down to the wire, I thought about how much I love the look and feel of denim. I said the name out loud, and it just stuck. Of course, I also realized it’s a lyric from an iconic song we all know and love, which made it even better.”

Coming up, Caillat has another duet project coming up: She and DeGraw will embark on a short Christmas tour later this year, in addition to Caillat playing her own shows.

This Time Around is available for pre-order.

This Time Around track listing:

1. Fallin’ For You (Colbie Caillat, Maren Morris)

2. Brighter Than The Sun (Colbie Caillat, Walker Hayes)

3. Bubbly (Colbie Caillat, Amos Lee)

4. Kinda Single (Colbie Caillat, Lee Brice)

5. Live Without (Colbie Caillat, Maddie + Tae)

6. Circles (Colbie Caillat, Gavin DeGraw)

7. Realize (Colbie Caillat, Mitchell Tenpenny)

8. Lucky (Colbie Caillat, Jason Mraz)

9. Try (Colbie Caillat, Hillary Scott)

10. I Never Told You (Colbie Caillat, Chris Young)

11. Can’t Say No (Colbie Caillat, Ryan Hurd)

12. If You Love Me Let Me Go (Colbie Caillat, Russell Dickerson)