FEATURE:
Spotlight
already spotlighted CATTY, but it seems not. I did write about her in 2024 after it was announced she would be supporting Stevie Nicks at BST Hyde Park. I feel I need to spend some time exploring this incredible artist. Born Catrin Hopkins, CATTY is a Welsh-born, London-based artist. She has released a couple of stunning singles this year in the form of Pavlov’s Dog, and Tax Evasion. Last year, she released the E.P., Bracing for Impact. I will start with an interview around the release of the E.P. I wonder what CATTY has in store next year. In terms of a debut album or touring. This is an artist to watch closely. Wonderland. interviewed CATTY last October. Being a massive Kate Bush fan myself, the fact that she asked in the interview, “What if Kate Bush watched Chicago?” makes me admire her even more!
“When did you first discover creating music, and how did that grow into something you wanted to pursue as a career?
I actually had no interest in being a songwriter, which is insane to me now because singing and writing go so hand in hand but for the longest time I just wanted to be a singer. I accidentally wrote a song with someone I asked for guitar lessons from, we released it, got signed. Which sounds pretty easy but that was the calm before the storm. I got dropped quick, ran out of cash even quicker and honestly I was living life like someone who should be writing songs about it. A cancelled Vegas wedding? Come on! So I’m a songwriter now.
As a proud Welsh native, how do you find your nationality influences your music, and creative and personal outlook?
I think being from Wales makes you a bit creative and witchy in nature and that seeps into my work. I remember learning a lot about Welsh mythology in primary school and we always lived in really creepy houses so I’ve always just had that flair for the dramatic, witchy and scary.
Do you think England sometimes forgets about the quality and breadth of Welsh music?
Yeah, for sure. I think a huge part of being Welsh is screaming to be heard; our language, our stories, our songs. But there’s so much talent there.
What was the creative process for the EP? Did it differ from how you’ve approached making a body of work previously?
One hundred percent, I’m distributing through AWAL now so I’m not only working with coffee shop money. I have a little budget, AND coffee shop money, so I was able to make a music video and rent some clothes and start bringing the vision to life. I think that’s always something I’ve missed. I always had this world in my head, my coven, I just couldn’t bring it to life because I couldn’t afford to. Taste and choice and money are a privilege that so many artists aren’t often given.
What inspired the work musically?
I genuinely walked into the studio to write “Joyride” and said “what if Kate Bush watched Chicago?” – which is a quote I swore I was going to take to the grave and then just started spouting. But I’ve always loved that almost theatrical production, I’m a big fan of John Steinmen, the Bonnie Tyler (my Welsh queen) and Meatloaf stuff is always a reference. Which everyone rolls their eyes at but those classics are classics for a reason, fuck off!!”.
It has been a pretty packed year for CATTY. Building on the momentum of Bracing for Impact and having completed a lot of tour dates, there are more gigs ahead. There are some U.K. dates this month, including a gig at London’s Scala on 26th. That London gig is going to be amazing. Go if you can. I will come to some press around her latest singles. Reviews of both. I do feel we will get some more interviews next year. Though I want to keep things in 2025 briefly. Going back to last January, DIY asked CATTY some quick-fire questions, as she headlined one of the nights of their DIY’s Hello 2025 gig series. I have been a CATTY fan for a while now, and it is amazing seeing everything she has accomplished in the past couple of years:
“Describe your music to us in the form of a dating app bio.
CATTY likes long walks on the beach and tormenting her exes.
You hail from rural Wales - musically-speaking, what was it like growing up there? What was your first gig?
There’s a beautiful quote in Welsh - forgive me, I don’t know where it’s from: “Braint yw cael dy eni’n Gymro, nid â llwy arian yn dy geg ond â chân yn dy galon a cherdd yn dy waed”. Roughly translated, it means that it is a privilege to be born Welsh, not with a silver spoon in your mouth, but with music in your heart and poetry in your blood. And that’s exactly what it was; I was always surrounded by music and poetry (it still took me until about 25 to get good at it, but it was always there).
My first gig was Girls Aloud and I loved every second of it - extremely poetic, 10/10.
Even though you’re just getting started, you’ve already amassed a devoted cult following. Do you have a collective name for your fans? What should they expect from a CATTY live show?
They’ve started calling themselves a coven, which makes sense. I think a lot of the opportunities that have been given to me have been because they manifest it with me: they called on Earth, Wind, Water and Fire to help me get the Stevie Nicks gig. And it worked. That’s what to expect at a CATTY live show - myself and those lovely lovely people at group therapy.
“2024 was the best year of my life, so I’m just excited to keep doing my thing.”
Last summer saw you perform at BST Hyde Park - on the same bill as Stevie Nicks! Can you tell us what this meant to you? And if you could support or collaborate with any other artist, who would it be?
She has no idea who I am, obviously, but that’s mother. I listen to [Stevie] when I’m celebrating, when I’m crying, when I’m on the way to work and when I’m at home. She’s been around as much as my parents have, that’s mother!! She’s my obvious answer, but I also LOVE St Vincent - does anyone have her number?
If you could take one album, one book, and one film to a desert island, what would you pick (and why)?
Album: Donny Hathaway, ‘Someday We’ll All Be Free’. My partner introduced me to ‘Jealous Guy’ recently and the album has been playing in my kitchen ever since. Masterpiece.
Book: Love Letters, by Virginia Woolf & Vita Sackville-West. I love love.
Film: Burlesque. Whoever put Christina Aguilera and Cher together, I owe you my life. And this film basically gives me two albums… I’ve hacked the system”.
Two reviews of CATTY’s latest two singles. I will end with one of Tax Evasion. Pavlov’s Dog got a lot of praise. TuneFountain showed their appreciation of an amazing artist and single. Even though they commit the same sin as so many journalists and say CATTY has ‘returned’ – even though she has gone nowhere and released an E.P. last year! -, you can forgive them that. Artists always pressured to keep releasing material to remain relevant and visible:
“CATTY has returned with ‘Pavlov’s Dog’, a new single that arrives alongside the announcement of her debut UK headline tour. For an artist who has already built serious momentum around her theatrical, gothic-leaning pop, it feels like another big step in a year that is moving quickly.
The track grew its own early buzz on TikTok before release, but its appeal runs deeper than anticipation alone. ‘Pavlov’s Dog’ takes the language of psychology and turns it into something bruised, dramatic and personal, shaped by the emotional aftershock of a relationship that left CATTY questioning love, trust and her own sense of self. The result fits neatly into the world she has been building so far: bold, wounded and unafraid to be intense.
CATTY has described the song as a plea to be rewired, to be taught again in the simplest terms what love is and what it is not. That emotional core gives ‘Pavlov’s Dog’ a sharp edge beneath the theatricality, grounding the track’s bigger gestures in something recognisably human. It also connects with the themes that run through her wider work, where queer love, pain, resilience and self-definition are never softened for easy listening.
What makes ‘Pavlov’s Dog’ so appealing is how naturally CATTY commits to the drama of it. The song takes a messy, painful emotional state and leans all the way in, without blinking or sanding down its sharper corners. That suits her style. She has always sounded at her best when she lets things feel a little oversized, a little bruised and a little dangerous, and this seems cut from exactly that cloth.
There is also something compelling in the way the concept balances bite with vulnerability. The psychology reference could easily feel too neat, but here it sounds like a useful frame for something more emotionally chaotic underneath. ‘Pavlov’s Dog’ feels built to connect because it has both character and feeling, and it strengthens the sense that CATTY is becoming one of the more distinctive voices working in this darker end of pop”.
I will end with DIVA and their take on the glorious Tax Evasion. CATTY is building momentum. With some incredible gigs ahead, it is a pivotal moment. One where so many people show their love of this hugely accomplished songwriter. Far from being mundane or generic, her lyrics are biting, playful, and witty. There is humour and darkness to be found, but at the heart is this sense of individuality. She is getting props and recognition from some major artist, which is no surprise:
“Dreaming of a life of luxury, private cars and champagne? Aren’t we all? Welsh pop star CATTY is dreaming big in her latest single Tax Evasion, a sharp-tongued, gloriously chaotic take on fame and the bizarre world of internet celebrity.
Since releasing her second EP Bracing For Impact in 2025, CATTY has been making waves in queer pop, quickly building a devoted fanbase affectionately known as “the coven”. After hard-launching her relationship with girlfriend Amy Spalding in her music video Joyride last year, CATTY has quickly become something of a sapphic icon.
Tax Evasion sees CATTY embrace her larger-than-life persona, poking fun at fame and the fantasy of becoming a “middle class internet sad sensation”. With biting humour, theatrical vocals and an infectious pop sound, she’s clearly having a lot of fun imagining her rise to superstardom.
And it seems we’re not the only ones paying attention. SZA has already shown the track some love on Instagram, adding another pretty impressive name to the growing list of artists backing CATTY like CMAT and singer-songwriter Absolutely.
The single is packed with playful pop culture references, name-checking everyone from David Bowie to Katy Perry and Timothée Chalamet. It’s an unapologetically cheeky earworm, delivered with the kind of confidence and humour that makes CATTY so exciting to listen to. Fans have already declared it a “new banger” and the “song of the year”. Clearly, the coven has spoken.
The release follows her single Pavlov’s Dog, which explored vulnerability through moody, atmospheric production and haunting vocals.
CATTY’s not slowing down anytime soon, heading out on her debut UK headline tour this month, with almost every date already sold out”.
I will end things here. I am already a fan of CATTY, and I will go and see her live when I can. She has such an adoring and faithful fanbase. I have so much respect and affection for her music. You know that CATTY is going to have some genuinely massive moments soon. She already has supported Stevie Nicks, though I feel there are going to be some life-changing events. I am excited to see what comes next year. What CATTY has planned. She is an artist that…
EVERYONE should know.
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