Cadia: Highly Focused
02-12-2008
by Kevan Breitinger
You may not be familiar yet with new Fervent Records’ duo Cadia. But I predict that won’t be the case for long. Courtney and Tori keep their sense of mission right up front on their self-titled debut.
CMCentral (Kevan Breitinger): I spent yesterday listening to the album and I love the way your heart comes across for young women and some of the struggles that they face. I got a sense that that is an important part of your mission?
Courtney: Definitely. We were very involved in choosing those songs, and we got very attached to them. We had a hard time choosing our favorites.
Tori: They all work perfectly with the message that we’re trying to get across to young girls.
What would you identify as some of the struggles you want to help bring relief to for your listeners?
Definitely self-esteem issues with girls, being confident in who you are.
Being good enough. That’s a huge struggle for girls our age, and boys our age or younger, or even a little bit older. Always
wanting to measure up to what they think is perfect. We really want to be transparent through all of our lyrics, really be honest. We want to be real without trying to sugarcoat anything, because we’re not perfect, or what the world sees as perfect.
That’s a great message. Are these things that were difficult for you when you were younger?
Even today, still, I’m not ashamed to say. Just because we’re nineteen-year-olds doesn’t mean we wake up in the morning and say, ‘oh, don’t I look beautiful?!’ (laughing)
Every day we’re saying things like, ‘Courtney, are you sure this looks ok?’ or ‘what are you wearing?’
(Laughing) We did that today! My mom, I won’t say how old she is, she’ll get mad, but she still deals with that stuff! It doesn’t matter what age you are.
Absolutely, I agree. The culture bombards us with such a different message.
I grew up dancing competitively. I started when I was about 8 and I quit when I was a freshman in high school. But I had to be in front of mirrors 24/7, in outfits like leotards, very tight. I had to look at my body constantly, comparing it to other girl’s. I had people telling me what size I should be, or I shouldn’t have this or wear this because it looks fat on stage, or whatever.
I often wonder when I watch gymnasts, or people constantly pressured about their weight, about the cost they pay to perform.
It was horrible, I’d come home crying a lot.
I guess that explains your interesting song choices on the album.
In what way did you find them interesting?
Well, for one thing you had such great writers!
Those songs are so great. We were so blessed to cover them as new artists. And to sing songs that go along with our message so well, we were really blessed.
We came in not knowing exactly what to expect. We signed in May, and started recording in June. We’d sit down and go over the emails and mp3s we were sent, and then listen to the lyrics, we thought, ‘oh my gosh, I just dealt with this yesterday!’
We thought how blessed are we! It wasn’t much work to go into the studio and really pour our hearts into these songs.
Wow, sounds like God was in that.
Both: totally, definitely.
Now do you have any interest in writing, either one of you?
Yeah, we talked about that. We’d like to start writing for the next album.
We’re free to do that now, whereas on the first album we were pretty rushed, and didn’t have the time.
Do you hope to have time while touring to minister to your audience after the shows at all?
During the show we plan to talk about the songs and how they’ve affected us.
So we’ll share our testimonies and why the songs relate to us, and afterwards we’ll do signings, though I don’t know yet how much time we’ll have to talk to the girls one on one. But we’re both really passionate about the idea of spending one on one time, we’d love to see that happen.
I also liked the right upfront “Jesus” song on the album. It’s very strong.
You’re right, that song is so strong and has such a good message in it.
It rocks, and it’s real in your fac, with a great message. It’s very simple: when there’s nothing to say, you can just say Jesus. You don’t have to pray some immaculate prayer to get Jesus to be there.
Well, you guys sound like you really know your stuff, and I dig it that such a strong, bold message comes from two young girls. It gives the album an extra punch. Can you tell me a little bit about your experience on the Revolve Tour?
We got a chance to record a song called “Inside Out,” written by Clint Lagerberg and Nicole Nordeman. We recorded it for the Revolve conference, which is the teen version of Women of Faith.
They ended up making it the title cut of the Revolve Tour album, didn’t they?
That was huge for us. We got to see one of the conferences in Dallas and it was so cool to see all these girls come out and see how hungry they are for God and His message. It was great to be involved and have our song be a part of that.
It was great to read later on myspace, to hear from people who were impacted by the video at a conference in Phillie or Dallas or somewhere else. People seem eager to hear the new album. We’re excited about those things because it’s what we’re all about: changing lives.
So this is your mission right now.
Both: Yes, we definitely see ourselves as missionaries.
Awesome. Now this is just a personal thing, but I read that one of you, I think it’s you, Courtney, really like “The Great Adventure” by Steven Curtis Chapman?
Yeah, Steve is actually a good family friend and when I was younger my dad always played his CDs, and Amy Grant’s, and Michael W. Smith’s. But I always loved the whole ‘saddle up your horses’ thing in “Great Adventure.” I remember singing that on road trips.
That’s so funny, I feel the same way about that song. I’ve actually asked my friends to play it at my funeral, it’s so upbeat. I want everybody to stand up on their chairs and celebrate with me.
Both: Yeah, saddle up! (Laughing)
Listen, I’ve enjoyed talking to you so much.
Both: Yeah, me too, it was fun. Have a good Christmas!
You too, bye bye.
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