Charlie Collins: The Nightwriter
Feature by Greg Phillips
“Sometimes as an artist you have to go a bit left field to figure out who you want to be. A lot of the time you end up coming back. For me, this record is my coming home.” — Charlie Collins
Charlie Collins greets me on the phone with the same mix of candour and geniality that colours her songs. She’s just wrapped her new album Nightwriter and now finds herself in that curious waiting zone — the record is finished, the work is done, and all that’s left is to see how it lands in the world (out August 29). It’s an exciting but nerve-wracking space, though Collins seems more relieved than anxious. “I’m just so excited to finally tell my story,” she admits.
Those stories are not the glossy, airbrushed kind we often see served up on social media. Instead, Nightwriter is built on late-night writing sessions, whispered melodies from rehab, and the painful process of confronting life head-on. Over the course of the album and our interview, Collins pulls no punches: toxic relationships, addiction, breakdowns and recovery all find their place. Yet for all its intensity, the record isn’t heavy for heaviness’ sake. Often it’s surprising, even playful — like on the track Rock Bottom, where the most personal and harrowing moment of her life is delivered in a chaotic, upbeat swirl of guitars and sirens.
Recorded with Neil Finn and Steven Schram at Roundhead Studios in Auckland, Nightwriter has the feel of an artist reclaiming her voice. Collins played most of the instruments herself, with Finn filling in the gaps, creating a body of work that feels both deeply intimate and sonically expansive. Watching Finn add piano lines to her songs was a pinch-me moment, she recalls, and his encouragement helped her strip back any hesitation about how personal these tracks could get. For Collins, the result is an album that’s both a diary and a declaration. It’s brutally honest but full of light too, balancing hard truths with flashes of humour and defiance. It’s also her most complete artistic statement yet — the sound of someone who, after years of turbulence, is ready to plant her feet and say with conviction, “I’m in the right place.”
With Nightwriter now finished and its release date set (August 29), I began by asking Charlie how she was feeling in this moment, waiting for the world to finally hear it …
Look, I’m so excited. I’m really excited to tell my story and share my journey of the last few years and things that I’ve went through and overcome, and yeah, I’m just excited for the world to hear that.
The album’s title track is also its blueprint — Collins writing in the stillness of night, when thoughts unravel and lyrics arrive unfiltered.
Nightwriter, the album title song, is that literal? Were a lot of the songs written at night?
Yes, it is. It’s kind of an introduction as to how I write and when I come home at the end of the night, I just sit on my bed and I start to just unravel my thoughts and make sense of everything. It’s the calmest part of the day for me to kind of unwind and think and cypher through my thoughts.
Much of what she unraveled wasn’t pretty. Nightwriter deals in unflinching truths, written at a time when life was far from steady.
Going by the lyrics, it hadn’t been a very rosy time for you, the journey making this album. What’s the hardest part about being a recording and performing artist when the world around you is a bit chaotic?
I think to me, the hardest part is trying not to let everything else around you weigh you down when you haven’t even gone through what you’re going through yourself.
That honesty reaches its sharpest point on Rock Bottom, a song about the day Collins overdosed and was rushed to hospital. Rather than framing it in sombre tones, she leaned into the chaos of that period with an upbeat, almost frenetic energy.
You are brutally honest in your songwriting. The song Rock Bottom is about the day you overdosed and was rushed to hospital. Yet without listening to the lyrics, it’s quite an upbeat song. Why did you decide to approach those lyrics from a musically upbeat angle?
I think because, well, again, the content of the song is really heavy. It’s probably the most personal thing I’ve ever written, and I wanted it to feel chaotic, like I was on a lot of substances, and that’s how everything felt. Everything was fast paced at that time, and the whole thing was chaotic. So I wanted the song to feel chaotic musically and a bit more heavier…
Finding hope in rehab and collaboration: For every low, there’s a counterpoint. The album closes with I’m In The Right Place, a song Collins penned while in rehab — a track that reframes everything that came before it.
The album finishes with I’m In The Right Place. That’s quite a positive statement after all you’d been through. Was that always going to close the album?
It did feel like it. I think that one, when I put all the songs together and I actually wrote that song in rehab, and when I say I’m in the right place, that’s essentially, I mean, I’m in rehab, I’m in the right place for me… I think it just felt like a beautiful kind of way to close things off. And it’s kind of admitting that I was pretending for so long that I was okay, when in fact I wasn’t, and I needed to get help, and now I’m actually looking after myself instead of trying to fix everyone else’s problems, so I didn’t have to look in the mirror at my own. So I don’t know, I think that song, it just felt right to end that way.
Some of the people you are writing about in your songs must know that the songs are about them. Do you ever have to consider what you are saying? Do you ever censor yourself or do you just go for it?
Look, genuinely, if I write a song about someone, I send it to them just so they get a heads up when it comes out. And there’s a couple of songs about the ex boyfriends, and actually I played it to two of them the other night live, and I don’t know what the fucking chances were, but both my exes were in there that night. But they know that the songs are about them. But no, generally I don’t really censor myself. If I feel something, I just say it and maybe deal with the consequences later. But I have given some Xs a heads up.
Do you agonise over lyrics for a long time, or do you prefer to get the words down as they come to you and not dwell on them for too long?
I don’t agonise. No, I’m the opposite. I just vomit it out really quick. If I have to overthink lyrics, then I generally just stop writing. Yeah, maybe I should, you know what? Maybe that’s why I write so brutally honest and raw, because I don’t think I just say, yeah, no, not a lyric overthinker.
Recording at Neil Finn’s Roundhead Studios gave Collins the comfort and inspiration to dig deep, producing some unforgettable moments along the way.
You recorded at Neil Finn’s studio in New Zealand, which everybody raves about that place. Did the quality of studio and the surrounds affect your performance in the studio?
It was really inspiring. The studio that we were in, it felt like my home… And to have someone like Neil Finn work so closely on this record was, it was a dream come true.
And working with Neil, did you get to peek inside his genius head? Were there moments where you thought, there it is…that genius?
Yeah. Oh my God. Every day he would come in and be like, all right, what are we doing now? And he would just pick up an instrument and just play the most beautiful melody… There was one moment where I was doing vocals, and I come out and Jimmy Barnes and Neil Finn are just sitting on the couch listening to me do a vocal take, and I’m just like, oh my God. I’m so glad I didn’t know they were there…
So how many instruments did you play?
Me and Neil played everything on the record. I played bass, I played acoustic guitar, electric guitar, banjo. There’s mandolin. I played harmonica. I was playing synth. I played a lot. I was playing a bit of drums, about 10 things I was playing.
Looking forward: collaborations, live shows, and ambitions:
The conversation eventually drifts to the future. Having poured so much of herself into Nightwriter, it’s natural to wonder what collaborations might be on her horizon.
So you’ve collaborated with Neil Finn. Who else would be on your wish list to collaborate with?
Bruce Springsteen? That would be the next dream come true. I would just love to just sit and listen to Bob Dylan just rant about everything. But I think he’d be incredible. To write with Neil Young would be incredible. So I think they’re my top three.
If money was no object, what would a Charlie Collins live show look like?
Oh my God. If money was no object, honestly, I don’t know. I’m not a big smoke and mirrors stage, lights and fireworks kind of girl… I think it would just still look pretty similar or just really recreate my lounge room on stage and just, I don’t know. And I’d call people up and everyone could just lounge up on stage and listen to me play… Or I just go really all out and get shot out of the cannon or something into the crowd… a circus element maybe!
Her listening habits are just as eclectic as her record, a mix of classic inspiration and fresh voices shaping her ongoing musical journey.
What have you been listening to lately? What other artists have been inspiring you?
At the moment? I’ve really been really into an artist called Mk.Gee. I think he’s incredible songwriter and guitarist… (Springsteen’s) Nebraska is just forever my inspirational record. Let me look at my playlist … I’ve also been listening to The 1975 a lot… Blaze Foley, I love… and kind of a mix of new and old. And Holly Humberstone is also another artist that I think is an incredible writer and singer.
Even her bucket-list dreams remain grounded — visits to Nashville and the museums of Patsy Cline and Johnny Cash will come, just as she plans to keep making music that matters.
So what are the hopes and dreams for your music career? Where would you like to be in five years?
Honestly, I’m such the type of person… I just want to keep doing what I’m doing… And my ambition, I guess, is to also just help people if they’re struggling through things to make a small difference in this chaotic world.
And that, really, is the essence of Charlie Collins. Whether she’s writing from the darkest of places or joking about cannons and circus tricks, she’s always honest, always present, and always reaching for connection. Nightwriter — out August 29 — is her most personal, fearless statement yet, and one that confirms she’s exactly where she needs to be: in the right place.
CHARLIE COLLINS LIVE SHOW DATES
Charlie supporting Saint Motel *
Tuesday September 30 – Metro Theatre, Sydney NSW *
Wednesday October 1 – Princess Theatre, Brisbane QLD *
Thursday October 2 – Croxton Bandroom, Melbourne VIC *
Friday October 3 – Dashville Skyline Festival, Hunter Valley NSW
Friday November 7 – Nighthawks, Melbourne VIC
Saturday November 15 – Waywards Ballroom, Sydney NSW
Saturday November 29 – Good Day Sunshine, Margaret River Perth WA
For all touring and ticket information HERE