Caylie G’s “Brenda Heather Kelly” Is a Brightly Cynical Pop-Folk Send-Up of the Wellness Apocalypse
Edmonton-based pop-folk artist Caylie G (they/she) has released their new single “Brenda Heather Kelly,” a biting, glitter-drenched anthem for anyone who’s ever ghosted a party via fake phone call. Out now, the track sets the stage for Caylie’s upcoming third EP, slated for release in September 2025. Equal parts sad-cowboy pop and queer satire, “Brenda Heather Kelly” turns a mirror on influencer culture, performative joy, and the absurdity of trying to be “the hottest person in the room.”
Written by Caylie and long-time collaborator Father Bobby Townsend, who also produced and mixed the track, the song leans into the tension between big feelings and social fakery. With lines like “Everyone loves a miracle drug / I can be sad and make it look fun,” Caylie laces their observations with humour, self-awareness, and a kind of exhausted wisdom that resonates with anyone navigating the pressure to perform their best life online and off.
“Contrary to the glittering theatrics, I’m not a partier,” Caylie says. “This song came from a real party I went to and hated every minute of. I realized I was stuck in this loop of comparison—everyone trying to be cooler, hotter, smaller. So I wrote the song as a kind of exorcism. It’s part diary, part pop diss track, part existential shrug.”
With background vocals from a tight circle of friends and a swooning pedal steel by Booker Diduck, “Brenda Heather Kelly” feels like a honky-tonk therapy session in a group chat gone rogue. The production sparkles, but the melancholy lingers. Lines about Ozempic envy, 37-year-old boyfriends, and Denny’s makeout sessions all point to the song’s central message: that even when we’re pretending to be fine, most of us are just faking a call from our mom to escape the noise.
Caylie’s songwriting ethos blends four-chord storytelling with queer intimacy, navigating heartbreak, mental health, and softness with candour. They describe their sound as “sad-cowboy pop for the lovers, criers, and heartbreak champions that have never gotten over anything.” Since debuting with two EPs in a single year—The Trials and Tribulations of a Twenty-Two-Year-Old Teenager and Softhearted Cowboy—Caylie has steadily built a devoted audience across Canada.
In 2024, they opened for Priyanka (winner of Canada’s Drag Race) and were featured at Winnipeg Folk Fest and Banff Pride. Now, Caylie is set to bring “Brenda Heather Kelly” and a slate of new music to stages across the country. Tour dates for summer 2025 include stops at some of the most beloved indie and folk festivals in Canada:
- July 18–20 – Folk On The Rocks – Yellowknife, NWT
- July 22 – Taste of Edmonton – Edmonton, AB
- July 26 – The Aviary – Edmonton, AB
- August 23 – Eastern Slopes Festival – Calgary, AB
- August 29-31 – Waynestock – Wayne AB
“Brenda Heather Kelly” is the soundtrack for a generation that medicates, disassociates, and quietly copes with being chronically uncool.
“It’s not anti-party,” Caylie clarifies, “It’s just for the people who’ve never wanted to be the main character at one.”
Hi Caylie! Good to meet you! Care to introduce yourself to the readers for those not familiar with your music?
I’m Caylie G! I’m from Edmonton, Alberta, I make sad cowboy pop, and have never gotten over anything in my whole entire life.
Let’s start with the obvious—who is Brenda Heather Kelly? Is she a real person, an alter ego, or the chaotic spirit of every party you’ve ever hated?
Oh- she’s a real person alright- three people actually. About a year ago, I went to a party that I didn’t really want to go to, and while I was there, I ended up in a circle of girls talking about how all of their moms were on Ozempic. Their mom’s names were Brenda, Heather, and Kelly.
I have a running note in my phone of song ideas (I know some musicians that have a different note for each song idea they have, and I think that is serial killer behaviour #sorrynotsorry), and I wrote down all of their names as soon as I’d heard them. I told all the girls that I would be writing a song about their moms.
That line—“I can be sad and make it look fun”—feels like a thesis for so many people online. Was there a moment when you realized you were living that exact contradiction?
When I’m playing shows, I’m usually dressed up in a tutu, sparkles, cowboy boots, and my hair is bright pink. I try to build my live shows in a way that’s really playful and fun (for me and for the audience).
A few years ago, I worked a job that I absolutely hated and just generally was in a not-so-great mindset. I remember driving home from a show alone one night at probably one in the morning, knowing I had a shift that started at 5 am, and I was like- what am I doing? And what a contradiction to go from the high of a show to the low of corporate boredom.
The song was written a year or two after that, but that’s a moment I remember really clearly.
You joke about Ozempic envy and 37-year-old boyfriends—how do you balance humour and heartbreak without losing the emotional weight of a song?
I kind of feel like I’m a mom trying to get her kid to eat broccoli by disguising it in mac and cheese. I have a lot of big feelings, and one of the things that’s most important to me is that I allow myself the space to feel those feelings and give others the space to do the same. On the flipside, I love pink, glitter, and sparkles, and like to think that I have a generally positive outlook on the world. I think that honouring those two things equally is part of my trademark as an artist. So while I’m singing about really serious and gutwrenching things, I try to deliver it in a way that’s really palatable. Often, with either humour and an unhinged and unnecessary amount of glitter.
“Brenda Heather Kelly” is clearly for the quiet rebels, the observers, the ones in the corner of the room. What do you hope those listeners feel when they hear it for the first time?
I think that secretly, everyone loves a good ol’ fashioned pop song. The party haters, quiet observers, and introspective deserve a song they can dance to and let their hair down to just as much as everyone else. I hope they listen to it and know that there are people in their corner who feel all the same things they do.