Cyndi Thomson was set to become one of the biggest stars in Country music when her debut single ‘What I Really Meant To Say' topped the charts in 2001.
Her debut album ‘My World' garnered significant buzz and after a handful of singles, Thomson walked away from her career. Feeling overwhelmed by the huge life change that the spotlight brings with it, Thomson pretty much vanished from music. 24 years later, Thomson is ready to step back into the spotlight and reclaim her career with the release of new EP ‘Acres of Diamonds'.
I caught up with Cyndi recently to talk about her decision to walk away from her career, discuss her reasons for stepping back into the spotlight, and to find out what her plans are for the future…
In the early noughties you had a number one hit with ‘What I Really Meant To Say' and you released your debut album ‘My World'. You then wrote a letter to your label saying that you wanted to step back as the change to your life had been overwhelming. What motivated that decision? .
It wasn't an easy decision to make because ever since I was 12 years old, I wanted to be a Country music singer. I knew that I was gonna do that with my life. When it came to be, and I got the record deal and I got to put out ‘My World' – those were all my stories; I wrote those songs with co-writers and it just all fell into place. It was the perfect dream scenario. But honestly, at the height of it all, I just had to take some inventory. I was having night terrors, I was having panic attacks… things that were so foreign to me. I didn't understand what that was. I kept trucking along, I kept playing shows. I kept doing that life, and there was just this point that I thought, ‘is this what it looks like? And if so, I don't know if I'll survive this? I don't think this makes sense to be doing something that you love to do, but feel all these feelings'.
I would say there was a lot of prayer and there was a lot of divine intervention that really helped make the decision. I went to the president of my label, who was like my dad and that was what was even harder about it. We had this really good relationship that I was so thankful for (and a good relationship with) my entire label. I just had to go tell him that I needed to step away. I know I can say this because he said it in interviews, but he was really sad. He started to cry and it was just sad for me too because we had projected all of these plan s for the next five years. We had some meetings and we were in talks with some companies. We had this plan in place to become this bigger artist. Looking back now, I can tell you it was self preservation, without knowing it.
That life is crazy. That life is nothing an artist can understand or be talked to about until they're walking in it and you're seeing a lot of it happen. Now there's a lot of talk about mental health. Fame is unnatural, we're really not meant to be famous, but when we get those opportunities, it's how do we do that well? I think you surround yourself with people who aren't attached to the industry. You have friendships that are foundational and solid, and there's so many things looking back now with the wisdom of where I am now in life that I know probably could have been different. I don't regret walking away. It's just part of the story.
You touched upon mental health just now and that's something that just wasn't talked about back then. The perception was that if you want to be a singer, you'll get famous and you just have to deal with it. It's part and parcel of the job and you shouldn't be allowed to complain about it. Things have changed so much. Was that part of your decision to return to the spotlight and release music again?
The decision came because there's not a day that has gone by since I've left that I haven't thought about music. It's a part of who I am. I think with any of us that have a gifting or a dream in their heart, that is a true statement. For me, I've been gone over 20 years. I have a family now; another dream that I had came true. I got to be a stay at home mom. I have a jewelry company that I started. I've had all these things that really solidified life for me, but music? I was still in that place of ‘how do I do it?' I'd started my jewelry company and immediately Country artists started wearing it. From my vantage point, I was like, ‘I love this' but there was this part of me going, ‘I'm not wearing it and I'm not singing.'
There was this wrestle and then my dad passed about three years ago and it was really in a conversation with him that gave me the gusto to quit being afraid. We had this moment together the day he passed. Each daughter got to go in and speak with him, and I just apologized for not ever getting to play the Opry again. Of course, he squeezed my hand and he was like, ‘are you kidding me? You have this beautiful life. You don't need to do that for me'. It was a tender place for me and him and he passed that evening.
The next day I was down in Georgia, where I'm from, I drove through town by myself on all the roads that my first record was written about – the places we skinny dipped and all the fields and just the beauty of South Georgia – and I started talking to God. I was like, ‘I don't wanna feel like I didn't complete something in my life and I wanna make a Country record'. It was like I needed to hear myself say it out loud. I also thought about my daughter Bella, who's 20, if she had come in and situation was reversed, and I said to her, ‘Bella, I wish I'd made that record. Don't let anything pass you by in your life'. I didn't want that to be a true conversation. There was a lot happening around my father's passing where (I thought) ,'this is stupid. Why am I letting fear?' It was mainly my age. This is crazy to jump back into a career (where) there's a category of these young, beautiful girls and, all these things are flying through my brain, and I was like, ‘I really don't care. I can't care'.
Everything fell into place. All the doors started opening. I connected with Tommy James, who I wrote my first record with. He was in Charleston. I was there with my kids and I was like, ‘listen, do you wanna write a record with me?' And he said yes. We started writing and all these writers started falling into place. I knew if the music was there, then it would make sense to return because if I couldn't write anymore, if I didn't have anything to say, I knew I also didn't wanna write old. I wanted to write Cyndi songs about love and heartache. I love that stuff. I feel like we accomplished a lot of that. All the people started coming into place and I felt like, this is it. This is for me. We just started running and it's a whole new world. I'm doing it independently, which is wild. I'm tired, but it's been so fun (laughs) . We have a good team that we've built and believers, so it's good.
You mentioned age being a consideration. We're of a similar age and I know for me, this decade has made me start to push past fear and prioritise the things I've never done but wanted to for so long. I feel like it's time to start doing what I want. Do you feel similar?
Yeah. I do think that played a role. I feel like I've lived a lot of life since that time in my life when I was at Capitol. That life that I've lived, I feel it's very freeing. It's very healthy. I've got great relationships. I've been able to watch my children step into their dreams and help them get there. And my marriage… all the things around me are just (saying) ‘why would I not do this?' I believe age had a role, there was trepidation because of that, but not much because I'm only gonna get older. I think the healthiness and the maturity of living a bit, more life wisdom, some knowledge… I was like, ‘let's do it'.
I feel that out of all the genres of music, Country music is the one that cares the least about age. It has a tradition of embracing artists throughout the phases of their career and it's fantastic that you see legends like Reba and Dolly being celebrated by the new artists coming up. It feels very supportive in a way that pop music definitely isn't. Being part of that country music community, does that offer you the support and the strength that you need to be getting back out there?
I think so. I honestly think age has only played a role for me personally in my own head, when I calculate plans that we have ahead. You're right, it's the one genre that really honors and respects and allows those generations to exist beyond forties and fifties and sixties. I love that they celebrate that and honor that and it's really, really endearing. I'm thankful that I'm in this genre 'cause you're right, if I were in Pop, this wouldn't even be happening, unless I did it anonymously somehow.
I've been listening to the new EP ‘Acres of Diamonds' and your voice is incredible. It blows my mind to think that you have a gift such as that and you haven't been using it all these years…
Wow! You are so kind. It has definitely changed. I was listening to some old demos for this show I had to do and I sound like a child, like a little girl in my twenties. Singing these songs, getting back in the studio and hearing it through the headphones – even writing in the room and writing these songs – my voice has definitely got this richness and this depth to it that I think matches lyrically what's happening in the songs.
Ashley Monroe is on the focus track ‘Black Celica'. What was it like working with her on a track?
Oh, I love her. We've written several times together and that was our first time, actually, that day. She's just lovely. She is real true blue kind and authentic and really listen ed to what I wanted to say. She knew we were writing for me. I've been in many writing sessions where you get railroaded for whatever reason, and with her it was just like so fun to be creative. That's why we've continued that relationship. I was like, ‘you should just be on this track' and then it started to evolve to ‘what if we collaborate and you're a feature and we make this important' because there was something so great about this song and this what we capture together. She's a friend forever. I love her.
My favourite song on the EP is ‘Five More Minutes'. Am I right to think that song was inspired by that last conversation with your father?
‘Five More Minutes' might have been subconsciously started out of that thought process, but I had that title and I was thinking about my children. Not in a regretful way. ‘Five More Minutes' is not meant to look back and wish you'd done something differently with that five minutes. It's really just looking back for me. I love that I was with my children almost every moment of their lives. I stayed at home and I did all the things. My favorite line is riding my pink huffy bike. My daddy took me down to this store in my hometown in Georgia, and we got my bike. I vividly remember picking that one out and us taking it home and I rode that thing every day, barefoot in the backyard, on the trails in my little town where I lived… the streets. It was safe to just go and be. I wanted that in there because sometimes I look outside in the neighborhood that I live in and I see these kids riding their bikes and I'm like, ‘oh, if they only knew how cool it is to not have bills'. You just are free on this bike so I just wanted to make sure that I was at least telling my story.
Then honestly with the chorus, I thought, ‘should we make it more generic so that everybody can relate to it?' but then I was like, ‘nope, I'm gonna keep it personal'. We all agreed, let's keep all the things that matter to you. It's been interesting to hear people outside of the song say I've been listening nonstop and it's made me really think about all the details of the things in my life that maybe you didn't think about. My kids are growing up so fast right in front of me and I'm like, gosh, sometimes I miss the car seat in the back and the craziness of that life. We're in a good stage now, and I'm not missing anything.
I speak to songwriters often and they express surprise when its the songs where the lyrics are very specific, that resonate strongly with fans. I really felt that I connected to ‘Five More Minutes' and I go back and back to it…
Wow. Well that's awesome. My husband also produced that track. He's done a lot of the music for me, so it made sense for him to do the song 'cause he has been in it too. It's the favorite right now of most people so I'm glad.
In the middle of the EP you have a cover of Harry Styles' ‘Falling', which people aren't going to expect. You make the song your own. Why did you choose it?
We all had a list of covers that might work 'cause we knew we wanted a cover. I listen to a lot of different music. I think partly because I'm a songwriter so I love to hear other people tell stories. That song just always got me at the gut. It's one of those you wish you'd written and it's just always hung around. My husband was like, ,why don't you do that one?, and I was like, ‘I don't know. That's a hard one to sing 'cause the range, right?' We did struggle in the studio 'cause I was down here (note wise) and then had to go up here. I was like, ‘we made a mistake. I can't do this'. He told me, ‘you don't have to sing it perfectly down low. Just sing it.' We worked it out and the more I sang it myself, I believed what he was saying. That's why I love the lyrics so much. They're such a great story. I also thought it would be a great surprise to people that I did something in that world, a Harry Styles song. I t's just one that I've always loved. It's just a great song.
The EP is out on Friday (23rd May) . Are you planning beyond that yet?
We take it day by day 'cause things just keep surprising me with this whole thing and this comeback. There's been a slow lead to go gather the people that knew of me before and going to try to find those fans. It's starting to grow – the streams and the listens and our reach. I hope it grows into something bigger and snowballs into more, I wanna tour. With social media there's a lot of different things you can do now too and you can grow a brand. We have some ideas. I love to cook. I have some things I love to do like skincare. There's some thinngs in the works behind the scenes right now with some stuff. We will be releasing more music, maybe an original Christmas song. I've had a title for a really long time that I wanna write, but it's really sad. I'm gonna make you so sad at Christmas. I don't know why I love to do that. Then all next year i've got writing appointments booked and we're just gonna keep releasing music and hope that people just fall in love with it. I wanna come over to London for sure.
You beat me to it. I was going to ask if you had plans to get over here…
I want it so bad. It's funny, there's a lot more traction overseas for me and I love that. We're talking about that. How can I get there? What makes sense? I'm the little engine that could. We're just a four man show so we've gotta figure out the steps, but I absolutely wanna come there and do something so soon.
We'll have to get you on the bill of something like C2C or The Long Road…
I'd love to do The Long Road in autumn. We just have to figure that out. C2C has blown my mind. It looks like so amazing and I have some friends that have played it and said it, ‘you have to go'. We'll figure it out. I promise. I want it so bad. I wanna come sing and play for people, so we're on our way.
Please make it happen. I'm desperate to see you live and hear these new songs, and your incredible voice…
Aw, thank you so much. That means so much to me. It really, really does 'cause there are days I'm like, ‘this is hard'. I've had to take a lot of my own advice that I've been giving to my kids over the last many years. Things that are worthwhile are hard sometimes, but they're worth. With sports with my son… my daughter just started a fashion business. She's been selling dresses that she's been making small batch. I'm like, ‘go and do what you wanna do with your life'. Some days she looks at me and she goes, ‘this is really hard' and I'm like, ‘it is'. I have my own jewelry business and there's so many times I'm sitting in here creating jewelry and I listen to ‘How I Built This' podcast where it's got all the se entrepreneurs that built their companies and it encourages me so much. They're always like, ‘I wanted to quit. It was hard. I didn't know what I was doing. I had no money in my account and all of a sudden I had some money'. Just the crazy stories that keep us going. When I hear things like (you said) about my music it really encourages me. Every week there's thousands of songs that come out. Now, it's not the same model of releasing music as it was when I was an artist before. You're up against a lot. We're just keeping going.
You have the added advantage that you can actually sing, which is not a prerequisite for a lot of music these days…
you're very kind. I kind of would agree with you in some ways. I remember when I signed my record deal. I sang live, and they were like, ‘she can actually sing' and I was like, ‘well, shouldn't I be able to, if not, I shouldn't be doing this, right?'. It was such a compliment, but such a surprising statement. I love to sing. I'm thankful that I have a voice and I'm just hoping that this time around I can go further and just do more and do it with my family. I'd love to bring Bella to London so we can shop and sing and do all the things. We'll see. It's my prayer.
Cyndi Thomson's new EP ‘Acre of Diamonds' is released on Friday 23rd May 2025. Listen to the title track below:
