Following her Grammy win for contributions to Cowboy Carter, singer-songwriter Cam returns with All Things Light an introspective third album shaped by motherhood, isolation, and spiritual renewal. In this exclusive interview with FAULT Magazine, Cam opens up about the emotional rewiring that accompanied becoming a parent during a global pandemic, the power of songwriting as worldbuilding, and how an Alan Watts lecture helped inspire her bold new single “Turns Out That I Am God.”

You’ve described All Things Light as your most visionary work to date. What creative or emotional turning point helped you realise you were making something different with this album?
As I started spending time alone in the studio in 2021, as a new mom in a pandemic, this new breed of songs started coming out of me.

Specifically, what part did motherhood and pandemic isolation reshape your approach to this album?
Motherhood physically rewires your brain and you don’t have time to care about anything that isn’t vitally important – so my filter and my expectations got even more specific. Also, I didn’t grow up with religion, which I’ve loved interacting with through different practices throughout my life, but as a mom I started to feel like I needed a more substantial framework. To face the fear I had around all the change in my life and to help raise my child and give her some helpful lights along the path.

Can you walk us through the creative process behind “Turns Out That I Am God”, and what message you most hope listeners take away from it?
There’s an Alan Watts lecture that explores the idea “what if we are all God and we’ve just forgotten?” – I could cry just thinking about what an incredible gift and responsibility it is to recognise God within me. It reminds me of the first time I ever meditated—when I turned off my mind I felt this hum of peace in me and I knew instinctively that him is in everything. I hope people remember to treat themselves and each other with all the reverence we deserve.

How has your perspective on spirituality and identity evolved through songwriting?
My songwriting is a way of worldbuilding—coping and hoping. I get to say affirmations I need, to manifest things I’m hoping for or release sadness I can’t hold onto anymore. Overall it is a good indicator of where my spirituality is at.

The album blends many genres. Was genre fluidity a conscious choice from the outset, or something that emerged as the songs came together?
I consciously chose to do what felt right, at the peak of my abilities and expectations, instead of following any outside rules for myself.

Looking back at your earlier albums, how do you feel your songwriting priorities have changed or matured with All Things Light?
Looking back it all feels like a natural growth arc, experimenting and learning while saying things that ring true to me at different times. A songwriter friend of mine, Roberta Lea, said “You ever gone swimming at the beach and walked a good way from the shore to the drop off? And you can immediately feel the temperature difference between the warmer, shallow water and the colder, and darker depth? That’s what going from your previous projects to this one feels like.”

How did your experience collaborating on Cowboy Carter inform your mindset when returning to your own solo project?
I was working on both projects at the same time, and then watching Beyoncé’s release come first was a masterclass in commitment to cultural impact.

What is your FAULT?
My fault is that I’m horrible at keeping secrets :)