Claire Wright’s Debut EP, ‘Miss California,’ is a Heartfelt Ode To Her Home State

Although currently living in Nashville, TN, California will always have a piece of Claire Wright’s heart, which is why she can’t stay away from the beautiful beaches for long. Drawing inspiration from her family, friends and her frequent travels to The Golden State, Wright has created her heartfelt debut EP, Miss California.

“It’s called Miss California and it’s all songs that I’ve co-written,” Wright told Country Now. “It essentially kind of paints the journey of coming from California and moving to Nashville. There’s breakups, there’s party songs, there’s a ballad, which is new for me, but it’s really just about me and missing California and embodying California. Doing the damn thing, chasing the dream.”

Wright joined Country Now from her home on wheels to share a bit about her current lifestyle and how that has made an impact on her career. Living the camper life allows her to move from place to place and explore as she pleases, alongside her four-legged sidekick, Captain. 

“I’m doing the dual life. California for me, is home…I miss my family, but this is what I want to be doing,” she shared. 

The title track on this project was written about Wright’s mom, which is why it was only fitting to include a snippet of a conversation over the phone between her and her mom. This is just one example of how incredibly personal this project has become for Wright. 

“All stories just true to myself that I think people also identify with, but I think it’s also just about having fun honestly,” she explained. 

She shares her journey of driving along the coast of Malibu, alongside friend and director, Grant Gadbois. Together, they took in all of the beauty and wonder of California, while also filming some dreamy footage to coincide with her music. 

“Visuals are so important to me. I love when you can take a song and just give it every possible form of life. And videos I feel like are a really cool way to do that.”

After the release of Miss California, Wright will be dropping a new music video to coincide with the fifth track off the EP, titled “Where Would We Be Now.” 

“There‘s a video we shot last summer, when I bought a camper in California and lived out of it all summer. Grant, I picked him up in Tahoe and we drove all the way down the coast to Malibu and filmed the whole thing,” Wright recalled. 

One of her more emotional tracks, “Hate Me,” the last track of the EP, dives into one of the most difficult parts of a breakup, moving on. So far, Wright has not gotten the chance to perform this single live in front of an audience, but that time will come soon enough. 

“I wrote it with Robyn Collins and Brandon Day. It was about a breakup and the breakup being difficult,” she revealed. “I was the one leaving and essentially saying, if you have to hate me then you have to hate me and it’ll help you move on, but I haven’t sang it live because usually it’s me and my guitar. This is a song with my vocals and piano with some strings too. So I look forward to when I will play that live. I feel like I’ll probably cry.”

Wright is taking the country music scene in Nashville by storm, as she continues to leave her mark wherever she performs. Recently, she made her Whiskey Jam debut and returned to the Listening Room Cafe in celebration of her latest project.

“It was so cool. It was was so cool. I’ve been day dreaming about doing that for so long, it was such a moment in time,” she shared of her Whiskey Jam moment. “I got an encore, and I’ve never seen an encore at Whiskey Jam, so I went up and played an acoustic song and it was one of those things. Ward Guenther, the guy that runs Whiskey Jam, got up after and he was like, ‘this is what Whiskey Jam’s all about,’ and I was like, ‘damn, this for me is what making music’s all about, getting to share it.’”

Fans can keep up with Claire Wright on Instagram.