Caroline Smith got it from her mama.
by Kinzy Janssen
photo credit: Victoria Campbell for The Riveter
In an industry plagued with body issues and dominated by men, R&B singer and songwriter Caroline Smith isn’t just a breath of fresh air. She’s a gale-force wind.
Smith, who lives in Minneapolis (where The Riveter is based) released her first solo album, “Half About Being a Woman” in October 2013 as an ode to self-acceptance—bodily and otherwise. In the video for her infectious track “Magazine,” Smith and her friends shed feelings of inadequacy often peddled by fashion magazines (along with most of their clothes) for a gummy worm-fueled, sleepover-inspired pillow-fight fest. Self-love is the theme of the potent title track, too, this time in the context of a breakup. Even the album’s genre is a celebration of Smith’s identity as she pushes off from the indie-folk sound that has defined her career and steers into the “fun, a little bit cheesy, but good R&B” of her girlhood.
Here at The Riveter, we admire the soulful singer’s evolution, including her distinctive taste in clothes (currently turtlenecks, stripes and overalls) and her out-loud appreciation for the women in her life, especially her mom. In the single “Let ‘Em Say,” which she wrote and recorded last September with Minneapolis alt-hip hop artist Lizzo, she sings about wanting to look like her mama—“five-foot-two and a natural woman”—and then waves at the camera and mouths “Hi, Mom!”
Naturally, we swooned. We needed to meet these two, so we proposed a mother-daughter photoshoot as a way to spotlight their relationship, their individual styles, and how they influence each other’s beliefs and/or closets. We had no way of knowing that while Smith is a fan of “atrocious, gaudy” prom shoes (she considers late April “discount prom shoe season”), her mom gravitates to classic Mary Janes. Yet it turns out that they have a lot more in common than what’s visible at first glance.
Pre-photoshoot, Smith has paired jeans and a comfy sweatshirt with white platform sandals, despite the chill of late April. When she introduces us to her mom, Martha Byron, I notice they share the same lively blue eyes.
“I told her, ‘just wear your favorite outfit [for the photo shoot]. And then we just went shopping anyway,” says Smith with a laugh.
As we wait for the singer’s best friend (artist Emma C. Cook) to let us into her apartment to set up the shoot, Smith slings five hangers of clothing off her shoulder and hangs them in a crabapple tree. She and her mom plunk down on the concrete front stoop, and Smith unzips a makeup bag. Martha tilts her chin up and offers her eyelids obediently, hands folded in her lap. The two of them reminisce about yesterday’s trip to Banana Republic as Smith sweeps her lids gingerly with eyeshadow.
Martha Byron: We had a fun day yesterday.
Caroline Smith: A little too much fun.
MB: There was a 60- or 70-year-old woman helping us [with our shopping]. Lois, a breast cancer survivor. I’d try on something and she would just say, ‘You’re getting it” and I’d get it.
Kinzy Janssen: Did you help pick out Caroline’s outfits for today, too?
CS: No! [laughs] She likes it when I wear baby blues or pink, but I just end up looking like a Barbie. My skin has a pinky tone so I like to wear reds and cobalt blues.
MB: I have a preconceived notion of what would look good on her, but she always looks better when she dresses herself. She takes weird stuff and makes it look good.
CS: [stares wide-eyed at her mom, then looks at me] Are you getting this in writing?
(cont.)
