Two years ago, Charlie Collins was a broken woman. In the depths of a marriage breakdown, the Tamworth native wrote, recorded, and promptly scrapped an album.
"There was just that thing in me that felt like I had more to give and more to say," Collins explains."So then I had the daunting conversation with my label and my managers and team to say, 'hey, so you know that record I just finished – I want to change it'.
"I'm so, so glad that I trusted my gut on that, because I wouldn't have had half of the songs on the record that are on there now, which I just f...ing love."
The 'new' version of the album, 'Undone' (released this Friday, 29 April), explores not only the devastation of a broken marriage, but the celebration of a newfound self. "It's a big break-up anthem record," Collins laughs.
One such track, 'November', is a stunning ode to heartbreak. "'November' was one of those songs I wrote and I was like, no one will ever hear the light of day of this, because it's just so f...ing brutal," Collins says.
"I've never written a song on piano before, and I was just sitting at a piano and it was my first wedding anniversary separated.
"So it was on the day of our wedding – 6th of November – and I was just like, 'what is happening? This is f...ed.' I don't really know how to play properly, but I just started playing these chords, and literally the whole song just fell out; as well as a lot of tears.
"It was just kind of a song in a way I kind of wrote for myself as my own personal therapy."
When Collins' collaborator and friend – former Gang Of Youths guitarist Joji Malani – heard the track, he immediately made her play it again; and convinced Charlie to include it on the album.
"It was that song and 'Lovers To Strangers', and Joji kind of encouraged me to put those songs out, which I probably never would have," Charlie says.
"Especially 'November' because it is just so brutal, like there's literally a line saying: 'Do you still call me your wife or the girl that f...ed your life.' It's just like. . . It's heavy sh.t."
Malani wasn't the only collaborator on 'Undone' – Charlie also worked with Gab Strum (known as his artist moniker Japanese Wallpaper), Xavier Dunn (Jack River, GRAACE) and Jarryd James.
"I was a little bit shut off, to be honest, from co-writing," Collins explains, "and then that first session with Jarryd I think just opened up my mind to it a bit more. So that's when I started to write. And then I wrote with Gab and then Xavier."
The track with Dunn – current single 'Backseat Valentine' – was written "in an hour" and recorded "in ten minutes" with the album version the very first demo the pair recorded.
"[Xavier] kind of had the beds already laid down; he was just like, 'alright, let's go!' and lyrics just fell out; then he would just say some lines and I would be like, 'okay – this!' and we would just go back and forth, and before we knew it the song was written," Charlie laughs.
"Then he was like, 'alright, let's do the vocals!' and literally just did one take of the vocals.
"We ended up keeping the entire demo – vocals and everything – because there was just this energy that was captured, in that it wasn't thought out, it was just like, 'let's go, let's go, let's go!' and then it was just done."
After a run of solo shows supporting Gang Of Youths across the UK, Collins is looking forward to returning home with a new album, a run of headline tour dates, and appearances at festivals like Splendour In The Grass.
But she's looking forward to performing with her band again, too. "I'm so excited to just come back home, even though I love London so much, and I love everyone here – there's no place like home," she says.
"To play these new tracks is going to be so fun; and to play with my band, and just to see even old friends and fans – there's nothing like playing in your home town, in your own country. To say the least, I'm really f...ing excited!"
Performing these songs to crowds of up to 5,000 Britons, although daunting, was a very different experience to the prospect of home-town crowds. "I could have an emotional breakdown on stage," Charlie laughs.
"There's a couple of songs that I'm like, 'sh.t, am I even going to be able to get through this without choking?'.
"There's songs like 'November' and 'Couldn't Have Loved You Anymore', and stuff and they're just so full on; I just don't know!"
UK audiences have been a good measure of the new material, though. "Honestly, as a support – and especially a support with just a guitar – I'm just like, no one's going to listen. . . But the support has been so mind-blowing," Collins says.
"And you know, I've been playing all the new songs and I've been getting so many messages like, 'what was that last song you played?' or 'what was this song, or the song with this lyric?'.
"So it was so nice to almost test the album out – in its truest form, as well, just me and my guitar – and for people to still connect to it was pretty cool."
Although releasing such deeply personal songs is "scary", Collins says it's also why she does music.
"When you play it and then people come up to you and say, 'I've been through that too, I can relate', it's almost a sense like you're not alone in your sadness and darkness.
"It's almost like a community when people start coming up to you and you can all share your stories and relate, and it's just like, 'Oh, I'm not the only one!'. It's a beautiful thing. There's so much beauty in the pain and sadness."
It's no surprise some of the most personal tracks on 'Undone' were written by Collins alone, without the help of any collaborators.
"I find it easier to write on my own. I think it's just because you don't have to hold back, you don't have to worry that if you say something, someone will be like 'settle down, psycho!'," she laughs.
"Not that I've ever had that; I'm so lucky that I've worked with the most incredible artists and people. But yeah, I find it easier to write on my own."
Collins says her habit of writing "at weird hours" also makes it easier to write solo. "I think it's because I never plan to write on my own; it's never like, 'okay, today I'm going to go write a song'," she says.
"When you're in a co-writing session obviously it's deliberate. So it's also that little bit of pressure to force something out that you're not maybe completely feeling in that moment.
"Also when it's with strangers it's even f...ing harder. It's like, 'here is me. . . don't run away!'."
'Undone' is very different from her 2019 debut 'Snowpine', which earned Collins an ARIA Award nomination for Best Country Album.
It was an unconscious decision to create a different-sounding record, Collins says. "I think it was more just a progression of me as a writer; me as also just coming into my own skin as a person.
"I've grown a lot, I've hurt a lot, and musically I never thought about it. I never was like 'oh, this song needs that, or this song needs that'; it all kind of naturally just happened, and the songs came out the way they were because they were deserving of that backing, and that's where it fell into wherever it fell – whatever category that may be."
Charlie says she "hates being pigeonholed" and says the music industry as a whole is starting to open up more as well.
"I feel like it's not so much like 'what genre are you? Stay in your lane,'" she laughs. "I think it's becoming a lot more collaborative in terms of style."
A key indication of that, Collins says, is the inclusion of country artists Orville Peck and Kacey Musgraves at typically 'indie' festivals like Splendour In The Grass – where Collins is also performing this year.
"I think for so long it was so separated; country had their own festival, and then there was the indie festivals, and all the different types of festivals," she says.
"So to see it all come together I think is a sign of progression in the music industry in general.
"There's a lot more women on festivals, there's a lot more people of colour on festivals; and now just to see musically, that country is making its way – I think it's a good sign of where music is heading."
'Undone' will be released 29 April. Charlie Collins plays the sold-out Splendour In The Grass, which runs 22-24 July.
