When Cam was writing and recording the songs that would turn out to become her new All Things Light album, both she and the world at large were undergoing a seismic shift.

It was the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and everything seemed uncertain. Her last album, The Other Side, started its rollout in February 2020 — but after she’d started doing press and TV appearances to promote it, COVID-19 started sweeping the U.S., and everything shut down.

That album’s release date got pushed back until October, when “I just couldn’t take it anymore, and I was like, ‘We’re doing it,'” Cam remembers.

At the same time, a huge change had transpired in her life: She became a mom. Cam’s daughter, Lucy Marvel, was born in December 2019.

“I’m one of those people where, when I’m faced with an existential crisis, I can’t turn it off and go about my day,” Cam tells Taste of Country. “I have to look at it. I have to figure it out for myself in some way. Otherwise, I just spiral into full panic mode.”

Through meditation, pandemic-mandated solo studio sessions and through creating this album, Cam began to work through those big questions and existential dilemmas. She was figuring out, in real time, how to be a parent — and how to be a parent in a time when everything in the world felt fragile and uncertain.

Keep reading as Taste of Country digs deeper into Cam’s process of creating All Things Light, her first album in five years.

What was one of the first big questions that came up when you started making this album? Can you point to a song that addresses it?

The main one, which is my little thesis statement art piece, was “Turns Out I Am God.” It gave me such a feeling of heavy, beautiful responsibility. Especially for those of us who have been trained not to see ourselves as divine, for one reason or another, it put it back in terms that made me so proud to be living as I’m living, instead of second-guessing things all the time, or trying to fit in.

I was just feeling my way through all the experiences I’ve been through, things that have helped me, and not necessarily giving answers. Anyone who tells you they know the answers — and this is what “Kill the Guru!” and “Look at All the Pretty Girls!” is touching on — if someone tells you they have all the answers, you should run the other way. That is the biggest red flag.

I love that in the lyrics of “Kill the Guru!,” you don’t entirely give away that it’s a false guru that you’re singing about.

I’m glad you liked that! As we were doing it, one of the earlier versions was a little too happy, and we were like, “They might not get the satire of this.” We were like, “Okay, let’s make sure we dive a little darker into the sonics, so people know this is a creepy person.”

But I don’t know if you watch all those Netflix documentaries on cult leaders and stuff, but at the beginning, it always sounds like a good idea. Equality, taking care of each other…you’re like, “Oh yeah, I probably would have joined this cult.”

There’s a subtlety and nuance in this music — you let listeners get there on their own, and open it up enough to where they can hear their own story and journey in the songs.

I found this out [in 2015] with “Burning House.” When I wrote that song, I was like, “Everyone’s gonna know that I broke up with this guy in this horrible way.” No, people don’t really know that.

Whatever that feeling is that’s at the core of my experience betraying someone I cared about, and having a situation in my life that I can’t fix but just have to accept, that same feeling is in everyone listening to it.

But the context is totally different. I think that’s why you make art, to offer up your situation so that everyone can hear themselves and their stories in it.

Was it a surprise to you that “Burning House” was such a big hit at country radio?

There was a chain of events that led to “Burning House” becoming a mainstream country hit that was very lucky. A bunch of things had to go right to get people to sign off on it. Because most people, when you asked them flat-out when I first started, were like, “No, that absolutely will not work. We do not want to risk that and put that on radio.”

It had to get pushed in other ways…and I think that was super lucky, getting it past the threshold. Once it was in people’s ears, it seemed to work, and people seemed to love it. The rules didn’t have a chance to exclude it.

So much of this album has a vintage feel, and “Slow Down” sounds like a song out of an old movie. Why did you want to incorporate those older elements?

I grew up listening to a lot of music with my grandparents, and they liked the Andrews Sisters, and Doris Day’s “Sentimental Journey.” Very sweet and soft. But then [in “Slow Down”] I’m also delivering this anti-capitalist [message], like, “Reclaim your time and your body and your worth.”

This is in the album artwork too — I wanted it to feel passed down, with some bits of old and traditional. It’s like an oral history: My mom told me, and now I’m telling you. Mixed in with the new and the future of where I hope we’re going.

Do you have lessons from your mom and grandma that you incorporate in your life or music?

Whenever I’m having a hard time [as a parent], thinking “Oh my God, I can’t do this,” I think, ‘Somehow, my mom figured it out. And somehow her mom figured it out. And somehow her mom figured it out.’ There’s a strength in that: It’s doable.

Read More: Country Stars Who Are Having Babies in 2025

I’m reminded of my mom always saying, “You’ll understand what it’s like when you have a kid. You’ll never know how much worry comes with it, in the best way.”

It’s two sides of a coin: It’s beautiful and gift-giving and life-giving to have a kid, and it’s the most love I’ve ever felt. And it’s also so scary to think that I’m responsible for her, just wanting to keep her safe and making sure she’s the best version of herself without attaching a bunch of expectations to it.

Did Lucy have a role in helping you make this album?

She wrote the logo for my name. That’s her handwriting. So cute.

She loves singing with me. That’s probably the main thing. She was in my belly for a lot of touring, so she loves singing. Obviously, she was the inspiration for some of the lyrics. But there’s actually a song I sing to her that’s a lullaby, that I chose not to put on [the album.] That feels more like it belongs just between us. I sing it to her every night.

All Things Light is at the crossroads of multiple different genres, and it challenges some of the boundaries of country music subject matter and tropes. Was any of that inspired by your work on Beyoncé’s 2024 Cowboy Carter album?

I’ve always come from that space in my other albums, too. While I was alone in the studio [during pandemic lockdowns], I found this new channel, or someplace where all of these lyrics and ideas were coming from. And that was around the same time I got the call about working on Cowboy Carter.

I think that was such divine timing. The writing wasn’t sequential in terms of inspiration, but it was so wonderful to see someone at that level make something that, to me, was one of the most incredible cultural products.

It was set off from historical lessons in country music, but [didn’t remain] in the format to deliver the songs. And then [went] to the future to be like, “What are genres anyway?”

Obviously, that resonated with me, and that’s what I was already doing. Watching that be received the way it was super — it made me tear up, it was so wonderful to see. It felt so in line with what I wanted to see in the world, and what I wanted to make. It was a great feeling, to see that happen.