Charlotte Sands: Crafting Community and Connection Through Her Vibrant New Era

Charlotte Sands isn’t just writing music, she’s shaping a worldwide community filled with compassion, connection and creativity. The last six months for the alt-pop artist have been spent ushering in a vibrant new era following her 2024 debut album, can we start over?, and on the road performing to massive crowds across the U.S. Her latest single, “Afterlife,” is a raw, ethereal effort that details the undeniable belief that human connection can be strong enough to transcend lifetimes. Sands took the time to speak with Offstage Exposure about the significance behind “Afterlife,”what the community she’s built means to her and more.

Interview conducted and transcribed by Amber Bintliff

During the summer you kicked off a new era with the releases of “HUSH” and

“neckdeep,” both of which are pretty sonically different from the rest of your catalog. How do you think you've grown in the creative process since working on your debut record, can we start over?

I think with can we start over?, so much of the songs were written from these really emotional, deep places of these experiences that I was currently going through or stories I wanted to write for a really long time. It kind of felt like the moment for me to tell these stories about myself and share these experiences and these emotions.

After releasing that album with everything going on currently in the world, I realized that there was also a need to create music that can be fun, lighter and emotionally deep, but also let people just have a really fun experience of watching these songs live, singing and screaming them and making it cathartic for everyone. I wrote “HUSH” with that in mind and tried to make something that wasn't too serious. It was just a celebration of independence and having fun. So that was something I think I tried to experiment more with and not feel like every song had to be a 100% representation of all the emotions in my body. I wanted it to be about having a wonderful celebration of life with people at a show and thinking about that more.

If you only had three words to describe this new era that you're currently diving into, what would they be?

Oh my gosh, that is so hard! Thinking about all the music that is coming out, I genuinely think that there are so many different inspirations that I'm pulling from. I would just say it's a reflection of me. There's three words. It's where I am right now, and it's a little bit of all of the influences that have shaped my creativity throughout my life. It's a melting pot.

Speaking of your influences with the new songs and everything, I've been really loving how you've been incorporating more electronic and experimental elements into your sound with these new songs. What influenced you to lean more into that vibe for this new era of your music?

I'm always paying so much attention to the live show and every time I'm writing a song, my first thought is, where does this fit in the show, what type of experience is this for the audience and what part of the set is this? I really write for the live audience. I love watching bands like Bring Me The Horizon, Bad Omens, Poppy and Charli XCX and seeing these artists that have really, really strong songs that also have this electronic element. It's impossible not to just enjoy that and experience that on a completely different level. I love rock music so much because of the live band and the live instruments, but so much of the poppier, electronic stuff feels so loud and it's such a fun show to experience. That's kind of why I wanted to combine my taste and love for both of those genres and create some weird mesh between these sounds that I love so much of artists and everything.

As someone who kind of got more into your music with “HUSH,” ‘brat rock summer’ was very fun.

Oh my God, thank you! I love it. I had a lot of fun myself.

Speaking of the new singles, your latest single “Afterlife” is a beautifully moving anthem for anyone who's ever believed in soulmates in any capacity. Where did you come up with the concept and can you talk about the meaning behind the track?

Honestly, I think the inspiration came when I was trying to explain my current relationship and partner to people in the sense of the more that you love somebody, a friend, a partner, an animal, whatever it is, you almost just dread the ending of that relationship just as much as you enjoy the experience of loving them and getting to love them. For me, I'm such a dramatic person that I feel like I am constantly feeling both of those things at the same time. I'm celebrating the fact that I get to be with them and get to experience a love like that, but I'm also already mourning the idea of not having them forever or the idea of potentially ever being without them. There was this level of trying to write something that reflected the feeling of being so happy, but at the same time wondering if this life isn't enough time for you. I think that what I tried to get out in this story is the love for each other, but also the pre-grief of potentially not being able to make it work or figure it out in the way that you would hope.

Even the visuals for “Afterlife,” which you said were shot on an off-day on tour in Texas, they even encapsulate that feeling of preemptive grief. What were some of your inspirations going into shooting the cover art and then the accompanied visuals for the song?

To be completely honest, there really wasn't a plan. I think so much of my career being an independent artist, 90% of the things that we've ever shot for cover art or videos or visuals or anything have been really flying by the seat of our pants and trying to figure it out at the last minute, so this was kind of the same thing. We had an off-day and I knew I needed to get cover art. It's so funny. Van Horn, Texas is the most random. There isn't anything for 50 miles and it's really desolate and isolated. There was something about being there that I just immediately felt like it would fit the energy of the song.

Meg [Clark], who shot the visuals and the cover art, is always 100% down to try to make

something up and make it work and figure it out. It was really a collaborative effort of us listening to the song, trying to create that isolation and desolation and what seems like a desert already having that effect. We leaned into the environment that we had and luckily, we made it work. I was like, there's nothing like a motel six truck stop to be filming your visuals in the middle of the night. It was amazing and I felt like the energy was perfect for the song. We weren't overly conscious about it or doing a million looks. I found an extra dress that I had packed, or I think actually bought on tour at a thrift store. It was a very, very low effort, but I just had two girls and a dream. Sometimes that's all you need. That's all you need!

You've also said that this song is one of your favorites that you've released. What are you feeling as you watch the response to “Afterlife,” especially because now it's kind of been blowing up on TikTok a little bit.

Yeah, it's been so amazing! I think it's just a reminder of social media and how you can feel so far away from people sometimes. It's harder and harder to connect with people. The more access we have to online connection, the less we have human connection in some way. I've struggled with trying to find that connection again and I think this song was just such a huge reminder of writing music that actually means something to me and is important to my life. It’s a song that I'm really proud of and I was really proud to show people before it came out. I left the studio the day we wrote it knowing that it was special and just those moments of when as an artist you make something that you feel like is special. Then other people also relate to it and find the passion that I feel in that song and there's no way to explain how wonderful that experience is when everything just aligns. My emotions and thoughts are able to align with the audiences and there's something so beautiful about relating to each other in that way by being strangers and able to relate to a shared experience or feeling. I think that's the beautiful thing about it and it's reminded me of how lucky I am to also have so many people all over the world that had their own friendships, relationships with their parents and their own pets, romantic relationships and all these things that they're now sharing with me.

The videos online are the most beautiful thing. We’re able to all see each other all over the world, having our own experiences and our own lives through this one song as the soundtrack, which I feel so lucky that I get to even experience it.

Yeah, absolutely! I remember before the song was released that week leading up to it, I made a video with my friends to the song and when I did, it had 11 videos under the sound. I just looked earlier and it now has 745.

No way! Yeah, it's so wild. Every day I just go and scroll and watch people. Some of them are so sweet and beautiful and then some of them are so sad. It's just so beautiful. It's so weird to hear my voice alongside other people's stories, but I also feel so privileged that people relate to it enough.

Absolutely! Congratulations on all the success around “Afterlife” so far. Then, this is a little off track of music, but I've noticed on your social media that you've taken up ceramics as a hobby, and even recently finished your first piece. How does finding creativity in other areas of your life impact your music and also help you unwind amongst all the chaos?

I love this question! Thank you. Honestly, I think a huge part of it is for me, the ceramics aspect is making something with my hands. I think so often everything that I'm making is almost like it doesn't actually exist in the world. It's music and it's things that you can't really touch. Especially when I'm on tour, it feels like a physical experience and there’s merch and a live show and these things that are very in person and very real.I have a hard time whenever I'm not on tour because there's nothing that I can touch with my hands. There's no real physical expression of my art and things like that. So, ceramics for me has been really helpful because you immediately see the result of your effort. No matter how bad it is, it's still a piece and you can still make it something really interesting. It's taught me so much just about, first of all, imperfection and how cool art can be and how much cooler it is when it's not perfect. Anybody can have a perfect bowl, you know? For me, I love making things that are really unique and it’s reminded me of how special that is. Everybody makes different things, but also being able to make things that are actually in person, physical results. It's so peaceful and it's one of those things where you have to focus so hard that a lot of the time I can't even listen to music or an audiobook because I'm focusing so hard on creating it. Your entire body is a part of this process, and you have to be attentive and focused. I love that it's all encompassing.

Awesome. It's nice to see artists when they have their music and everything, but then they also have this little niche thing. Over the summer, you were one of the headliners for this year's Summer School Tour. How was that experience of being a part of the tour and its community?

That tour was genuinely one of my favorite tour memories. I feel so lucky that I got to tour with such incredible artists like Taylor Acorn and Rain City Drive and everyone else. I think going into tours with that many bands and artists, it was pretty overwhelming. It was 72 people touring together every single day, which has a lot of personalities and a lot of different energy. You never know how people are gonna be after a few weeks away from home, but it ended up being just the easiest, most wonderful experience. Every single person on that tour was so kind and so excited to be there and watched everyone else's shows. It was really wonderful and I truly feel like I've made some of my really close friends on that tour. I wouldn't trade those memories for anything.

You also got to perform at Vans Warped Tour in California, and you will be again next month in Florida. What's the most exciting part of getting to play such an iconic and important festival in the alternative scene?

It's obviously just so wild that I get to play that festival. It's so legendary. Obviously I grew up hearing all my favorite bands talking about it, so the experience of getting to be a part of it is so, so sick. I think also just being able to be a fan of music and be able to be in the crowd and remembering why the scene is so important. We curate this experience for people with the amount of effort that we do because so many people are booking and buying their tickets a year in advance and this is the day that they're looking forward to for such a long time. I think it's really important to go back into the audience and relearn why it's so important to be a fan of music. I try to make myself do that as much as possible at festivals and especially Warped where it's such an incredible energy and community. I love being just a fan and I love walking around. Buying merch and seeing bands I've never seen or bands that are like my idols. It's just really wonderful and people are so kind. It makes me re-fall in love with it.

That was such a great answer. Thank you for that. When people leave a show of yours, what do you want them to take away from the experience?

I would love for people to be able to leave my shows and just feel a sense of relief and

calmness, especially in the sense that they have a place where they are welcome. They have a community that they can be themselves in and that’s a safe haven. That is the feeling that I really searched for when I became a fan of music and when I was like in middle school. Shows were the place that I felt like I was normal and I fit in. No matter how strange I felt outside of the venue and those rooms, I felt so welcomed, especially in the rock and punk rock scene. Everyone was allowed to be themselves and celebrated for being themselves.

I really want to be able to give back that experience to people where they know that they're welcome. If they don't feel that way anywhere else in their life, which I would hate, I hope theyknow that they can always find it with me. My audience will always welcome people with openarms and respect and celebrate them for who they are. That is 100% the most important thingfor me.

Anything else exciting that you'd like to share before we finish?

I'm just really excited for this next year and for all the fun things I have that are happening. I can't wait to share more about it and I really feel so grateful to get to do this as my job.