Jem Cassar-Daley’s debut album, tattoos used to come off in the pool, is here.
Out today (August 28th) via Civilians, the album chronicles the journey into adulthood, the ups and downs of relationships, and the notion that past experiences make you the person you are today.
While some of the experiences catalogued on tattoos are her own, others are inspired by those close to her – but the entire album is wrapped in her indie-pop storytelling that’s catchy but never disposable, relatable yet uniquely personal and dancefloor-ready yet heartbreakingly delicate.
Cassar-Daley assembled an incredible lineup of producers on this album, including Robby De Sá (The Veronicas, MAY-A), MSquared (Newton Faulkner, Aloe Blacc), Ethan Reginato (Meg Mac, The Avalanches) and Garrett Kato (Budjerah, Tones And I).
To celebrate the album’s release, Cassar-Daley gave us a special track-by-track breakdown of its nine tracks. Check it out below.
“Speak Now”
“Speak Now” was inspired by the classic wedding quote, ‘Speak now or forever hold your peace’. However, this perspective is about the internal battle of knowing you are potentially marrying the wrong person. During the writing session Kye, Msquared and I talked about the conundrum of staying with someone out of fear of letting them down and losing sight of yourself in the process.
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“Clichés”
Everyone knows the break-up excuses – needing space, it’s not you, it’s me, loving yourself before somebody else. This song “Clichés” wraps all of those common sayings we hear into one song. I wrote this song on my first writing trip to Nashville with Jordyn Dodd and Brock Westover in the summer of 2024. We talked about all of the ways we’ve been broken up with in the past and how sometimes you just want the honest truth – as hard as it may be.
Visiting Nashville again was such a special experience as I spent some time living there as a kid with my family. All of the memories came flooding back – I shared stories with old friends and met some new ones along the way too! This track has really stuck with me since we created it, and I know it will be SO fun to play live!
“Forget I Ever Said It”
Charlie, Ethan and I wrote “Forget I Ever Said It” in Ethan’s Newtown studio about the cycle of arguing and making up. Going from fragile to reckless, passive then aggressive and struggling to see eye to eye. This song is about avoiding conflict and walking on eggshells with someone.
“Into Sunsets”
“Into Sunsets” is a personal favourite song of mine on the album. Brendon and I talked about broken, empty promises and thinking you’re going to be riding into sunsets with someone forever. The opening verse has one of my favourite lines in the album – ‘I would make a promise, and you’d just make things up’.
“All I’m Thinking About”
This song was inspired by finding out about your partner’s ex and wanting to know more about them. Wondering how and why they broke up, going for a little stalk of their insta and developing a bit of an obsession.
I wrote this song with Shannen James and Michael De Lorenzis (Msquared) and we had so much fun in the session! I’ve always wanted to write a song with a monotonous and driving chorus melody so it was awesome to make that dream come true.
“Cool Girl”
I wrote “Cool Girl” after re-watching one of my favourite films, Gone Girl, during which we watch as Rosamund Pike’s character (Amy Dunn) slowly transforms into a woman she doesn’t recognise. At a really poignant part of the movie, there is this incredible monologue that Amy does about the ‘cool girl’. The line ‘Nick loved a girl I was pretending to be’ really stuck with me.
I feel this taps into the societal pressures women face to conform to and live up to these unrealistic standards in a patriarchal society. Women are told to be ‘hot’ and ‘fun’ and ‘game,’ while remaining ‘cool’ and ‘nonchalant’ and never causing a scene. How? I wanted to write a song that says, ‘I could do all of these things to fit your mould – drink the beer, get tattoos, pretend to like football – because at the end of the day, you just want a ‘cool girl,’ don’t you?’. Producer Robby De Sa worked his magic on the track and I couldn’t picture writing it with anyone else! It’s a special song to me with a very important message.
“Souvenir”
“Souvenir” represents something in your past that you’ve healed from, though you’ve still kept a little piece of it sitting on your shelf. Picking it up and holding it causes all the memories to flood back for a brief moment, but you’re now able to smile and put it back down and go about your day.
“I Take It”
This song started when I was playing around with a different tuning that I’d never used before. The CGDGAD sounds so eerie and emotional so I started picking away. I wrote the verses but felt stuck on what direction to go in, so I took the song into a session with Charlie Pittman and Ethan Regginato. We recorded three separate acoustics on this track and jammed until it felt right! I loved this writing process.
“Growing”
I wrote “Growing” on my first trip to the UK in 2023. I was away from home for two months to play some shows and co-write. I wasn’t exactly sure what was next for me and was very much taking things day by day. Spending time in London was exciting and daunting all wrapped into one complex feeling. I had a session with Josh Oliver (Jole), we chatted about self-growth and feeling lost. ‘I don’t know where I’m going, all I know is that I’m growing’ still rings true to me years later.
Jem Cassar-Daley’s debut album tattoos used to come off in the pool is out now.
