Cat Cohen
Courtesy of Atlantic Music
Just as the The Waitresses‘ “Christmas Wrapping” captured the melancholy and romance of spending the holidays alone — making it a holiday-playlist perennial, Cat Cohen has recorded, Overdressed, an album of 10 original songs that mines the comedy of single life today, including the kind of sloppy end-of-year merrymaking that lives on in nightmares and brunch conversations.
While Overdressed, which drops on Nov. 15, is not strictly a holiday album, it does take the stuffing out of office Christmas parties and the boorish behavior that takes place at them in songs such as “Plus One,” “Time of Year” and the inevitable self-help delusions accompany new year’s resolutions in “Just Bought a Journal” and “Blame It on the Moon.”
“I’ve been doing cabaret songs in my standup act for a really long time, and I’ve always wanted to do poppier versions of them — fancier, fun tracks,” Cohen says. “The holidays seemed like a good way to get into that celebratory mood. I had a bunch of songs that fit within the holiday theme somewhat and thought, this is a fun little idea.”
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That said, Cohen’s idea of fun, as expressed on Overdressed, would have made Bing Crosby drop his pipe. After “four to six glasses of wine” at an office holiday party, the star of “plus one” gets pretty granular recounting the time she had sex on a boat. And in the future Instagram-generation anthem, “Can You Send Me That?,” she ends up going home from the club with a foot fetishist in a fedora. “Thankfully no one took any pics,” she sings.
Before anyone thinks the characters in Overdressed have set women back decades, Cohen throws herself into “Time of Year,” a song that would fit on the soundtrack of Black Christmas — pick your version — or any other Christmas-themed feminist slasher movie.
“When you wake up in that hole wondering how you got so low, know it’s you touched my lower back at a party four years ago,” Cohen sings. “And when I see your friends, cuz it’s that time of year when the boys will close down the bar, I’ll let them know with my eyes, there will be no surprise. If you touch me, I’ll destroy your life.” (Spoiler alert: the guy in the hole doesn’t make it.)
On the eve of Overdressed‘s release, Cohen spoke to Billboard about the inspirations behind the music, many of which came from personal experience.
Why record a comedic holiday-themed album?
Comedically, the holidays are a great thing to mine for jokes.
Were any of the songs on Overdressed inspired by your actual experiences?
Unfortunately, they all are.
Okay.
The story of the guy asking to see my feet at the club. That’s true. The story of the sex-on-a-boat situation as mentioned in “Plus One.” I’ll heighten things in my act or change details, but I’m always pulling from real life, for better or for worse.
I was going to ask you if you really had sex on a boat and was sand involved?
Sure. Give it a go. Try it out. I want to encourage all my listeners to try it out. You know how the floor of a boat is always wet and sandy. Something must have gotten lost in the mix.
Office parties are always great fodder for comedy. Is “Plus One” based on any particular experience?
I wrote that song pre-pandemic. I often see pictures of these totally lavish parties these companies would throw. I was like, “Wait, just because I don’t have an office job doesn’t mean I should be left out.” Big parties are coming back, so this is my formal plea to be invited to yours. I want a seafood tower, I want a DJ, I want specialty cocktails.
Songs such as “Blame It on the Moon ” and “Just Bought a Journal” seem to be more about the contemporary tropes we buy into that we — usually mistakenly — think are going to be a path to self-improvement.
Totally. I’m just fascinated by how we’re all obsessed with bettering ourselves. I make fun of all this stuff but only because I’m doing it as well. I have paid so much money to astrologers, healers, psychics — because I’m obsessed by it. The same with the journal. Especially on New Year’s Day, you’re like, “Wow, I think this journal is going to change my entire life.” So I thought that would be a relatable point for people.
And then you stop journaling before January ends.
Exactly. A few years ago I bought one of those five-year journals where every day, you’re supposed to write a sentence. It stopped like the 18th of January.
Did an astrologer actually ask you to dip your nipple in…
Yes, yes. This is a while ago. We were talking about drinking. I was like, “I think I’ve been drinking too much.” What should I do? She was like, “You should have some sparkling water. Drink sparkling water. Play around, feel it. I don’t know, put your nipple in it.” I was like, “Wait, did I just hear you right?”
Good lord. The album spans a few different genres of music. It starts out with kind of a disco feel, and there’s a bit of Prince-y funk. But you’re also doing some sort of cocktail music. Are those genres your touchstones?
Before I went to the studio, I was listening to a lot of ’90s Spice Girls. Beyond that, when I’m writing a comedy song, it’s like, “h, if you’re talking about some grotesque thing, maybe we’ll make it a love ballad.” Juxtaposition is always interesting to me. The genre I use is just to comment on the message of the song, and what joke I’m going for. That’s why it spans so many different little bits.
Are you going to be touring at all behind this release?
This album is like, half old songs that have already been in my specials and half new. I think I’m going to wait until I write my next hour of comedy to go on tour. I just finished a tour at the end of the summer. So, I’m going to start fresh in the new year, and then hopefully, incorporate some of these newer songs in my next show. I’ll probably not be touring for a few months.
You were in the current season of Only Murders in the Building. What character did you play?
I play one of the Brothers sisters.
You did? Looking at the photos from this album release, I did not make the connection.
I hope I’m a transformative actor, so I appreciate that. Especially living in New York, Only Murders in the Building was a dream gig — working my comedic heroes on a show that everyone watches. I’m waiting for the next big gig, so I’m manifesting, obviously — a massive role for the new year, this interview.
And seeing an astrologer about it as well.
Always, always.