In the warm spring days leading up to singer Colbie Caillat's Penn State show, the one word the artist uses to sum up her music seems fitting.
"Sunny" was the adjective Caillat chose to describe CoCo, her album full of laid-back tunes accompanied by acoustic guitar, which she will perform at 10 p.m. Thursday in HUB Alumni Hall.
The concert, sponsored by the Student Programming Association (SPA), will open with acoustic guitarist Jason Reeves. Caillat said those who attend her show can expect to relax and have a good time.
"The show pretty much reenacts the album," the Malibu, Calif., native said. "I have five cute guys in my band, and we all have a lot of fun on stage. It's real laid-back; we're just up there to play music."
Fernando Disla, director of SPA events, said the organization wanted to provide a show that was somewhat different from shows they had presented before.
"We wanted to do something different and more diverse than what we've done in the past," Disla said. "Students can expect an intimate show that will definitely bring a good vibe."
Caillat rose to fame through the social networking Web site MySpace.com. In 2007, she was one of Rolling Stone's top female artists on MySpace and was the No. 1 unsigned artist on the site for more than four months.
One of the songs Caillat posted on her page -- "Bubbly," a feel-good song about being in love -- was the first single on her debut album, which reached platinum status. Caillat, who wrote the song two summers ago, said she thinks it caught on so quickly because many people can relate to it.
"I had never been in love and I really wanted to know what it was like to have all those feelings," Caillat said of her hit, which contains lyrics such as " 'cause every time I see your bubbly face, I get the 'tinglees' in a silly place."
"I was summing up all the feelings that I got when I liked someone and making my ideal picture of love," Caillat said.
"Bubbly" reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, and her album CoCo reached No. 1 on iTunes. The album's popularity has reached Penn State fans, some of whom have followed Caillat since her days as an mostly unknown artist on MySpace.
"I first heard her music on her MySpace page," Kathleen Rafferty (junior-nursing) said. "I like her style of music. It's a lot different than everything else that is out there."
So now that MySpace and Billboard success has led the singer to mainstream stardom, how does the 21-year-old stay out of the negative limelight that has managed to surround some other popular music artists in her age group?
"For me it's not hard. I guess it's just about what you're into. I'm really mellow, so it's not like I'm always going out and partying," said the self-proclaimed California girl, who likes to practice water sports or photography when she's not singing or writing. "When I go out and party, it's with my band or my friends and we'll go to barbecues or bonfires."
Caillat credits her style of music to a combination of musical influences, which include Lauryn Hill, John Mayer and Bob Marley.
She said she uses these artistic influences, personal memories such as trips to Hawaii when she was younger and whatever she's feeling at the moment as inspiration for her music.
"It's like a therapy," Caillat said about her writing process. "It's a relief to get it all out through writing when I have stuff on my mind and emotions built up inside of me. I start writing and singing the melody on top of it and everything just kind of happens and it results in music I hope people can really enjoy."
