Carrie Matisse - Baby Robotic
STREAMING | INSTAGRAM | BANDCAMP | TIKTOK
Singer-songwriter and poet Caroline Colantonio introduces Baby Robotic, a haunting, poetic debut single that marks the beginning of Carrie Matisse — a conceptual narrative blending music, literature, and emotional excavation. Inspired by a chance encounter with a single poem during a moment of personal reckoning, Baby Robotic offers a sonic and lyrical glimpse into the beginning of a larger world.
On December 6, 2021, Colantonio found herself at the Toronto Reference Library, grieving the collapse of a friendship and the weight of global and personal uncertainty. What she found instead was The Niobe Poems by poet Kate Daniels — and a piece titled Sorrow Figure that changed everything.
“The poem Sorrow Figure brought me to tears,” explains Colantonio. “I thought of it all night, returned to the library the next day to read it again, and bought myself a copy of the book. Kate’s poem inspired the song Baby Robotic, the concept for the music video, and provided the very particular and perfect comfort I needed at the time — in a way only poetry can.”
Though she had been preparing to pursue a PhD, the writing of Baby Robotic marked a return to the art form that’s defined her life. The track was recorded in collaboration with producer Benjamin Thomas and vocal coach Marla Joy, and is the first chapter in the evolving narrative of Carrie Matisse — a fictional character rooted in Colantonio’s own experiences, shaped by literature, poetry, and the vivid colours of Fauvist painter Henri Matisse.
Baby Robotic marks the opening scene of Carrie Matisse’s journey, as she sits in her backyard at emotional rock bottom. She thinks about what really matters to her and mourns the loss of innocence she sees in the way people treat one another. The single is an invitation to join an existential journey that will unfold over a series of deeply personal, evocative poems and songs. It’s a doorway descending into a rabbit hole, a reflection on how it feels to see the coming of the end of something you thought would last forever. A wheel of blue forget-me-nots on a hill you’ll never climb but always clock in the distance. It’s a way into a way out.