Cayley Marie Spivey is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.[2] They[a] began their career performing as a solo project known as Small Talks, recording and touring as a three-piece band. Under the Small Talks name, Spivey released the EP Until It Turns to Petals in 2017.[4] The project's first full-length studio album A Conversation Between Us was released on February 1, 2019, via Common Ground Records.[5]
In August 2020, Spivey announced they would be releasing new music full time under their own name and retiring the Small Talks moniker.[6] In conjunction with that announcement, Spivey released "SFU", their first single using their given name.[7]
On March 29, 2024, Spivey released their first digital album of music under their own name, the eight track Her, highlighted by the singles "Backseat Boyfriend" and "ILY.".[8]
Career
Spivey began writing acoustic songs in their bedroom by the age of 15, and soon began booking local shows at coffee shops in their native Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.[9] They originally began their career under the stage name Small Talks. The COVID-19 pandemic affected their music journey and overall reach, so they turned to content creation to promote their work while the world was physically isolating. As they gained popularity on platforms such as TikTok, the public began to connect Small Talks to Spivey; they decided to embrace their given name and pivot their music branding rather than continue to push Small Talks. They decided they wanted to commit to an Indie Pop brand- in addition to preventing being confused for a full band rather than a solo artist- and wrote SFU, their first pop based single under Cayley Spivey.[10]
As Small Talks (2015–2019)
Originally formed as a three-piece band on May 31, 2015,[11] to perform their songs live, Spivey created the solo project Small Talks and played a number of club and house shows around Myrtle Beach, developing a strong local following.[citation needed]
In January 2017, the band was signed to California-based label Common Ground Records[12] and released their debut EP Until It Turns To Petals, featuring the singles "New Dork Pity" and "Cop Car". That same year, the band was named co-winners of the "Skullcandy StayLoud Showdown" at the Knitting Factory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn,[13] headlined by Canadian band July Talk, earning themselves ten dates on the 2017 Van's Warped Tour.[14]
On August 5, 2020, Spivey announced that they would be releasing music for the first time under their given name, and retiring the Small Talks moniker for good.[15] The move was to lean more into pop music over indie rock, and to increase their chances at success. "Since the project Small Talks has always been me," they explain, "I realized it's not going to help if I'm constantly mistaken for a band."[16]
At midnight Eastern Time on August 14, 2020, Spivey released their first single under their own name, entitled "SFU," meaning "so fucked up."[17]
According to Spivey, the single "is an anthem for being trapped in a less than ideal situation through the lens of a hopeless romantic. I have a habit of romanticizing things that aren't good for me whenever I'm not ready to let it go. This is me sharing my story of being stuck in a loop until I could see clearly enough to remove love's blinders and walk away. Love can make me do crazy things, this song was my way of reflecting on why that is."[18]
On October 26, 2020, Spivey released their second single under their own name, "Not Over You Yet".[19] Their third single, "Cross The Line", was released on March 19, 2021.[20] The singles "Bad For Each Other", "Ordinary" (feat. DazyFace), and "Backseat Boyfriend" were released during the winter of 2021 and 2022.[21] On October 27, 2023, Spivey released the digital album Her on Spotify (and other services), featuring previously released tracks like "Backseat Boyfriend" and "ILY" along with six other tracks.[22]
On June 14, 2024, Spivey and singer/songwriter Lyncs released the duet single "Worst Case Scenario,"[23] and later in 2024 Spivey joined Lyncs' touring band playing lead guitar and performing backing vocals on a nationwide tour.[24] Later in 2024, Spivey performed with the band backing Laur Elle.[citation needed]
In 2025, Spivey released three singles- Fade Into The Room, Reciprocal, and Camera Boy- along with another EP titled Camera Boy (Stripped).
The evolution of their music is not just based on statistics, Spivey has advanced in their writing as well. Originally, lyrics avoided pronouns and were not overtly queer. Now, after their experience with TikTok and their own journey, lyrics are crafted to celebrate queerness and the uniqueness of queer relationships. Spivey now prides themself in being classified as a queer artist and hopes that they can bring community and representation through their work. From coming to studios full of predetermined ideas and plans, to entering with a blank slate and trust in the process, Spivey has now written many queer love stories accompanied by their pop punk style.[25]
Personal life
Spivey is non-binary, and uses they/them pronouns, but accepts being referred to by any pronouns.[3] They also identify as pansexual, and refers to their sexuality – as well as their gender – as an integral piece of their sound, stating "a lot of my songs are inspired by relationships that I've had, and that comes from me being LGBTQ."[26]
They have embraced viral social media video app TikTok[7] both as a music artist and as an LGBTQ performer.[27] Spivey has a growing social media presence. In the last few years, TikTok has been their most popular platform. They have 281.7k followers on TikTok, 105k followers on Instagram, 4.2k subscribers on YouTube, and 603 followers on SoundCloud. Their most popular videos are their music videos; on YouTube the three most popular music videos are SFU (48.4k views), Backseat Boyfriend (43.3k views), and Not Over You Yet (41.8k views). Spivey is classified as Pop, Indie Pop, and Pop Rock. They have had 25 live performances from 2018 until November of 2025, but are working to obtain more. All except two were in the United States, the outliers were in Canada.[28]
Accompanying band
Current members
Cayley Spivey – vocals, guitar
Emma Oakley – guitar
Tessa Reid – bass
Sam Partridge – drums
Past members
Justin Charette – drums
Tyler Lankford – bass
Kenny Kelly – bass
Blake Byrd – drums
Doug Smith – bass
Tom LeBeau – drums
Discography
Cayley Spivey has a decent sized discography beginning in 2017 with their band Small Talks. They have a solo album titled Her, released in 2023. In addition to this album, they have four EPs and twenty singles. Two of the EPs are with Small Talks, and only five of the singles are associated with the band. Spivey has 27,833 monthly listeners on the Spotify platform and is verified by the company as well. They are most listened to in London, Great Britain and Chicago, USA with 536 listeners and 410 listeners respectively.[29]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
