Rachel Chinouriri joins Rebecca Judd on Apple Music 1 to discuss releasing her debut album, shoutouts from Adele, being a black woman in Alternative music and more.
Rachel Chinouriri joins Rebecca Judd on Apple Music 1 to discuss the process behind releasing her debut album ‘What A Devastating Turn Of Events.’ She discusses not wanting to include ‘All I Ever Asked’ on the album, including both the Union Jack and Zimbabwe flags on the album cover. She also talks about being a black woman in alternative music, how she was mislabeled as a soul/R&B artist and how this has changed. She also discusses going viral, her shout out from Adele and wanting to work with Willow Smith.
Rachel Chinouriri discusses the process of releasing her debut album…
I've realised that I probably needed that time because I wasn't in the right place. I think every time it veered, it was a redirection to get me to this point. I'm very happy. I think I've had to do so much inner work for me to be the way that I am. Being a musician is so hard, even to get to the point of being signed, there are so many musicians who don't even get the chance to be at that point.
When you do get signed, it is a group of people, whether you think it or not, who want you to succeed, because you succeeding means that they succeed. I think just having that and knowing everyone's trying to find different avenues for it to work, I'm very grateful that it did work out and that I've got my debut album exactly how I want it to be as well.
Rachel Chinouriri talks not wanting to include ‘All I Ever Asked’ on her debut album…
I’ll be completely real. I didn’t want it [All I Ever Asked] on there at first. I was doing the classic thing of being a musician where once you make a world, I was very protective over it and I was like, “Okay, well, ‘All I Ever Asked’ is a different era of my life and this is my new era of life.” So then I handed it to my label team, and they were like, “So what do you think about this song being there?” I was like, “Nope, nope, nope. Don’t want to hear it, it’s not part of the world. It’s a different story.” Then over time I started realising, one, the importance of that song, what that song has done for me as an artist. Also, it’s a little vibe. Then once I got over my little temper tantrum, I was like, “Oh, actually, this does sound good together.”
Rachel Chinouriri discusses including her English and Zimbabwean identity in her debut album…
Having those flags is a big thing because I think the most interesting art sometimes is if you look at it and it either makes you feel uncomfortable to some degree or you have to question why something has been done. I think if you look at a Black woman standing in front of not just a Union Jack, I think you’ll look at it and be like, “What on earth is going on here?” Then the title is ‘What A Devastating Turn Of Events,’ I want people to have an interest to look into why that has been said and look into the album. But I also think there’s a degree of being as proud of a Zimbabwean as I am, I am English by nature, culture. I was born here.
Rachel Chinouriri talks being a black woman in alternative music…
I’ve got a British passport, can’t do anything about that. But now I think there’s an opportunity for Black Brits to really show how much English culture and the mix of multiple cultures can affect us. Growing up, I never saw a Black woman being a Lily Allen, or an Amy [Winehouse]... I hope there’s people who I can look at and be like, “Wow, I could be that one day.” I think in this day and age, there is a lot more of that. People like Cat Burns, me, flowerovlove, Olivia Dean, there’s so many. Americans like Rico Nasty, there’s so much now. I hope the 13-year-olds who were like me and wanted to do music can look and be like, “Okay, this achievable.” When things do happen, you can speak up about it, because the people before us couldn’t speak about it.
Rachel Chinouriri talks being mislabeled as a soul / R&B artist and how this has changed…
I feel quite lucky because my post went viral and I can see the shift of what’s happened and people are like, “Oh, do you think it’s changed?” I’m like, “Well, that’s interesting, because for me, it’s changed.” So for me to then be in the position where I can come to platforms like this and speak about it and be like, “Oh my gosh. It’s fixed now guys, it’s changed.” It’s not fair to the other people who have not had a viral post and are still going through those things. It’s 100% not changed to some degree, but there’s been a push forward, I guess. There are still so many hurdles that Black artists still go through behind the scenes, which maybe they’re slightly worried to speak about, but I like that I see people speak about it more. It’s spoken about more openly.
We can speak about it more openly and I’m a Black woman, you’re a white woman. There’s an understanding of what hurdles people can go through and these are the conversations and the platforms where you can speak about these things and have change. Hopefully, other Black and POC musicians can listen and be like, “Oh, okay. Well, people now understand outside of behind the scenes what has been going on and people can help push forward the change,” which is incredible that we can be more part of a conversation of change versus a conversation of protest to a degree.
Rachel Chinouriri talks being shouted out by Adele…
She shouted me out. She might’ve come to the show, but I don’t think she was feeling well. She wasn’t doing her shows when I went there and I was like, “Oh, so unlucky.” But the fact that she’d even seen the video and remembered it enough to even shout me out, I went slightly insane.
Rachel Chinouriri talks wanting to work with Willow Smith…
I’d love to do a song or a session with Willow Smith. I think she’s really cool and really creative and she’s doing great things for music as well in America, I mean everywhere, to be honest. I think her ideas for melodies and guitar and bass lines and her attitude when she performs, I think it’s really wicked and really cool. She’s a Scorpio.
