What inspired you to start your music career?
I don’t remember ever making a conscious choice to be a singer. It started at a very young age before I have memories. I’ve been singing my whole life and I just always knew deep down that it’s what I was born to do.
Did you have a break out song that started things for you?
I didn’t have a breakout song that started things for me. It’s just been years of hard work and struggle and persistence. Doing youtube videos, performing anywhere I could, and networking has been what has gotten me here. It’s been a long road but so worth it.
We are so excited to be premiering your new single “Superstar”. How did the idea for this song come about?
Every song on my album has a positive message. I wanted to write something about feeling insecure and touch on how much time and effort a lot of girls put into looking good everyday. I was mentoring a group of girls for 4 years and wanted to write a song that they could relate to, and I wrote lyrics that I thought they needed to hear. This song is meant to be encouraging to anyone needing to hear these words.
Can you tell us the meaning behind the name “superstar” ?
Superstar is about my own high school experience, caring too much what other people thought and focusing so much on my outward appearance. Doing my hair and makeup everyday, changing 5 times before settling on an outfit, and getting up earlier to do my hair was almost every day of school for me. It only made me more insecure, and I put so much pressure on myself to meet this standard of beauty I set for myself. When I learned to love myself as I am that’s when I really became confident and secure. I wanted to write about this because I know it’s such a struggle for so many people, young girls especially and I wanted to speak to that!
Any fun moments while creating the song?
I don’t think there was a funny moment that sticks out but I remember getting stuck on a lyric for a couple hours. It ended up being “looking in the mirror now making sure you’re perfect..”, but we played with so many different ideas, like “mirror, mirror on
the wall, tell me I look perfect”. It’s such a simple lyric but we got so stuck and over thought it for sure! We were frustrated, we laughed, and we were so happy when we finally found the right lyrics!
Whats the process of writing one of your songs?
I wouldn’t say I have a formula or the same process every time. Every songwriter and producer I work with bring different vibes and ways of doing things. I love working with other people because it challenges me, I think differently and try new things. Sometimes we start with a track the producer built, or we start with a lyric idea or concept, or sometimes just a melody. Sometimes we sit down with a guitar and try different chords and melodies. Every time is different which makes it exciting! When I write on my own it’s just me with my guitar in my room with a notepad. For this album we worked with the same producer for a lot of the songs, Mike Krompass. Usually he would bring out his guitar and we’d play around with different ideas until something stuck. Then he would build the track on his computer while the songwriter and I wrote the lyrics.
You currently are on the High School Nation Tour. Can you tell our viewers about this tour?
I was on the High School Nation tour for 5 weeks, we toured the west coast of the US. We went to different schools and set up an outdoor festival in their football fields. We had two stages and many different artists. I played on the main stage and had so much
fun! There was the Hollister ball pit, the guitar centre lounge where kids can play different instruments and experiment with recording software. Takis, Sparkling Ice, Cow Tails and Truth also had really fun things to do and were giving away free stuff. Each
school we went to receives a free recording studio! The equipment is all being donated because High School Nation supports the music and the arts in schools and I was so happy to be a part of something so great!
How did you become involved with such a cool project?
As an artist with a positive message and songs that I hope to inspire kids with it just made sense for me to partner with High School Nation. They are doing so many great things and I wanted to be a part of that!
Another amazing thing you’ve done is work with World Vision to have all the proceeds from your merch go to help hungry children in Africa and Asia. Its incredible! How did you get involved with this?
My family sponsored kids through World Vision when I was growing up so I knew it was something I wanted to do when I got older as well. When things started happening for me as an artist I wanted to involve World Vision and support their amazing organization. They allowed me go to Malawi to meet my sponsor child and it was a life changing experience, so I wanted to partner with them on this tour. I chose one of their initiatives that supports the first 1000 days of a babies life in Asia or Africa. I’m sure I’ll be an Ambassador for World Vision for a very long time because I really believe in what they’re doing and how they do it.
You also recently opened for Silento and Plain White T’s on a 24 City Tour. Can you tell us all about this experience and how it came about for you?
Silento was the headliner for the High School Nation tour. Plain White T’s were supposed to join us halfway through but it didn’t end up working out for them. There were so many great artists and bands that I got to meet on this tour. We went to 25 different schools in 5 weeks, it was a whirlwind but such an incredible experience!
What was the best moment on tour for you?
The best moment was always meeting kids after my performance. I got a lot of hugs, a lot of love and so many kids told me that my music spoke to them, Superstar especially. I’m so excited to release this song because kids really connected with it which is exactly
what I hoped for! I loved meeting the students, hearing their stories, taking photos with them and getting messages over Instagram if they were too shy to come meet me. Every day I looked forward to getting to my merch table once I got off stage and seeing the kids waiting to meet me!
Any other fun things in the works you can tell us about?
Next month I’m performing at a huge youth conference in Alberta, Canada which I’m really excited about! Other than that I have a huge announcement coming very soon that will change my career, but I can’t say just yet!
Do you have any last things you want to tell your supporters?
I’m so excited for this song and I hope it resonates with people. You’re not alone in feeling insecure, we all struggle sometimes with how we look, feeling like we don’t measure up or like we’re not enough, but if we learn to love ourselves and love other people
then we can get through those struggles together!
Make Sure To Give A Listen To Rachael’s New Single “Superstar”
