Rachel Chinouriri: “I’ve not compromised with anything”

With ‘What A Devastating Turn of Events’, Rachel Chinouriri cements her role as a shoulder to cry on and a guiding light through dark times, as she embarks on a new chapter of writing from a place of happiness and freedom. With her Glastonbury appearance set for later today (30th June), we caught up with her to find out more.

Words: Neive McCarthy.

Think of your favourite artists. Some of them, you turn to because they put a smile on your face and lift your mood. Some of them facilitate some of your best wallowing. Some offer a way to let out your anger and rage. Rachel Chinouriri is a shoulder to cry on, a hand to hold and pull you through the darker times. She’s been there, she understands, and she’s determined to get you through, no matter what it takes. 

‘What A Devastating Turn of Events’ comes eight years into Rachel’s career, and it took her going through those dark times to get here. “I’d written an album and finished it in 2020, which never came out,” Rachel reflects over Zoom a few weeks after her debut’s release. “Now that I have this album, I know that first album wasn’t me. I feel like I’ve kept being redirected by the universe into the right pockets and paths. Every time I wanted something to happen, there would sometimes be a label reason or a personal reason, or sometimes it would just fall through. I was always like, ‘Why?’. But it’s led to everything that has happened, which wouldn’t have happened unless everything before it had. I feel quite lucky that I think the universe has got my back, and I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Fate has a funny way of intervening and ensuring things pan out the right way. Perhaps it’s a case of not being ready, or perhaps it’s a case of needing to learn and grow before achieving something. Everything happens when it is meant to, for a reason, and for Rachel, change and growth were crucial before anything fell into place as she envisioned. The years preceding the album were transformative, for reasons good and bad, and ‘What A Devastating Turn of Events’ tells Rachel’s story on her own terms – a story about those changes and hardships and the lessons learnt from them. Undoubtedly, it wouldn’t have been the same album without the chain reaction of events inspiring it.

“From the artwork to the name of the album, to the tracklisting – I’ve not compromised with anything because my label understand that creatively this vision is important to me, not just because of what it is, but because of the nature of the songs. It’s my story to tell, they can’t tell me how to write my life story. I feel incredibly lucky.”

“I’d written an album and finished it in 2020, which never came out”

rachel chinouriri

The album is haunted by tragedy and grief, heartache and loss. It’s incredibly powerful and never shies away from the reality of the everyday – whether that be Rachel’s everyday or a reminder of the realities the less fortunate face daily. It’s upfront and undiluted, and shines for that ability to face up to what has come before, no matter how harrowing it may be. 

“I tackle a lot of trauma head-on,” Rachel acknowledges. “I’m quite a dark person. Not dark in a horrible way, but when people tell me sad stuff, it doesn’t really affect me. It’s not that I don’t care, but I think I’m a person who deeply empathises with sad things, so I more find it interesting. That’s how I’ve dealt with my personal traumas. Obviously, I cry about things, but even in the studio meeting someone for the first time, I’ll be like, ‘Okay, so my niece died, I want to write a song about being robbed of her, and I want to say this’. For me, that’s very matter-of-fact because that’s what happened at the end of the day. But for the producer, they’re like, ‘Whoa, are you okay?’. Music has always been a way for me to say something and get my feelings and emotions out, and it’s something that has to be said. Confronting it felt quite natural because music has always been a natural confronter of things. The only difference is that now, I actually release it to a label and to the world – when I was younger, I’d write it and keep it for myself.”

In chronicling these experiences in song, Rachel also offers some comfort to her listeners in knowing they are not alone, even in the most difficult of situations. She centres empathy and gratitude throughout – the album acts as a reminder that you can come out of the other side and be fortunate that you have. 

“I think the things that make really horrible and dark things seem scary is one, lack of relatability, and two, how some people might feel like they might never end up in that situation, which is absolutely not true. I try to make the songs relatable. With songs like ‘What A Devastating Turn of Events’, it goes from Insta DMs to a date to suddenly you’re pregnant. In a different world, this could end very badly. Sometimes, in the first world, people think they’ll just get an abortion – most people don’t get to that point because they have contraception or very understanding parents. 

“But in a non-first world country, that could be life or death – people get killed for those things. We all live in the same world at the same time, but the realities are so different. I think it’s just making everyone’s reality relatable in some way and having empathy for others’ realities.”

She notes that the title-track often sees people nodding along at shows before they realise the shattering subject matter. It’s something that she manages to do often; she gives voice to these heavy, brutal stories through her distinctive vocals and enigmatic indie rock stylings. Her sound draws you in and before you know it, she is passing these stories on to you and ensuring you hear them and understand them. As narrator, Rachel both confides and acts as a confidante – she has the intimacy of a close friend telling you these things in confidence and giving you a safe space to share your story too.

In assuming this role, she encourages the act of moving on. Whether it’s from the disrespectful men of ‘It Is What It Is’ and ‘Dumb Bitch Juice’, the behaviours you are guilty of, or the insecurities that have held you back for as long as you can remember, Rachel prompts you to choose growth and reflection and getting through. 

“When I was younger, there was a lot of wallowing in my sadness,” Rachel recalls. “There’s a degree, though, where it hits a point, and your wallowing ends up becoming your fault. Even if someone does you wrong, you hit a point where you realise you’re being detrimental to yourself because you can’t learn to move on from something for a long time. Writing this album made me realise that because writing music helps me let go.”

Having spent years of her career trying to fit into different boxes and accommodate others, it was on the journey to writing the album that Rachel learnt what was most important: making something she loved and was proud of. The butterfly effect of that choice ripples through the album and her personal life, too.

“I started writing music for how I feel again, and as soon as I started doing that I noticed a change in myself. I was less angry, more calm, more forgiving of myself. I started hitting a point where I didn’t want people to listen to the album and be like, ‘Wow, I’m so sorry she went through that’. I wanted people to listen to it and be like shit, some of this stuff was really sad but look at the outcome of it and how it has turned out – I’ve managed to release the album, I’ve managed to slay, hopefully. I’m able to get on stage and sing really sad songs that will make me cry onstage sometimes but still be fine and smiling after.”

“I tackle a lot of trauma head-on; I’m quite a dark person”

rachel chinouriri

These major realisations went hand in hand with big changes in Rachel’s day-to-day life, too. After a big blowout to celebrate her 25th birthday last November, something switched and saw her taking a more serious approach to the upcoming album than she might’ve done before. “When boys who would text me who I’d usually be attracted to, I was like, I don’t want you. I started speaking to my current boyfriend, who is very sensible, and I was like, ‘Why is this happening?’. January came, and I was going to the gym, drinking less, and working out. I was like, ‘Why has this started happening out of nowhere?’. I was an absolute treacherous partier for the last three years, and now I want to stay at home and work out.” 

Hyper-focused and with a fresh perspective, that message of coming out of the other side began to resonate more and more. The album throws a lot at you, relentlessly – each time things alleviate somewhat, something harder-hitting comes along. That’s the nature of life, though – people do go through these things and things get worse even when it seems it isn’t possible, and Rachel is just holding up a mirror to that. 

The album concludes, however, with some levity. After the breath-stealing ‘Robbed’ and the aching ‘I Hate Myself’ comes ‘Pocket’ and ‘So My Darling’, a closing duo that brim over with hope. It’s a reminder that despite all those hardships, things can and will turn out okay. It’s a message to the people who Rachel says saved her – her fans.

“They are the foundations of everything, and without them, I wouldn’t be anything,” Rachel says. “They are the ones who believe in this enough to invest in it, and buy tickets, and come to shows and do their makeup and hair and put their clips in and tweet and make TikToks. In a world where people can feel so lonely, it’s lucky to know that even if I was completely by myself in this world, I could go on my phone, and one of them will respond. It’s very lucky to have them. As lucky as I am, before they disappear, I’d at least like to make them feel as special as they make me feel.”

As she moves forward into this new chapter of being able to breathe deeper and move on more freely, the trajectory of Rachel’s career is set to change. Anger and hurt are to be replaced by love and joy, which presents a new set of challenges in her music. They are challenges she is more than ready to embrace, though.

“I think a lot of musicians start there – music is a vice of release or expression that allows you to forget about the world. I’ve seen so many musicians who have hit high places who then have mental breakdowns or tank, and they’re like, life is almost too good to find something to write about. I thought about it and realised I never want to be that person. I’ve constantly had to fight to be happy – I wasn’t lucky enough to be that kid who was just happy and have nothing go wrong. My fans are the reason why I have been able to be saved from the dark place I was in. I owe it to them to show that you can have fun and be free, and I’m excited to challenge myself to write from a happy place because I think I self-sabotaged. I’m the most free and happy I’ve ever been, and this is where 13-year-old me wanted to be, so I’m excited to explore this new chapter of writing music.” ■

Taken from the July 2024 issue of Dork. Rachel Chinouriri’s album ‘What A Devastating Turn of Events’ is out now.