Authentic Songwriting With Rachel Grace – Episode 1

Yippee! The Confidence In Singing Podcast is launching this week!!!

I’m so excited to be sharing this conversation with Rachel Grace who is a up and coming, young singer songwriter from Wexford.

Enjoy!

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www.facebook.com/rachelgracemusicwx

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0:44
Welcome everyone. This is Aideen from confidence in singing and today my guest is Rachel grace from county Wexford. You’re very welcome, Rachel. Hi, thanks for having me. You’re welcome. And so Rachel, I’m just going to introduce you for our listeners who don’t know already who you are. Rachel Grace is a 19 year old singer songwriter from Wexford. Her music is a melting pot of soul, pop and folk with a particular focus on heartfelt and honest lyric writing. Her first EP in 2018 was was released in 2018. And she spent the last couple of years playing Ireland’s favorite venues and festivals like electric picnic, Whelan’s in the National Opera as an expert. Most recently, Rachel won the AER solo artists award in Northern Ireland, and took first prize in the four star pizza Star Nation competition, in which she was competing against Ireland’s top artists. Her last single Cry Me An Ocean was released in October 2020. And she’s currently in the studio working on more releases, which we look forward to. The thing that comes first to my mind reading that bio is the focus on heartfelt and honest lyric writing, because I’ve listened to a lot of your songs. And I have to say, it’s the one thing that really makes your singing stand out is it is so heartfelt and you put so much emotion into it. How do you do that?

2:10
God, That’s an interesting question. And I don’t really know, I think as a songwriter, I think it’s very important to write from a kind of authentic place and an honest kind of place. So yeah, I guess I want to write songs that people will connect to, because that’s the main thing, when you’re performing, you want your audience to be in that same headspace as you and feel your feelings. So yeah, I guess that’s kind of why I do it.

2:38
Yeah. And do you feel I mean, I know for a lot of people that are maybe listening, they might be singing, but maybe don’t have the experience, or they may not want to perform in front of large audiences. But it can be terrifying to put yourself out there and bring the emotions to a song because that takes a lot more skill than just even singing a song.

3:02
Yeah, well, for me, I think I’m not that big of a performer. I don’t, you know, jump around the stage or do backflips or anything like that. So really, the emotion of the song is where I kind of really hone in on. And yeah, do ya know…

3:19
Do you ever feel like you’re revealing too much like, when you started off singing were you always able to bring that vulnerability to your singing? Or is it something that you developed or that you were conscious of at all?

3:32
I think it’s something I developed through songwriting. When I was doing covers and so I felt like this isn’t a place where, you know, I would kind of connect to so when I wrote myself, then it all just kind of clicked into place, I guess. And, yeah, I’m really bad at answering questions. But definitely the vulnerability came true in my songwriting,

3:53
through songwriting. And can you tell us a little bit about the first couple of songs you started writing? Like, what was what was the content? I’m going deep now! Am I going too deep Rachel?

4:04
It was I was about 10 years old, I think. And I think I got asked to write poem, you know, when you’re in primary school, and you get asked to write poems and stuff, and it was about bullying. So I just kind of turned that song into, the poem into a song, because I was just starting to learn guitar and all, kind of melody and singing and stuff at the time. And it was very dark and depressing for a 10 year old to write. Yeah, the songs have gotten happier over the years. I think

4:33
I’m glad glad to hear that. And would you were people surprised by by that first song then and seen as you were so young, and the subject matter was quite deep?

4:43
So So dark, yeah. My mom asked me if I was okay several times after she heard that. But uh, yeah, I just felt like it was something that needed to be, needed to be written, you know?

4:54
Yeah. Do you often write from a place of, you know, almost like, it’s like a It needs to be written not just for it sounds like you’re saying that it didn’t just need to be written from your point of view, but it needs to be written from the point of view of it’s happening socially or is happening within your environment and other people maybe need to hear that too. Is that what you mean?

5:15
Yeah. Yeah, and like when I write, I don’t have a lot of experience, but I’m 19 years old, and I haven’t knew I had loads of boyfriends to break up with or whatever. So I kind of, I like writing about general subjects that I know everyone can relate to. You get me?

5:32
Yeah. So like, it’s almost like a social commentary. And I think that that’s really, where a lot of really great songwriters have focused their energy, you know, Bob Dylan, and I mean, so many amazing songs about what’s going on, like what’s going on right now in the world.

5:51
Exactly. Yeah. And they’re universal, like, everybody can connect with them, you know, they’re not just specifically driven towards someone’s experience, everybody can relate to it.

6:02
That’s really great. Tell me a bit about this. Your latest thing, single Cry Me an Ocean, what was the focus there?

6:13
I wrote it about, you know, one of those friends they have on their own very much “me, me, me” kind of. So it’s, it’s very much a sassy kind of song about one of those friends and I really liked writing it. It’s very up beat and kind of just playful. And you know, usually I am very emotional and, you know, heartfelt or whatever. But this is pure feck off kind of thing.

6:40
What is it like, you know, cop onto yourself?

6:44
yeah, Cry Me An Ocean…. like I don’t care…

6:49
Oh, I did. I’m looking forward to hearing it. I know, we’re going to play that song at the end of the podcast, so we can all look forward to hearing a bit more of that later. Tell me a little bit about your own confidence. So you know, within, you know, singing and songwriting, it takes a lot to put yourself out there sometimes. Where does your confidence come from? When did you kind of start start kind of getting a handle on that?

7:16
I think self confidence is very, it’s not like a linear experience. It’s very often down some days, you’re like, on the best. And the other days, you’re like, Oh, Jesus, I don’t want to sing anymore, you know. But um, yeah, I was a very, very shy child. And when I started singing, when I was like, eight or nine, I have to be in the room that’s farthest away from my mom and dad, and you know, all the doors closed, so nobody could hear me. And then when my mom kind of figured that I was getting into it a bit, she got me some singing lessons with a family friend. And that was the first time I’d ever really song in front of someone. And I think she was really important part of encouraging me, and kind of giving me that confidence to actually sing in front of other people. And then she got me my first gig. It was like on the quay in Wexford, and it was, you know, there’s loads of people and I was absolutely bricking it. But then after, after the one gig, it was like, Okay, this isn’t, isn’t as bad as I thought it would be, you know, but yeah, it’s definitely a very open down kind of thing. Yeah.

8:23
What was your experience taking singing lessons, because I know that some people will be a bit like you a little bit more shy to sing in front of someone else, and maybe reluctant or have a preconceived notion of what that is. And it sounds like you you had a positive experience with your teacher? What was it that made it work so well for you?

8:45
Well, I think she was, she was a friend, you know, and I felt really comfortable in front of her. And she just, I guess, she taught me the proper way to do it. And you know, vowel placements and exercises, and when when you have the tools, it’s a lot easier to kind of, you know, develop yourself and be more confident, because, you know, I’m doing this right, you know,

9:08
yeah, absolutely. I think yeah, I mean, it’s certainly for sometimes, if you have a trick up your sleeve for that high note, like, I have little tricks that I teach people, you know, to, so that they don’t bring their chin up in the air or create tension for high notes. And when you do have something, it’s like, yeah, I can handle that now. It’s like you have a strategy for how to get through

9:30
Exactly. Yeah, exactly.

9:33
And so what When was your first gig what age were you?

9:38
God, I think was about nine, that first gig when my singing teacher

9:42
that was outdoors, the quay in Wexford,

9:45
yeah. And just everybody was walking around. And, you know, I was I still don’t know how I did this. But I’m glad that I did at the end of the day, and yeah, I’ve been gigging properly gigging then since at the age of 10, because my nanny, she’s in the trad band, and so you’d do all the pub gigs. And I would kind of trail behind them and play the bodhran and do the banjo and then eventually, kind of as I got more confident, then I would do like a half hour set of covers all by myself and kind of gradually, then I did my own pub gigs for two hours. So, baby steps eventually got there.

10:22
Yeah, it’s amazing, I love that you started really young, because my feeling is that a lot of people in their teens don’t get opportunities to explore the things that are of interest to them, do ya know what I mean, that they could be interested in a sport or they could get be interested in one particular kind of subject that they don’t get taught in school. And it feels to me like you had opportunities to explore music and singing. And that’s where you, you know what I mean, you really developed your skills. And that’s why you’re where you’re at at such a young age.

11:00
Exactly. Because usually when kind of people go into secondary school, it’s all just Leaving Cert now. And you know, you miss the dance classes or don’t go to GAA anymore. I bought it because I was into it. Before I got in there. It kind of was my main priority rather than school.

11:19
And did your parents support you in that? Or do they understand that you’d already found your calling at a young age?

11:26
Ah, definitely they’re definitely my biggest fans, like my dad, you would drive me to school, and then he’d play my ,my CD in the car as I was walking in. So all the teachers would just hear it and it’s very traumatizing. Oh, yeah, he drives me to all the gigs around the whole country. You know, my mom’s the same as well. She says, as long as you have your Leaving Cert, you know, you can fire away with the music thing. So I’m very lucky in that perspective. You know,

11:57
Are you in college now? Or are you planning to do that?

12:00
Yeah, I just started my while I’m at the end of my first year of college there. Now I’m in BIM, which is a music College in Dublin. So I’m doing commercial modern music with a kind of focus on songwriting, which is really fun.

12:14
Oh, it’s absolutely brilliant. I was chatting to one of it because I studied music in Dublin, in a jazz singing with jazz music with my focus was singing. And it was before BIM had was actually established. And both myself and one of my guests who we were in college together, retain if only BIM had been around, because neither was actually really wanted to continue with just jazz music, you know what I mean? So yeah, it was almost like, there wasn’t anything available, and you could kind of go and study classical music. And there was a little bit of rock, but it wasn’t really established that well at that point. And it was like, if you wanted to learn about music, but you didn’t want to do classical, where would you go? And thankfully, there are places to go now. What’s it like for you in college right now?

13:03
I mean, I haven’t been there yet. on my laptop for the whole thing, basically. Yeah, it’s weird, because, you know, it’s a lot. It’s very practical music. And, you know, the whole thing about is getting to collaborate with people and, you know, jam and arrange music, but it’s hard to do that kind of on zoom. In second year, I’ll actually get to meet people, you know,

13:30
I can see how that would be a completely different experience to when my first year in college. You know, if somebody was like you say, starting off with singing or performing or songwriting? What would you say to them to encourage them or inspire them?

13:48
I’ll give some very cheesy answers now. I would say definitely, just do it. You know, if you have a love of music, and, and it makes you happy, just, just do it. It doesn’t matter if you’ve haven’t taken singing lessons before. You’re not classically trained. You know, just go out there. And I think the biggest thing for me, especially is don’t compare yourself to anyone, because comparison is just the killer of creativity. And it’s where I fall down all the time. You know, I’m like, Oh, sure. I can’t hit that high note like her. There’s no point in doing that. Or this person is an amazing songwriter, and I can’t write like him. It’s just, you know, who cares? You’re you yourself. Just be you be authentic to yourself, you know? And be patient as well, because it doesn’t happen overnight. Like progress is… I’m still progressing and I’m still finding new ways to explore my voice. So you know, yeah, be patient.

14:56
Very wise words. Yeah, when you tell us a little bit about some of the awards that you’ve won, because that’s a big part of what you say in your, in your bio. And that’s, it seems to me that you’ve gained your, you know, popularity and kind of your following by doing competitions and things like that. What Where did that come from? How was that experience been for you?

15:20
Well, the first competition I did was the Wexford Has Talent, which is a big kind of talent competition in in Wexford, obviously, and it was my first experience of kind of competing, you know, musically, which is very weird. And when I won that, it was like a complete ego booster, you know, but it gave me kind of, hey, I can actually do this. And I guess people like what I’m doing, so keep doing it. And then in the pandemic, then in 2020, I won the solo artists award up in Northern Ireland, and I’d never been there was a complete new kind of, you know, area of competition to be doing. And obviously, I didn’t expect to win because everyone else is from Northern Ireland, and they’re so much better than me like, and then when I won that, I was like, Jesus, that’s crazy.

16:12
So you’re never expected to win. It sounds like

16:14
No, I never expect to win. I always think that if you lower your expectations, then you’ll never be disappointed. That’s probably a weird one to have.

16:24
Like, I completely know that right? I was always… I’m an optimist right now. I always tell people now that optimism is my failing because optimism can catch ya out. So many times things you’re looking at, for the best case scenario, and what doesn’t happen is it can cut ya down. Yeah, yeah. So I always think optimism was my is my is my, one of my, my negative qualities. And when I was in London for a few, for about a year and a half, everything went downhill for me. And my, what I did, when I came back was I decided to have the lowest possible expectation. So like, I had all these big dreams and like, even to do my singing and all that. And I decided, right, worst case scenario, I’ll be working in the local supermarket. And I said to myself, right, if that happens, would that be so terrible? I’d be like, no, I get to meet people every day, I’d be able to, you know, I mean, I’d be still able to chat to people, I’d be doing something that people need. So I kind of resigned myself to the worst case scenario. And I decided to have lower expectations, and it served me well. And it’s really interesting that you say that like but at the same time, even though you’ve got those you’ve got, you’re not expecting anything. So you’re not attached so much to the outcome, you’re still putting yourself forward and you’re still not going well, there’s no point in doing it. Because I’m never gonna you know, the way you could kind of talk yourself out of doing it if you have low expectations. So there’s a fine line there, right?

17:56
Yeah, very much like you though. It’s just like, what’s the worst that can happen? You know, I would sing the song. And sure people don’t like it. They don’t like it. They so I have a free day out, and I get to see all these people and meet everyone you know. So it’s a win win either way,

18:10
you know? Absolutely. And could you Would you mind, I don’t know, if you have a story or an embarrassing story about, kind of, things not going the way you would have liked, like in a performance or something like that, that you might like to share? Because I think people do, like they look at you know, and they’d be like, Yeah, well, she’s, she’s really good. And she knows she’s doing and everything. And sometimes when people know that you’ve you’ve had a train wreck at a certain point or you’ve had to pull yourself back up again, after things not going the way you wanted them to go. And it kind of makes them a little bit more optimistic for their own situation.

18:46
There’s, there’s so many, so many. And one in particular that always haunts me to this day, is I had my EP launch. So when I released it, I had this big gig and I was playing with a band for the first time it was all very exciting. And it was very stressful as well. And when I get stressed, I lose my voice like clockwork, I always lose my voice. So it was like two days before the show. My voice is just completely gone. Like it’s never gone before. And it came back about two hours before the show like barely came back. And yeah, there was so many cracks, voice breaks that I can’t like, listen back to the video of it at all. And everybody would ah, I didn’t notice that it’s grand like but I did

19:33
yeah

19:36
yeah, and what’s the other thing? At the competition the four star nation pizza competition then and the song I was gonna sing the winning song. I did the first bit acapella and I did the first bit acapella in a completely different key. So when I went in, I had to like try to transpose like naturally, and yeah, apparently nobody noticed but I definitely did

20:01
You were under pressure. So did you have to change the chords you were playing on the guitar to match the key It started in.

20:07
I just I just changed the key. I was like, Okay, I guess I’ll just sing it in this key and hope they don’t notice that I completely messed up the start. But I won it then. So I guess they didn’t notice.

20:21
Oh my god, you have to think on your feet if you do performance don’t ya.

20:25
You do, anything could happen. Like it’s crazy.

20:28
Yeah, I remember seeing Adele. She did a performance for one of the Grammys. And it was just after George Michael passed away and everything was kind of like a in honor of him and in his memory. So she was singing a George Michael song that you probably had never performed before. And she got up and she started singing and but half a second, a minute in she she just said I have to stop. I’m really sorry. Because it was one of these songs that had kind of a drone in the background. I don’t think she maybe didn’t have her first note or something. Because then we didn’t have the the backing didn’t have anything to to tell you where to be, you know. So she just said, I’m really sorry. Like this is with millions of people like were watching it. I’m really sorry. But I have to do my best with George Michael, it’s for him. I cannot continue my song, I need to start again. I hope you all understand. And I just thought well, how brave to be able to do that. She, it’s hard.

21:31
It is hard. I had to restart a song. The only time I’ve ever restarted a song was that electric picnic. And it was the biggest gig I’ve ever gotten in my life. And two days before I broke a string on my guitar. So I had on I couldn’t fix it. And I had to change the guitar. And the guitar was just constantly out of tune. It was one of those things where you just can’t tune it, just stays horrible and halfway through, I was like, I just can’t sing this anymore. I just have to and I spent about 10 minutes tuning then like at electric picnic which is meant to be the make or break gig for an artist, you know, and I just completely fecked it up. Sure. I got to, you know, go to the festival for the rest of the day and eat loads of food and see loads of people. So…

22:16
do you have it in your bio now as well? It

22:18
looks good, doesn’t it? I can say and it looks good. Nobody cares, but how well you perform as long as you perform there.

22:24
Yeah. Is that funny? But I really like that. I mean nothing worse than listen to like if you if you were to play the song with it all out of tune, like some people would notice. But the musicians would be like, Oh my god, and they be dying for ya on the inside? So I’m glad you stopped and and tune your guitar. But your, yeah, it’s can be really hard your instrument has to be has to be reliable. And it’s almost like your best friend in it and having a new instrument last minute must have been tough

22:55
Yeah, he can’t just do like to this day. I haven’t played that guitar since I just don’t forgive it.

23:06
there was something else in my mind now to ask you but it’s gone, it’s gone away again, is there… tell us a little bit about where you want to go with your music. Or I know you’re having very low expectations. But like if when you when you do let yourself wonder what you want to do. What is it that you’d like to see happen?

23:26
Well, ideally, I’ll be like, you know, the biggest artist of all time. But I’ve my small goals that I’ve set for myself is to sell out the Olympia, which is this kind of big enough venue in Dublin. And I think if I get there and I sell out, then I’ll be happy. You know? Yeah, really just to kind of become more known in Ireland, then hopefully spread there to England, UK. And yeah, I think the US is really hard to break out in there but you can always dream.

23:56
Yeah. And thinking I actually was thinking of the Cranberries there. Because they and even the Coors. They both kind of did a lot in America and then came back to Ireland. And that’s when they became a bit more known in Ireland. And I think the Cranberries went around to all the universities and did the university show circuit. So that’s something that you could that you could easily do, especially while you’re still a student. It’d be a lot of fun to go around and do that, kind of… once COVID is out of the way that’s slowing everyone down.

24:27
I know. Yeah. I think it’s amazing as well. It’s always when Irish artists move abroad, then they get famous and then Irish people like appreciate them and start to notice them. Like I always think it’s mental it’s like Hozier that happened. And I think Dermot Kennedy he like was busking in American and LA when he got kind of noticed. Crazy.

24:49
Yeah, it’s true. Irish people are like that, though. They’re like, Oh, that’s just Rachel. You know, she’s a singer and they’re like,

24:56
Oh my god, she’s in America with that’s new. We grew up with her.

25:00
Exactly then they’ll take a bit of pride in you. Yeah, well, I look forward to that happening for you. But this funny, it’s funny because I think, you know, when we dream about singing and everything, a lot of the time it is that you kind of see you hope to be your icon like who is who is your kind of your Who do you look up to the most as as other singer?

25:20
Hmm, that’s really tricky. I always hate that question. Or like, Who are your influences? Because Oh my god, there’s so many I don’t know. I think Wallis Bird would be one of my main kind of idols. She’s, she’s from Wexford as well. And she’s really kind of big over in Germany, in the kind of Europe. And she has an amazing presence. Like, I’ve seen her twice. And it’s just like, it’s like a spiritual experience when you watch her perform, like, you’ve just, your mind is blown. And she’s an amazing songwriter. And she’s an amazing person as well, which I think is the most impressive out of everything. You know, she has just just a down to earth quality that I want to have.

26:02
Oh, that’s great, because it’s, it’s not just about, about getting your music out there. It’s also about being the best person you can be in your life.

26:11
Exactly, yeah

26:15
I’m sure you’re I mean, you’re already a wonderful person. So you don’t need to improve that that much.

26:21
I don’t know about that now.

26:23
But we all have lessons to learn. I’ve learned most of my lessons later in life, I kind of went around, I was probably like the friend that you’re saying Cry Me An Ocean, although it wasn’t a complainer. But I did. I was one of those people that had that was kind of a little bit like, oh, I’m just kind of in my own little zone and…

26:40
yeah, we’re all in our own zone aren’t we, like, we all think we’re different. And everybody thinks they’re different. So you’re not really different than

26:49
Okay, no, yeah, it’s, I think what happened for me was, in the last few years, I started to really be of service to other people in a different way, especially with my singing teaching. And I took my, my pressure off myself, because I wanted to do the singing, I wanted to be the singer, you know, and that was, I think, a bit of a too much, I was putting too much emphasis on that end. And not realizing that I have all this other stuff going on in my life. And I need to, to be able to, to, to be there for other people a bit and see other people and see what they’re going through. And I think you’ve been blessed with that, that ability to really see other people from a younger age than I was because I was a little bit more self centered. But like, when I started teaching, my whole life improved, because suddenly, I was doing music all the time. I didn’t have to be a singer. Like, I didn’t have to be known for my singing, but because I was teaching singing, and I was doing music, I felt fulfilled. And for some people, if they don’t get to where they want to go with performing, then there’s loads of careers around music, if you can just be in the industry, sometimes that’s where you’ll get your sense of fulfillment.

28:04
Exactly. As long as it’s music, like, be happy, you know?

28:09
And tell us a little bit about your what you’re learning in college. I mean, I’d be interested because, you know, people can sometimes think that, you know, they’re at that stage in, you know, second level education, and they feel like they have to go down like the doctor dentist route. And you know, that there’s attitudes in Ireland, especially around what, what’s a career and what isn’t a career? And how, what is it like studying music? Like? I mean, are you guys taking it real serious in there? Are y’all thinking this is a career?

28:40
Well, some of us, you know, are a bit of dossers but no. I think when I got to the college actually made me realize that this is really a career and you need to really take it seriously, you know? Like we do music business modules, which kind of go into, you know, management contracts and all the complicated stuff that I usually just flys past my head, and music theory to get better understanding. So then you can teach other people like you can. And we do like I’m a songwriter. So we do songwriting techniques and styles analysis. And our tutor he kind of the first day he kind of went, okay, so if you want to write a song, you have to sit down in the chair, and you have to say, you’re a songwriter. And that to me was like, Whoa, because I’d never considered myself a songwriter. I’d always been on singer I can write songs, but like, I never been brave enough to be like, No, I’m a songwriter. I’m going to be taken seriously as this. So yeah, that kind of change my perspective a little bit. And now I have a proper routine. And I have to, you know, sit down two hours a day, write a song, even if you don’t write a song, just sit in the chair and try to and it’s trust the process of it then. So that’s really been a kind of game changer, I suppose for me.

30:00
Wow, that’s interesting because you know, I did study psychology. So this idea of like, what you’re able to identify with, like what you can call yourself. Like, for me, I was 28 when someone asked me what my dream was, and I said, I want to be a singer, but I can’t do that. That’s where I was at age 28. And here you are at age 19. And someone’s saying, you have to be able to say I’m a songwriter. And I think that kind of claiming that word. Like, I mean, anybody who writes a song is a songwriter, you don’t have to have written 100 songs. You only have to write one.

30:32
Exactly, yeah.

30:33
I just say for singing, like, if you sing in the bath, you’re a singer.

30:36
No, everyone’s the singer Really? Like everyone sings in the shower in the car. Like you’re all singers.

30:43
Yeah, exactly. I take we all have to claim that word. I’m a singer back because, because like, I have been singing all the time, from the time I was a young child, and I still was going, I want to be a singer and it was like this big gap because I put up on a pedestal. And for you to claim I’m a songwriter. That’s part of like, that gives you power that gives you confidence, as well, in what, you know, that you should sit down. Like a lot of people I have come to me that learn singing because they don’t see themselves as singers, they don’t practice because there’s this mental block. So now that you call yourself a singer, songwriter, and you’re putting aside two hours every single day, or most days, I’d say, most days, most days. Yeah. Tell us a little bit about that process. Like do you like candles and incense? Or do you just sit there? The amount of candles I have lit here.

31:35
I have four left at the moment. I have this room in the front of my house around now. It was my brother’s. And then he moved out. And like the hour he moved out, I was like bringing all my stuff in here. And it’s basically like a kind of work office. It’s a studio for me, that’s where I record everything and do all my stuff. And I have a piano there. And I just sit at it. And I just mess around I find some chords I like I maybe I like to read. I haven’t read a lot. I’m like, you know, I just I haven’t read a lot lately. But I like spoken word. Yeah, I might need to all the staring at the screen all day is horrible for me. Like, I read spoken word and you know like sometimes you read it and like, oh, that thing just really speaks to me. And then I’ll write it down for later. And I might come back to it in and write a whole song just during that one, that one word or one phrase. And yeah, sometimes I don’t get anything like last night I was there and I was like, I just have to write a song like it’s been, I need to be tough on myself. And I was there for an hour and nothing was coming and I was like, I’ll just keep doing it. Just Just trust the process. And then like two hours later, I had a full song that I was really happy with. So it does work, like the process does work. Even if in the middle of it, you feel like you’re just not getting anywhere. Just you know, don’t give up on it.

32:54
Oh, I need to take that advice myself, because a lot of the songs that I’ve written, and Mike has been writing with me. And so you know, when you’re dependent on someone else, it’s almost like if they’re not there, you don’t write anything. But the other thing I thought was interesting about what you said is how you you were using poetry or prose or some sorts of other, you know, kind of creative thing and you’re reading and you’re kind of gaining inspiration from other people. What kinds of stuff do you read to get inspiration from?

33:27
It’s usually all a spoken word. There’s this book that I recommend to anyone, and it’s called Pillow Thoughts. And there’s like four or five editions, and it has a chapter in each chapter is a different feeling. So it’s like this one is for when I’m feeling sad when I’m feeling happy when I miss one when I’m grieving. And so it’s just so handy. If you’re like, I’m feeling like sad, I want to write a sad song. Let’s go to the sad chapter. Let’s pick out some nice images or something. And they’ll just like, set off something in your head eventually. And then that will just click you know, it’s very handy. Technically it’s not cheating. You know, it’s not plagiarism. Exactly. No, it

34:05
isn’t cheating. I think No, that’s really important to say that you can be inspired by anything, whether it’s someone else’s song or someone else’s poem, and move that into your own zone and that’s valid and important. And if it’s helping you to focus your energy to the thing that you need to do I think that’s really good. And yeah, so pillow thoughts. I’ve written it down. So hope some of you guys are who are listening are writing that one done. And would you I’m just curious now because we were going to be finished up now in a second. But since you’re talking about written kind of, you know, stories and words and stuff of that, do you do any of that as well? Is that part of your creativity? Um,

34:47
some of my friends have actually started you know, writing their own spoken word books, and that’s like amazing to me, and it’s definitely kind of given me some ideas myself to kind of do it, I think it would be really, really useful.

34:59
Yeah,

35:01
it’s a nice it’s definitely really like it’s about expanding like and seeing yourself from different perspectives, you know, and you know, you’re not one thing.

35:12
Exactly, yeah.

35:13
So there’s your combination of everything you’ve listened to and everyone you’ve looked up to. You’re just a combination of all of that and then mix it in with a bit of yourself. Beautiful.

35:25
So we’re going to be finishing up now in a couple of minutes. Would you like to let people know a little bit about where they can find you or how they can keep in touch with you or find out about what you’re up to next? Yes,

35:38
I’ve Facebook page and an Instagram and all that crack. It’s Rachel Grace Music Wx and I’ve Snapchat, I’ve Tick Tock and you can find me wherever you look me up and Spotify as well for all my music.

35:52
That’s fantastic. And do you do you have a mailing list? Do you do that marketing? I’m sure. After a couple years in college, you’ll have one I definitely after secong year maybe. So one way you can keep in touch with people where you know they’re going to get it. And so what what’s next like? Are you coming to be bringing out an album soon or what’s what’s the plan? What are you working on?

36:20
It’s definitely on the horizon. Anyway, I just finished another single there last week in Orphan Recording, which is an amazing recording studio in Curracloe. And yeah, I’m definitely working. I have all the songs ready for an album. No, I just made the money to record it. So a summer job and then album all the way.

36:39
Absolutely, absolutely. And you never know who’s going to pick up on that and start helping you fund it and market yourself. That would be ideal, wouldn’t it be so handy? Okay, great. Well, look, we’re gonna play Cry Me An Ocean now. And is there anything else that you’d like to say to the listeners that are that are listening right now?

37:01
And just thanks so much for having me on. And I really love everything you’re doing to inspire other people to have confidence in themselves and their voices. Oh,

37:12
that’s really sweet. That’s Thank you so much, Rachel. And thank you everybody who has been listening I hope you’ve enjoyed our chat today and gain some inspiration for your own practice of singing or songwriting I’m definitely I’m gonna I’m gonna set aside I don’t know if I could do a full two hours, Rachel, but I might set aside like, an hour to just write a song and see what comes up. An hour is plenty of time. Well, it’s good start when you haven’t done it before and I’m not going to rely on like this time, so that’s going to be a new thing. So thank you so much for joining me. You’ve been absolutely amazing and we’re going to listen to chromie notion now thank you so much Rachel.

37:50
Thank you Bye