It’s been just over a month since rising indie-pop artist Rachel Chinouriri dropped her remarkable debut album What A Devastating Turn of Events, but the grind never ends. Holidays are few and far between but despite the busy schedule, Chinouriri wouldn’t change it for the world.
“I feel like quite a relief but a massive feeling of release too” she smiles over Zoom, “I’m delighted with how it panned out”. What A Devastating Turn of Events was both a critical and commercial success, gathering universal acclaim from in the likes of Pitchfork (an impressive 7.5), Clash, NME and DIY to name but a few. Despite the positivity, Chinouriri tries not to pay attention.
“I try and not look at the feedback from stuff, but my label was sending me all of it because it was positive. When all of this information was coming in I was on the road on my tour and with fans, so a lot of times it was me making videos in real life, meeting fans and signing vinyls and then hearing it on the side so it was all about just keeping my head above the water”.
The album is a project three years in the making, which began with over 250 songs before being whittled down into different categories and themes until finally she landed on the final 13 that made the record.
“When this category hit seven or eight songs but everyone really loved it I knew this was something bigger. I started having to think about what I wanted the album to be about, represent and sound like so it naturally came together and the timing has been quite perfect to be honest”.
The album covers some quite tough and personal themes, including relationships, loneliness, regret, abuse, self-harm, alcohol abuse, and suicide, with each song representing how to deal with trauma and asking listeners to consider the beauty among it. One of the most striking is the title track, ‘What A Devastating Turn of Events’ which tells the story of Rachel’s cousin in Zimbabwe, and how an unexpected pregnancy in their community led to her suicide.
It’s an album that Chinouriri has spent a long time dissecting herself, and whilst the topics are sad, she notes that being able to write about it shows she’s healing and can have fun.
“‘I Hate Myself’ was pretty tough” she replies when asked about the most difficult song to record, “and ‘What A Devastating Turn of Events’ was pretty tough afterwards vs writing it because it’s not my story. I was in a safe space and working on the lyrics so carefully for weeks, but once it was done, listening back on it afterwards was difficult”.
"I don’t like sugar-coating things to make other people feel better, I was uncomfortable when these things were happening... ”
There was never a time, however, when a song was too personal to use. “I’ve always been told growing up that being uncomfortable is the only way you can grow as a person but it’s different when you’re in the uncomfortable situation” she elaborates, ”I like songs that make people ask things and feel uncomfortable because music has only ever progressed through that so yeah, it’s interesting because the more real it is the better.”
“I don’t like sugar-coating things to make other people feel better, I was uncomfortable when these things were happening or when I was feeling this way and I want to share it.”
“I cried when the album was finished” she continues, “When we got to song 8 or 9 I just burst into tears because it was done, and in that moment it started to feel quite real and that I’d achieved something I’ve always wanted to achieve”.
The album opens with a double-whammy for the ages in ‘Garden of Eden’ and ‘The Hills’, two of the latest additions to the tracklist.
“‘The Hills’ started in LA, but I remember one of my favourite albums is Coldplay’s A Rush Of Blood To The Head and it starts with a heavy rock song ‘Politik’”.
“From the very top and I was tempted with the album to start with ‘The Hills’ but I ended up going to the countryside and writing ‘Garden of Eden’, because once I wrote ‘The Hills’ I was super excited, but my headspace was in this super American place, which is great, but my artwork was me in the English suburban countryside…”
“I think it sets the tone for the album better” she adds, “Starting with the birds singing reminds me of where I started and where I grew up. I grew up in this really suburban tiny village surrounded by farms so it encapsulates home to me and then throws me straight out of home, because they were banished from The Garden of Eden so ‘The Hills’ is me being banished from home and being in LA”.
being in a session with one of the biggest producers in the world and telling him I hated it here was interesting”
It was on the same trip to LA that she worked with superstar producer Kenny Beats on ‘Dumb Bitch Juice’ and at the beginning of the session it didn’t seem like it was going to plan.
“I just remember having it in my head that this was a really important session, and when he was like ‘hey, how you been?’ I just burst into tears and told him I wanted to go home” she laughs, in retrospect. “He was lovely about it, and we just started chatting and I told him me and my friends were drinking Dumb Bitch Juice and he just smashed it.
“That was one of my highlight sessions of the entire trip because I found it tough, but being in a session with one of the biggest producers in the world and telling him I hated it here was interesting”.
The album also features a brief intro from BBC Radio One DJ Clare Amfo. With the album designed, in Chinouriri’s own words, as a “soundscape of growing up in Suburban England”, the soundbites are a reference to the lost art of finding new music on the radio.
“I think I missed when I was younger and you’d discover music from TV and radio and have legendary voices introduce them like Fearn Cotton, Annie Mac, and I just thought it was really cool”.
“To be able to have a black British DJ who’s had such a massive impact on my career on my album, I just thought it was really cool so that when people listen it pulls people out of the music and it feeds really nicely into the second half of the album”.
