{"id":939972,"date":"2026-10-20T11:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T11:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/939972\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T11:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T11:10:10","slug":"rachel-chinouriri-embraces-her-party-girl-past-on-i-think-i-spoke-too-soon-i-dont-have-to-demonise-that-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/939972\/","title":{"rendered":"Rachel Chinouriri embraces her party girl past on \u2018I Think I Spoke Too Soon\u2019: \u201cI don’t have to demonise that experience\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rachel Chinouriri<\/a> is a big party girl \u2013 or at least she thought she was. In times past, she loved going out and getting on the sauce, ignoring the cloud of anxiety that would loom over her the morning after. \u201cI\u2019d go on loops of drinking from a stressed-out or traumatic place, being like, \u2018This is really fun\u2019, and then the next day being like, \u2018Oh, I shouldn\u2019t have done that\u2019,\u201d she tells NME with a smile. Relaxed in her London flat, she leans into a teal blue couch, plants and books filling the frame behind her as she plays with her long, sleek black hair. \u201cI couldn\u2019t seem to get myself out of that loop.\u201d<\/p>\n

When she began to interrogate that pattern, she realised she needed to do some soul-searching and ask herself some big questions. Among them, what was she trying to avoid through drinking and partying \u2013 losing friends? Not being popular? \u201cAm I scared of the person I am?\u201d she remembers wondering.<\/p>\n

It was that period of self-inspection that sparked the story of her second album, \u2018I Think I Spoke Too Soon\u2019, on which she untangles that party girl identity and realises what was behind it all, told through the lens of a lush night out. The first song she wrote for the record, \u2018The Good Fight\u2019, highlights that process. \u201cI\u2019m with the friends I hate, and it\u2019s me questioning why I drink and enjoy this submersion into something which at the time I thought was cool,\u201d Chinouriri explains. \u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018Actually, pull me out from this thing that I\u2019ve sunk myself into.\u2019\u201d It had an impact \u2013 by the time she turned in the album\u2019s final song, she\u2019d been sober for more than a year.<\/p>\n

Where her debut \u2018What a Devastating Turn of Events\u2019<\/a> catalogued her outward relationships, be it with her family, romantic partners, or the world around her, her second goes inward. Its 12 tracks chronicle a shift in awareness and self-perception \u2013 a journey closer to who she is as an artist and as a person, the first steps of which were realising who she isn\u2019t. And sure, hangovers and exhausted mornings that made touring harder fuelled her desire to sober up, but so did the success of her debut album.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were so many [times where I was like] \u2018My career and my life is so full and abundant, and it\u2019s very busy\u2019,\u201d she reflects. \u201cI started perceiving it as hard work. But then when I look at it as someone who had a paper route and multiple jobs growing up, I was like, \u2018No, this is the life I asked for. It\u2019s busy, and it\u2019s doable, but it\u2019s gonna be hard work if I\u2019m then drinking alcohol excessively on top. This is not adding to the already chaotic, stressful time. And for me to be able to keep good relationships with my fans and my family and my boyfriend and with myself, maybe the one thing I need to sacrifice is drinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the vibrating, synth-pop track \u2018Broken Chair\u2019, she delves into a night of excess with her signature delicate vocals, singing: \u201cI love drinking till it\u2019s over \/ You all love me till I\u2019m sober \/ I\u2019m walking home the morning after \/ Your friendly neighbourhood disaster\u201d. She wrote the track in Los Angeles with fellow indie confessionalist and collaborator Lucy Dacus<\/a>, who she has called \u201cone of my favourite people I know\u201d and has had an impact on Chinouriri beyond the song itself.<\/p>\n

Feeling out of place in the City of Angels, Dacus reassured her that she was more than enough without the partying and drinking. Though the subject matter can feel heavy at times, in true Chinouriri fashion, she writes a catchy, buoyant chorus with a wink: \u201cYou look lonely, but not me \/ I\u2019ve got plenty of friends until the last call\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the life I asked for. It\u2019s busy, and it\u2019s doable, but it\u2019s gonna be hard work if I\u2019m then drinking alcohol excessively on top\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite her decision to sober up and \u201cdo therapy and the inner work\u201d, she doesn\u2019t see that part of her life as a detour, more so just another part of the journey. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t even say that time was negative because my album had come out and I was doing well for the first time in my career,\u201d she says of her party girl era. \u201cI was earning money for the first time. There were just so many positives happening. I was like, \u2018This feels really hard, but I\u2019m actually experiencing all the things that I prayed and asked for.\u2019 I\u2019ve had to learn not to punish myself for that because I actually wasn\u2019t having a bad time. I don\u2019t have to demonise that experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

That experience included two BRIT nominations, a sold-out headline UK tour, and opening slots for Sabrina Carpenter<\/a>, Florence + The Machine<\/a> and Wolf Alice<\/a>. It was a string of hard-won successes for an artist who had to create space for herself in the predominantly white indie scene, even as she was categorised as R&B, soul, and \u201curban\u201d when her music was objectively not. It can also explain why she didn\u2019t dig too deep into the sounds of Madonna<\/a>, Kylie Minogue<\/a>, Donna Summer<\/a>, or Prince<\/a>, all of which shared space on her playlist alongside the noughties indie acts that inspired her first album. That is until now \u2013 categorisation be damned.<\/p>\n

Though \u2018I Think I Spoke Too Soon\u2019 is drenched in euphoric nostalgia (MGMT<\/a> and LCD Soundsystem<\/a> also inspired the record), it\u2019s still diaristic, as if Chinouriri can\u2019t avoid herself, even with a few drinks on a dancefloor. It opens with the glitchy disco track, \u2018One Song Away From Crying\u2019, narrating the feeling of pushing down tears in the club. \u201cI\u2019ve never looked better, and I\u2019ve never felt worse\u201d, she harmonises over the glossy, layered dance track, before teasing, \u201cI\u2019m one dance away from leaving here without saying goodbye\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"RachelRachel Chinouriri. Credit: Yana Van Nuffel<\/p>\n

On \u2018Pretty Girls,\u2019 she writes an ode to womanhood backed by kinetic drum machines, and it plays out like a slow-motion dance-floor montage blessed by Two Door Cinema Club, as she evenly requests: \u201cCan we kiss until the silver sparks turn to blue light?\u201d It\u2019s all relatable and danceable, a perfect encapsulation of contrasting feelings \u2013 a desire to escape by forced enjoyment, before reality hits and you realise you can\u2019t, or don\u2019t want to, avoid yourself anymore.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted more upbeat [songs],\u201d she says of the sonic arc of the album. \u201cI\u2019m a bit tired of the sad, slow songs. I love them, but singing them live \u2026 When I go out on stage, I wanna run around and jump and dance and shout.\u201d But changing things up didn\u2019t come without its concerns. \u201cKnowing I was making quite disco-pop music, and seeing how much the fans loved the indie music, made me a little anxious because I [didn\u2019t] know if [they were] guys are gonna rock with it,\u201d she shares. \u201cBut currently, they are rocking with it very heavily, and it\u2019s been very positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

When NME asks how Chinouriri hopes her devoted fanbase of Darlings feel when they hear the album, she answers with a wide grin: \u201cFreedom.\u201d She points to Madonna\u2019s \u2018Hung Up\u2019, one of her favourite songs of all time. \u201cIf I hear that, I\u2019m standing up, and I don\u2019t care who\u2019s watching me. I want songs that when people hear [them], they\u2019re like, \u2018Woo, let\u2019s go and dance and be silly and close their eyes,\u2019\u201d she adds, mimicking losing herself in music. \u201cI want my fans to be able to feel that.\u201d As for how she\u2019s feeling the pressure of following up her critically acclaimed debut? \u201cI\u2019m fucking excited,\u201d she laughs. \u201cCan I say that? I\u2019m ready for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rachel Chinouriri\u2019s \u2018I Think I Spoke Too Soon\u2019 is out now via Parlophone Records<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rachel Chinouriri is a big party girl \u2013 or at least she thought she was. In times past,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":939973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,1645,341,2742],"class_list":["post-939972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-indie","tag-music","tag-pop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=939972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/939973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=939972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=939972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=939972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}