{"id":720316,"date":"2026-07-31T04:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T04:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/720316\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T04:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T04:53:09","slug":"i-was-so-self-assured-in-my-early-20s-then-my-frontal-lobe-hit-rachel-chinouriri-every-pop-stars-favourite-uk-pop-star-rachel-chinouriri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/720316\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I was so self-assured in my early 20s. Then my frontal lobe hit\u2019: Rachel Chinouriri, every pop star\u2019s favourite UK pop star | Rachel Chinouriri"},"content":{"rendered":"

In October 2017, Rachel Chinouriri had her first panic attack. It couldn\u2019t have come at a worse time. She\u2019d just landed her first major gig as a professional musician, supporting Celeste<\/a> at the London members\u2019 club Laylow. Out of nowhere, she began to spiral. \u201cI don\u2019t know what happened,\u201d she says. \u201cI just started having a mental breakdown.\u201d Her manager told her to go home, try again next time. But that only made things worse. \u201cI started feeling like I was wasting everyone\u2019s time,\u201d she says. \u201cI started feeling ashamed.\u201d It would be better, she decided, to go on stage and sing, \u201chalf crying\u201d.<\/p>\n

Tears were already a familiar response to Chinouriri\u2019s performance anxiety: the first time she sang in front of her classmates at the Brit school \u2013 the performing arts institution that trained Adele, Amy Winehouse and more \u2013 she burst into sobs afterwards. A rather inconvenient habit for an aspiring pop star, but at least she front-loaded the humiliation at the start of her career. \u201cThat was a big milestone for me,\u201d she says of the Celeste show. \u201cThe fact that I could stand up there completely embarrassed, with people looking at me like, \u2018Don\u2019t really know what\u2019s up with this girl\u2019, but I still got through it and everything was fine.\u201d The experience taught her that the catastrophic scenarios in her head rarely come to pass. \u201cI\u2019d given myself this pressure of, \u2018This is the music industry. If they think I\u2019m rubbish, I\u2019m never gonna perform again.\u2019\u201d Chinouriri rolls her eyes at herself.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old\u2019s triumph over stage fright has been more impressive than most. It\u2019s a sweltering Friday in July \u2013 30C outside and even hotter in the small restaurant she\u2019s chosen for our interview \u2013 and Chinouriri is having an excellent week. On Sunday, she performed to a crowd of 45,000 at Wolf Alice\u2019s homecoming show in Finsbury Park \u2013 the latest artists to select her as a support act, after Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo, Gracie Abrams, Florence + the Machine and more have all been drawn to the fearless, bare-souled lyricism that charges through her contemporary twist on indie music. Last night, her former Brit school headteacher handed her the trophy for best new music at the O2 Silver Clef awards: her first-ever award win, after nominations at the 2025 Brits and 2021 Ivor Novellos. Melanie C was at the ceremony and later followed her on Instagram (\u201cI will absolutely message her straight after this\u201d).<\/p>\n

Rachel Chinouriri at Radio 1\u2019s Big Weekend at Herrington Country Park, Sunderland, May 2026. Photograph: Joseph Okpako\/WireImage<\/p>\n

How did she celebrate her big win? \u201cI put on my glasses and left! I was in the heaviest metallic dress and it was like a sauna in there. Looking back at all the images, I\u2019m just, like, wet on stage.\u201d Today, Chinouriri is dressed in more appropriate heatwave attire: red micro shorts, a strapless top and flip-flops. She scans the breakfast menu, though she hardly needs to: Caf\u00e9 Palestina is one of her favourite spots in London, a short ride from her home in Camden. She orders a Palestinian breakfast and an assortment of kibbeh and stuffed vine leaves to share, then leans back into her seat.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s another reason for Chinouriri\u2019s good mood: this afternoon, she\u2019ll hand in the final version of her forthcoming second album, I Think I Spoke Too Soon. The title is quite literal. \u201cIn my early 20s, I was so self-assured of who I was, then my frontal lobe hit and I went: \u2018Nah, I\u2019m actually not that person,\u2019\u201d she says. Chinouriri says she has recently learned about her Saturn return, the astrological milestone said to upend your late-20s. \u201cI feel the shift. I thought I knew myself. Now I look in the mirror and I\u2019m like: \u2018Is this actually who I am?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a big question, but not a new one for Chinouriri. Growing up in Croydon, she was the only one of five siblings to be born in the UK, after her family moved from Zimbabwe. Her mother ran a strict Christian household while caring for her sick father. Both parents had fought as child soldiers in Zimbabwe\u2019s war for independence. In the UK, they struggled to make ends meet. \u201cBut they always turned it into a giggle,\u201d she says \u2013 even when the power went out. \u201cGames would start getting invented. You\u2019d get given the electricity meter key and walk to the shop to put \u00a35 on.\u201d She smiles fondly at the memory of them all sprinting to complete the task. \u201cThey found a way to turn struggle into something beautiful in order to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018My first school taught me: don\u2019t stay where you\u2019re not wanted.\u2019 Photograph: Yana Van Nuffel<\/p>\n

At a majority white secondary school, Chinouriri faced her own battles, enduring racist bullying so extreme that one pupil was suspended and another excluded. She was spat on, called the N-word and tormented with monkey noises as she walked through the corridors. Eventually, Chinouriri enrolled herself at a more diverse school, pretending to be her mother on the application form. \u201cThe first school taught me: don\u2019t stay where you\u2019re not wanted,\u201d she says. \u201cI hit points where I felt like dying. But afterwards, I was like: \u2018I can leave here with my head raised high.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

A few years later, she made it to the Brit school, the state-funded incubator for British pop stars and actors. Chinouriri was in the same school year as Olivia Dean and Cat Burns; Lola Young was just a few years below. \u201cI wasn\u2019t in any of their classes, but they were three names I heard constantly \u2013 the rumours were right!\u201d At home, her musical tastes stuck out. Forbidden from listening to non-Christian music, she and her siblings would row over which TV music channels to watch while their parents were at work. \u201cMy sisters were big lovers of B2K, Brandy and Destiny\u2019s Child. When I was in charge of the TV, it would be Oasis and Coldplay.\u201d But at the Brit school, the singer found a place where being different was kind of the whole point. \u201cThere was a girl who used to paint herself like an anime character every single day and walked around the school like it was normal,\u201d she says. \u201cI loved that level of expression and freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

double quotation markMy sisters loved Brandy and Destiny\u2019s Child. Me, it was Oasis and Coldplay<\/p>\n

When Chinouriri released her debut album, What a Devastating Turn of Events, in 2024, she laid everything bare. The title track recounts her cousin\u2019s suicide after an unwanted pregnancy; another song wrestles with self-worth and body dysmorphia; on My Blood, she sings about self-harm. The candour resonated and its songs were streamed hundreds of millions of times. \u201cAll my songs feel a bit like a journal entry, even if I make it sound like a pop song,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s always deeply embedded in my thoughts.\u201d It also resonates when her lyrics turn to romance: her song Dumb Bitch Juice has become an anthem for fans weathering toxic relationships. As Chinouriri\u2019s friend and collaborator PinkPantheress tells me, \u201cHer youthful, melodic approach truly encapsulates the state of modern romance among people our age. She makes heartbreak warm and tolerable, even in the most painful situations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chinouriri at Roskilde festival in Denmark, 2025. Photograph: Matt Jelonek\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Chinouriri is now in a healthy, long-term relationship. These days, she sings about heartbreak from a distance: reflecting on past flings to better understand herself, instead of \u201cwriting through something I\u2019m trying to survive,\u201d she says. \u201cI began asking myself: \u2018Why do I attract these people?\u2019 The fun obsessions or meet-ups I used to love actually came from a place of desperation, loneliness and seeking validation.\u201d<\/p>\n

When her album was released, much of the media attention focused on Chinouriri\u2019s presence as a Black woman in indie music, a genre that\u2019s historically associated with white men. This was partly her own doing. In 2022, she called out the industry\u2019s inaccurate \u2013 and, frankly, racist \u2013 miscategorisation of her music as R&B or soul on Instagram: \u201cYou see my colour before you hear my music.\u201d What a Devastating Turn of Events doubled down on guitar sounds to make a point. \u201cThat had to happen because I was really fighting for my place in indie pop,\u201d she says. But still, I wonder, did she ever tire of answering questions about race?<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like \u2026\u201d Chinouriri squints upwards as if the answer might be hovering above the table, then begins to speak slowly. \u201cIt was an important and necessary part of the story to pave the way for myself in pop, indie and alternative music. I\u2019m glad that I\u2019ve played a part in that. I love going on TikTok and seeing a new Black pop or indie girl with 10,000 likes and no one\u2019s questioning it.\u201d So the industry\u2019s made progress, then? Another pause. \u201cI can say that there\u2019s been progress because I\u2019ve benefited from it. But when I look to my left and right at festivals, I\u2019m still the only Black girl on the lineup \u2013 or it will be me and Cat [Burns]. The fact that two Black pop girls who went to the same school are [being booked] around the UK \u2026 That\u2019s interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chinouriri at Field Day festival in London, 2019. Photograph: Lorne Thomson\/Redferns<\/p>\n

I Think I Spoke Too Soon turns the conversation inward. \u201cMy first album was about how I was perceived as a Black woman in this space. Now it\u2019s about how I perceive myself in this space,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

The record is a near-total gear shift from Chinouriri\u2019s previous output, drawing from her longtime pop heroes, Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Donna Summer, Prince and LCD Soundsystem \u2013 influences that would have perhaps complicated her fight against pigeonholing during her last album rollout. \u201cAs much as I love indie sleaze, I love me some Madonna,\u201d she says, laughing. \u201cI wanted [to recreate] the level of carefreeness I got when I listened to songs like Hung Up for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bright synths replace Britpop-inspired guitars; melancholy hooks are transformed into singalong sad bangers. There are still flickers of her old self: rich harmonies, confessional lyrics, the odd indie track thrown in for good measure. But as she sings on lead single, One Song Away from Crying, this is principally an album that\u2019s designed to \u201cwork it out on the floor\u201d.<\/p>\n

If anything, Chinouriri\u2019s darkest moments are made all the more cathartic when contrasted with a danceable beat. When she confronts her relationship to alcohol on Broken Chair, for example, she sings its euphoric chorus from the perspective of pitying an abandoned piece of furniture on the side of the road: \u201cYou look lonely, but not me \/ I\u2019ve got plenty of friends until the last call\u201d. The same theme is explored on The Good Fight, one of the first songs she wrote for the album. Around the same time, she decided to go sober. \u201cI didn\u2019t have too much of an issue with drinking, but I just looked at myself and thought: \u2018This is not my happy place,\u2019\u201d she says. Up until that point, her party-girl image had become a running joke with her fans. \u201cI was out with a friend and she posted a selfie of us. My fans were like, she\u2019s about to tweet: \u2018I\u2019m tipsy!\u2019\u201d Without seeing their prediction, she did exactly that. \u201cIt was pretty funny. They know me well.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Chinouriri replies to group chats with her fans more often than her family. Recently, her team analysed her audience and found it skews overwhelmingly queer. \u201cI was like: \u2018This is fantastic!\u2019\u201d She went straight to the group chat to deliver the news. \u201cI was like: \u2018Announcement: everyone in here is gay and this is beautiful.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Chinouriri is looking ahead to a busy few months of concerts, including a slot at Rodrigo\u2019s inaugural Daisy Chain Fields festival in California and supporting Abrams on tour across the US. She\u2019s already briefing fans on what to wear to align with her new era: \u201cBlue, silvers, purple, shimmy-shimmy iridescence. It\u2019s going to be so fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

When supporting Carpenter on tour around Europe last year, Chinouriri \u201cfelt like I was travelling in this Sabrina universe\u201d. Every billboard had Carpenter\u2019s face on it; every person seemed to be wearing merch; every cafe was playing her music. \u201cIt was so cool to see how she\u2019s thought about her fans, even at that level, and the community they\u2019ve built. I\u2019d love to have that one day.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the Finsbury Park show, one fan held up a sign that read: \u201cWhen I don\u2019t belong, her music calls.\u201d Perhaps that feeling is a happy byproduct of Chinouriri\u2019s own fight to be heard. \u201cWhatever happens, if I do get pigeonholed again, so be it. I fought really hard. I tried my best,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I need to trust that it won\u2019t happen because I have found a way to know who I am.\u201d At least for now. \u201cYou can change who you are at any moment, as long as you reflect and forgive yourself first.\u201d<\/p>\n

I Think I Spoke Too Soon is released on 16 October via Parlophone\/Atlas Artists<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In October 2017, Rachel Chinouriri had her first panic attack. It couldn\u2019t have come at a worse time.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":720317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-720316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=720316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/720317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=720316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=720316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=720316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}