"I WANT TO have a legacy that is set in stone in the future, and I know what I want to represent," Rachel Chinouriri tells Rolling Stone UK over coffee in an east London café on an uncharacteristically balmy morning in early February. "What I want is to inspire the other 13-year-old Black girls who are confused about their identity but love rock music. I want them to be like, 'Oh God, it's possible. It actually exists. In 10 years' time, I'm hoping to look back knowing that my album has been really influential in helping move stepping stones for Black artists."
It's the bold manifesto of an artist who already knows what they want to be, and with extremely good reason. When Chinouriri was a teenager, the Londoner had two musical idols: VV Brown and Noisettes singer Shingai Shoniwa, both Black British women who were blazing their own trails within UK indie music.
But when Chinouriri set out on her own path, she was continuously mislabelled as an R&B and soul artist - even though a single listen of her breakout track 'So My Darling' is evidence that this couldn't be further from the truth.
"i've been doing music Properly since i was 18, so the fact i'm having my debut album all these years later is mad"
By 2022, Chinouriri had had enough. "My music is not R&B. My music is not soul. My music is not alternative R&B. My music is not neo-soul. My music is not jazz. Black artists doing indie is not confusing. You see my colour before you hear my music," she powerfully wrote on Instagram.
She adds to Rolling Stone UK, "I remember people putting Black squares on their Instagram when George Floyd's death happened, and they said they wanted to listen, so I thought, 'It's time for me to speak up about it.' Now, it's really worked out for me."
Esta historia es de la edición April/May 2024 de Rolling Stone UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición April/May 2024 de Rolling Stone UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Suitors and ties
Bridgerton's newest beau Victor Alli on joining the hit Netflix adaptation as the third season begins
Fran Healy
Travis’s lead singer on living in Los Angeles — the inspiration behind the band’s forthcoming album L.A. Times — streetfights with strangers and the unifying power of music
THE GREAT GADSBY
Comedy's enfant terrible Hannah Gadsby is relishing their anti-hero era
"I HAD TO GET OUT OF THIS DOOM HOLE"
After breaking every record imaginable with mega-hit 'Heat Waves', Glass Animals' Dave Bayley came back down to earth with a bump. Fourth album I Love You So F***ing Much sees him sift through the existential wreckage and focus on the fundamentals
SHABAKA'S NEW CALLING
“If I was still playing the sax, it’d be so easy,” the former Sons of Kemet and The Comet is Coming bandleader Shabaka Hutchings admits. On stunning debut album Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace, he turns to the flute and follows a spiritual compulsion to take a new path
GROWING PAINS AND HAPPY ENDINGS
OPENING HER HEART IN HER MUSIC HAS HELPED NELL MESCAL BUILD A DEDICATED FANBASE, BUT THERE'S PLENTY OF ROOM FOR HOPE TOO, THE 21-YEAR-OLD REVEALS, AS SHE RELEASES HER DEBUT EP
Star Rising
Currently starring in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Freya Allan broke through playing a princess in TV series The Witcher. But this 22-year-old has her feet firmly on the ground as she sets her sights on the future
The new Doctor Who is in!
How Ncuti Gatwa went from TV queer idol to making history on the iconic sci-fi show
Toni Sancho's manifesto of hope
The London-viaTrinidad singer discusses the power of music in helping her move past depression and uplift others
Making it up as they go along
Yeti funerals, big-name producers and a fiercely DIY ethic: we meet Mary in the Junkyard, the band making some of the best new rock music in the UK right now