Today it is a Spotlight – Rayne. We had the pleasure to chat with Rayne in the past, so this was a nice time to catch up. We sit down and got to talk about what she’s been up to and her newest release Envious. Check out the convo below.
Hi Rayne, thanks for coming back to talk to us! Last time we chatted; it was over your release of the ‘Bored’. How do you feel about the song now that the dust has settled?
Hi! Thanks for having me! I still really love that song. It’s one of my favourites that I’ve released so far.
This time though, ‘Envious’ is on the mind, what can you tell us about this track?
Envious is a lot of fun! The lyrics are inspired by a phone call with my friend and about her jealousy after seeing her ex with someone new, which is something I think a lot of people can relate to. It’s a bit dancier than some of my other songs, but it still has that Rayne certified sadness to it haha.
I heard through the grapevine that we should be expecting your debut EP any day now! What’s it like compiling an EP as a newer artist?
I plan to release my EP mid 2021! I’m very excited to share what I’ve been working on with my listeners. I don’t really have a point of reference to compare it to, as I haven’t done anything like it before, but it’s a lot of fun! A lot of work too, but that’s to be expected! I’m going to have a really tough time narrowing down to just six songs.
What was something that you wish you had known beforehand that caught you off guard?
I wish I’d have known how different the song writing and creating process is during Covid. It would have been very different creating an EP in the ‘before times’, a lot less video calls would be involved!
I felt so bad for you last year, you had just released Bored and then the whole world shut down. What was it like trying to promote with no venues to go to?
It was hard, but I think I’ve managed to translate what I was doing before, for our current world. Most of my energy is now being shifted to online “performances” by creating full length and short cover videos. I also plan to do some more live streams in the future as I really miss interacting with my audience and playing my guitar!
How did you manage to stay positive and not let things get you down?
Avoidance. Which sounds like a bad course of action, but hear me out. I had some tougher times a couple months ago where I got very focused on the negatives of basically everything. I learned the best way for me to deal with that was to just fully ignore that voice in my head, or talk back to it, and turn my negative thoughts into neutral or positive ones.
Growing up in Vancouver with such a robust music scene, is it difficult to keep up the drive and stamina in self-promotion?
It definitely can be! I’m very fortunate to have a great team working with me who keep the ball rolling on promotional stuff. They tell me what to do, and I try my best to do it! It’s a lot easier than trying to figure it all out myself.
You are an admitted huge fan of Canadian Carly Rae Jepsen; who are some other Canadian artists that you would love to collaborate with?
The Weeknd is at the very top of my ‘oh my god I would die to collab with this artist’ list. He’s a little unattainable right now though, so some other Canadian artists I’d love to work with are Renforshort, and Mother Mother.
Who are some Canadians that you think helped shape your music style?
This answer probably won’t make sense, but Michael Bublé, and Billie Talent. I listened to them both a lot when I was growing up (my dad had a very eclectic music taste) and I think hearing such a variety of genres made me want to try new things and figure out exactly what MY sound was.
Speaking of those early days, what was it like being the youngest ever to participate in the SAC (songwriters association of Canada)’s artist camp back in March 2020?
It was a lot of fun! I met new producers and writers from both my area and other parts of Canada, letting me branch out my list of people I work with. It was really cool spending time with so many different people who all had one thing in common, creating music. I also really loved hearing what everyone wrote that day before we headed home. It was interesting to see how different all our songs were, just depending on who was writing and what they felt like making that day.
You have been open about your anxiety over our overreliance on our phones/social media. How has that changed for you amidst quarantine?
I am more reliant on my phone than ever! The other day the wifi was down in my neighbourhood and I almost went crazy. The good thing that came from that was my inability to sink hours of my day into scrolling through Instagram and Tiktok. Social media addiction is super prevalent, and I still suffer from it big time. I’d love to be one of those people who deletes their social media apps for a bit, but I need to keep up on my socials to maintain and grow my following, so that’s off the table for now. Maybe one day!
Despite that, your Tik Tok mini covers have been amazing to watch. ‘’Driver’s License’ blew me away. Can we expect more?
Thank you! Yes you can! My current goal is to release one short cover per week, and one full length every other week. Hopefully I can keep finding new songs to cover and keep up on that schedule!
Other than donuts, what other fun things have you been making in your air fryer?
A LOT of fries. I also made mozzarella sticks once, which were really good! I keep seeing really interesting air fryer recipes on Instagram reels that I want to try. I’ll be sure to keep my Facebook followers up to date on my attempts.
What is one thing you wish that people knew about you/about how difficult being a performing artist is?
When I was doing acoustic sets in bars or restaurants, some people would make jokes about how easy it was for me to make money or whatever. What they didn’t understand is how much work goes into preparing for the two hours that they see. Learning new songs, practicing those new songs, keeping up on old covers, it’s several days of rehearsal and practice. I would also supply my own sound system and play a guitar, both things that I had to pay for. Please, pay artists for what they do. Yes, it’s our passion, but it’s also a job!
What are some coping mechanisms that are helping you stay grounded this winter that you would give to folks for staying healthy and happy during Covid winter? And you cannot cheat and say music!
Cognitive behavioral therapy, if you don’t know that that is, it’s basically what I described in a previous question. Instead of listening to that voice in the back of your head that tells you that you suck at what you do, or you’ll never be good enough, you correct it. If the negative voice in your head is saying “nobody likes you”, you respond to it with something like “my friends like me, my family likes me.” Or “not everybody needs to like me for me to be happy.” Or something like that. I find it helps a lot to rewire my brain to push past negativity and let me be a bit more positive in my day to day life.
Lastly as our favorite independent and smaller businesses have been hit hard this Covid season, what are some of your local favorite places to hype up and give a shout out to?
My local Chinese food restaurant ‘Dragon Village’! A lot of restaurants have been hit incredibly hard during Covid, but especially Asian run businesses who unfortunately and unfairly experienced extra xenophobia at the very beginning of the pandemic.
Spotlight – Rayne is a wrap!
Check out Envious right now!
Keep up with Rayne right here
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