A Glimpse Into Raegan’s 'Animated Mind’

Interviewed and Written by Ami Klinghoffer

Photography by Sophia Keefe

Production Assistance by Lucy Anderson

Singer, songwriter, and producer, Raegan has been steadily acquiring a fan base on TikTok – which now exceeds 70 thousand followers – since her song, Tim Burton, went viral in 2022. Her unparalleled music video snippets captivate viewers as she juxtaposes her soft, feminine aesthetic with dark imagery of blood and gore, complementing the eerie themes present in her songs. The multi-talented artist is most popular for her remixes of well-known hits, such as “Demons” by Doja Cat and “What Was I Made For” by Billie Eilish. I got the opportunity to learn more about the NYC-based singer’s creative process and her plans for releasing new music.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Hi, I’m Raegan, I'm a 21-year-old singer-songwriter and producer based in NYC. I

write and produce all my music, and my songs are literally my mind in a sonic form.

I like to experiment with all different types of sounds and genres. I grew up doing

musical theater, so I’m inspired by cinematic and theatrical atmospheres.

So far, I’ve released TIM BURTON, STALKER, HI MY NAME IS, STOCKHOLM,

and WALTZ, but there are lots more to come (an EP ;)). stream my music anywhere under

RAEGAN and follow me @raegancomplex on TikTok, ig, or yt 🖤🖤

You have such a unique sound. What genre would you consider your music?

Honestly, I didn’t have the answer to this question for a long time. But after six years

of making music, I’ve come to the conclusion that it can be categorized as Alt-Pop.

Who would you say are your biggest musical influences?

Honestly, I’d say musical theater, I grew up not only doing theater but also listening

to Broadway soundtracks on a loop. When I became a teenager, I started to discover

Marina and the diamonds and Tyler the Creator, which helped shape my sound

and who I am today.

If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?

Tyler, the Creator, is definitely number one on my list... I feel like we’d have a lot of

fun and creative magic in a studio session. I also would love to collaborate with

literally any of the artists I listen to daily, like Melanie Martinez, Tierra Whack,

BROCKHAMPTON, Rex Orange County (to name a few).

Can you talk a bit about what goes into producing your songs? How did you get

into learning how to produce your music?

I learned how to produce music in my junior year of high school when I was 16.

When I make music, I create worlds and atmospheres... and I always felt like no

producer could ever imitate what I was hearing in my mind and no one could see

my overall visions. So, I just started making my beats and learned through experience.

You have a unique dark feminine aesthetic in your music and

visuals. How did you come to formulate this style?

Honestly, that’s just who I am. I exaggerate my aesthetic and present myself to the

world how I see myself in the mirror.

I read that you used to be involved in musical theater. How does this history affect your music career? Is acting still on your radar?

Yes, I act every time I get on stage and perform my songs. My goal is to create

productions and scenes with every song and allow the audience to enter the

animated world of my mind. I call myself an introverted extrovert, which I define as

being extremely outgoing only with people I am comfortable with. When I’m around

strangers, I'm usually pretty quiet and shy, so I’ve had to create the character of “all

caps RAEGAN,” who is extremely uninhibited and extravagant.

Can you tell us anything about your new song you’ve been dropping hints about

on social media, “Mean”?

MEAN is finally releasing on September 27th!! This single is an introduction to my

upcoming EP, ‘FUCK RAEGAN,’ which is also dropping this year. Essentially, 'MEAN'

weaves a tale of empowerment and desire, reminding us that beneath the surface

of conflict lies a passion waiting to be ignited. This is my favorite project yet, and I’m so excited for you all to hear it. These are some of my favorite songs I’ve made so far, and they represent who I am right now.

What would you say your biggest musical accomplishments have been thus far,

and what do you hope to accomplish in the next five years?

Everyday, I grow as an artist and a person. My biggest accomplishment right now is my work

ethic. I'm learning that talent is never enough, and neither is working hard; you need both at

100% at all times to make a difference in this world. In the next five years, I see myself where I deserve to be.

Interviewed and Written by Ami Klinghoffer

Photography by Sophia Keefe

Production Assistance by Lucy Anderson

FINAL GIRLS: The All-Ghoul Group is Killing the NJ Metal Scene

FINAL GIRLS is an all-ghouls metal band based in North New Jersey. Originally established in 2020 by bassist Sofia Albanese as a punk band, later in 2022 to be rebranded as a metal band with new members now with Sofia Demasi (drums), Ashleigh Hernandez (Guitar), and Casey Cruz (Vocals). They contain a unique blend of hardcore and death metal with a heavy gothic influence here to create a cross-breed of genres you’ve never heard before. Their various influences, including 90’s death metal, goth, new wave, groove metal, grindcore, beatdown, hardcore punk, and more, helped pave the way for pioneering a new haunting genre of blood-chilling horror-themed metal. We got the opportunity to chat with the group about their journey with metal music and being in a space that is made up of predominantly male groups.

How did you land on the name Final Girls?

The band was originally formed by bassist Sofia Albanese, and the name was of her choosing. She’s always been a big fan of horror and resonated with the idea of the Final Girl trope being badass and something that could be a good name for the group. It’s not as much a nod to our gender but more so a nod to the trope and horror.

Being an all-girl band in a genre that is stereotypically seen to stem from a male-dominated culture, how has that affected your experience in the music industry? Do you ever feel ostracized from the scene?

More often than not, people will only be able to relate us to other women in music and not as much to musicians in the genre. Of course, we’re inspired by women, but for the most part, we wish to be seen as a metal band playing with other bands and not to be booked as a novelty act. For the most part, our experience in the NJ scene has been positive. Every once in a while, there will be someone who is not always the nicest, but we’re lucky to have such a supportive community. We’ve assimilated and established ourselves here in NJ, but we’ve found in other places/parts of the country, we are not as accepted or taken as seriously. We want to get rid of the shock factor. Of course, we’re proud to be women in music, but our goal is to have women better integrated into the music scene as a whole, where being a woman is not a selling factor, and we are seen as musicians before a group of girls.

How did you all first get into metal music? Did you grow up listening to it or find it on your own?

Casey: “I watched 2000’s WWE, to be honest. Lots of rock and heavy metal that I later explored, but metal came into my life as a wee little las. Afterward, I started listening to a lot of Evanescence and got into some European bands.”

Sofia A. (Bass): “I grew up on a lot of 80’s Heavy Metal, Glam, Motorhead, Sabbath, etc., that was shown to me by my dad. I was pretty much force-fed it. I most definitely started listening to much heavier stuff as Final Girls progressed, and from there, I’ve refined my taste.”

Sofia D. (Drums): “Growing up, I had a lot of musical influence from my dad that got me into prog metal. In early middle school, I signed up for a Modern Metal course at a School of Rock and found Lamb of God. A turning point for sure- I love this shit.”

Ash: “I discovered metal music on my own through SoundCloud. I started with metalcore/post-hardcore/deathcore when I was 13; I found it on social media because my family didn’t listen to that stuff.”

What artists do you get inspiration from?

Image Influences: Misfits, Crypta, Alice Cooper, Motley Crue, The Cramps, Type O Negative.

Writing Influences: Arch Enemy, As I Lay Dying, Lamb of God, Gojira, Knocked Loose, Carcass, Pig Destroyer, Crypta.

Describe your music as a color or set of colors.

Purple, Black, and Red. Maybe a little green.

What do you want your fans to call themselves?

To be honest, we don’t know; the fans can come up with it. “Ghouls” is cool, but it’s gendered. It would be goofy if they called themselves Final Goons. We can't lie.

Describe your band as a group Halloween costume.

That’s a good question, to be honest. We’d like to give you a more serious answer, but to be truthful, It’s Five Nights at Freddy’s. Casey is Freddy, Ash is Chica, Sofia A. is Foxy, and Sofia D. is Bonnie. We’re happy this way.

Written and Interviewed by Ashley Murphy

Photography by @vicktoriaklm and @critialmomentphotos

Ghosts, Witches, and Vampires in Songs - How Music Proved That Monsters Are Real

Written by JD Valdepenas

Photography by Sylvie Goodblatt , Edited by Mark Bluemle

Creative Director: Jake Pranian

Movement Direction: Sophia Querrazzi

Styling: Sophia Querrazzi, Diamond Durant

Makeup: Kindra Kirsch

Production Management: Amy Kapel

Production Assistance: @clay.baae

Models: @living_.dead_.gir1 @sxhaani @shes.so.dope @sabsyduan @diamondashle.y @kindrakirsch

Monsters are real and these are the songs to prove it. Perhaps it’s unlikely that you will ever encounter a sparkly, fang-toothed immortal who wants to drink your blood, but it is likely that you have a boss who drains you of your time and energy. Maybe the literal spirits of the dead don’t haunt your house but doesn’t the lingering memory of a certain someone do something similar? While some Civil War soldier with a sliced-off head doesn’t follow you around, an ex-best friend could linger in the back of your mind. Witches are real, but what makes a woman a witch? Is it because she’s older or openly angry? She may not fly on a broom, but she is certainly tired of her neighbors bothering her.

In “Ghosts” by Mayday Parade, the band chooses to cut the crap and outright tell the audience that “metaphorically this ghost is you”. While it may start with the statement, “there’s a ghost in my bedroom,” backed by a ghostly choir, the song is about the metaphorical haunting that a person goes through when someone that they used to be close with leaves. The song is frantic – a cross between a vaudeville track and a garage band. Its fast pace evokes the cartoonish image of someone running away from ghosts as they are being chased around the house. The narrator admits, “I’ve asked him to leave, but he keeps stopping by”. Ghosts only stay when they have unfinished business in the world of the living; they leave when they are finally at peace. The narrator’s relationship ended in a place that they felt was unfinished, hence why there is a ghost in their bedroom. The music slows, becoming more peaceful as the narrator sings, “there’s a ghost in my bedroom and he’s dying to meet you, God knows he’s heard all about you”. The ghost is still there, but it torments him less. There is hope that one day the ghost won’t be in his bedroom at all.

Witches in songs are often reduced to either their Halloween caricatures or a woman who is hell-bent on causing harm simply because she can. When Taylor Swift wrote “mad woman” she saw the witch differently. The song is told from the perspective of a woman who has been accused of being a “witch” because her neighbors hate her. But as she’s tied to the stake, about to be burned, her voice remains steady as she asks, “What did you think I’d say to that?” When women express emotions that make people uncomfortable or go against how women are expected to act, society attempts to label them as crazy. In a 2019 interview on Good Morning America, Swift commented on how “a man is allowed to react, a woman can only overreact”. This sentiment is reflected in the lyrics, “everytime you call me crazy, I get more crazy […] And when you say I seem angry, I get more angry”. A witch is just a woman whom society wants to throw away because they don’t like her. A woman who isn’t crazy, but complicated just like any other person. A woman who has a right to be angry, but whose anger isn’t taken seriously. She gets called “mad” because she won’t let people get away with insulting her. Unfortunately, it’s because of her reactions that she is accused of being a witch. A woman becomes a witch when she deviates from society’s expectations of how women should behave. As Swift says, “no one likes a mad woman”.

Lastly, in her song, “vampire,” Olivia Rodrigo calls out the monster in her life. At first listen, “vampire” comes off as a breakup song about an ex-partner who took advantage of Rodrigo for her fame, money, talent, connections, etc., but alternatively, one can view the song as an expression of all the pent-up anger and resentment toward the music industry for the way that Rodrigo, and other famous women, have been mistreated. After the debut of her first album, it seemed like Rodrigo was being hit left and right by accusations of plagiarism which led to her giving up 50% of her royalties to the artists that demanded credit (Hayley Williams for supposed similarities between her song “Good 4 U” and “Misery Business” and Taylor Swift for the similarities between “Deja Vu” and “Cruel Summer” as well as an interpolation of Swift’s song “New Year’s Day” on Rodrigo’s song “1 step forward 3 steps back,” despite gaining the rights to use the chords). Knowing all of this, “bloodsucker, fame-fucker, bleeding me dry,” takes on a different meaning. Yet, has this not been done to several other female artists, as well? How many times have we heard about or even seen paparazzi chasing down an actress or a singer? The way that photographers mercilessly hounded Britney Spears during a difficult time in her life, or that clip of Selena Gomez asking photographers to leave her alone as they terrorized her. “You said it was true love, but wouldn’t that be hard? You can’t love anyone ‘cause that would mean you had a heart” reads like a denouncement of the music industry — the one that promises to take care of their artists, only to exploit them for all that they are worth and discard them once finished.

There we have it, readers. Ghosts are the long-dead relationships of our past, witches are women who just aren’t likable, and vampires have been music executives all along. They may not exist as the creatures from horror movies, but the real-life monsters are still just as terrifying.

Written by JD Valdepenas

Photography by Sylvie Goodblatt

Creative Director: Jake Pranian

Movement Direction: Sophia Querrazzi

Styling: Sophia Querrazzi, Diamond Durant

Makeup: Kindra Kirsch

Production Management: Amy Kapel

Production Assistance: @clay.baae

Models: @living_.dead_.gir1 @sxhaani @shes.so.dope @sabsyduan @diamondashle.y @kindrakirsch