Rachel Bochner is on a journey, and she's inviting you to follow along. The NYC-based artist is no stranger to laying her cards on the table, with her 2020 debut single "Purple," a poppy ballad on the fear of falling in love too fast, introducing listeners not only to Bochner's philosophy on love but also her trepidations. Her second release, "Be Happier," continued to gradually and candidly ease listeners into her mind, highlighting her struggle with mental health in an ambient, almost hazy lament. Bochner continued to churn out tracks throughout the pandemic, with all her songs highlighting not just her vulnerability, but her relatability.
With twenty-plus songs, three EPs, and one nationwide tour later, Bochner is not slowing down yet. As she prepares to release her latest EP, Lovergirl, I had the privilege of chatting with Bochner about her, the start of her career, and what it means to give yourself so wholly to your art.
Daniella Fishman: How did you get your start in music?
Rachel Bochner: I've been a singer and a music lover my whole life, but I didn't really start writing until 2018. I thought my love for music meant I should work at a label or something in that vein, but once I dipped my toes into the writing/artist side of things, it was so clear what I needed to do.
DF: Who were your early musical inspirations, specifically when you first started writing in 2018?
RB: At that point, I was inspired by Lana Del Rey, Lorde, and also artists who are songwriters, Julia Michaels, Taylor Swift, 1975, Maggie Rogers, and Frank Oceans. What a trip down memory lane…
DF: What about your experience interning with A+R that drew you to the creative side of things rather than the business side of the industry? Has your understanding of "the business" shifted how you produce your art?
RB: I think it was just a perfect storm. I started my internship right as I started taking my writing more seriously, and I could just feel this pit form in my stomach that would grow every day at my internship, telling me that what I was most passionate about was writing and sharing music that was meaningful to me. The music landscape is of course constantly changing, but having that taste of the industry side of things has helped me approach my artist career from a strategic standpoint in addition to my love and passion for the art and creative side.
DF: Why this sound? What draws you to the noise of pop music? Are there any other genres that you want to experiment with at some point?
RB: As I've become more comfortable in my own skin as an artist, I don't think that much about how to achieve a certain sound or style, or even how to adhere to a genre. I make music that feels right and sounds right, whatever that means for the song and the moment it's being created in. Every project I work on ends up being an opportunity to experiment, but it feels like a very organic sort of wandering and playing with different sounds and instrumentation, and vibes.
DF: You once described your music as the "soundtrack to the coming-of-age movie you wish you were the main character of." Which movie is that for you? And does it still hold true with this latest release?
RB: In a lot of ways, my upcoming EP Lovergirl feels like the most mature body of work I've created, but it also feels very reminiscent of the giddy and emotional, and sometimes naive nature of a coming-of-age film. I don't know that I can point to a specific movie that feels like it encapsulates the many lives I feel like I've somehow lived, but maybe a bit like the TV series Heartstopper, if it were based around people realizing they're queer in their 20, 's instead of high school.
DF: Your early songs are emblematic of the stagnation and isolation felt by everyone during the pandemic, but your new music seems poppier, almost freer in theme and experience. How has the pandemic shifted your opinion of yourself as an artist? What has it taught you? What has it held you back from (if anything)?
RB: I feel like my artist career started as COVID did since the world shut down pretty soon after my first official release. The isolation, self-reflection, and downtime I experienced during the pandemic actually allowed me to form the beginnings of an artist identity. I learned so much about who I am as a writer, an artist, and a creative person in general during that time, which helped me feel really confident and prepared to move to NYC and quit my full-time day job in 2021.
DF: Talk to me a bit more about your decision to go full into music in 2021. What was the catalyst for quitting your job?
RB: During COVID, I wanted to move closer to NYC, the hub of the music. During the summer of '21, I moved back home after college and tried to find community in the music scene at home. I tried to find people to collaborate with, producers and songwriters; it really takes a minute to learn how to hold your own in a room with other musicians. But, I wanted to learn to be able to move into the city and be in the middle of it all! I worked a full-time PR job from 2020-2021, and once I had saved up enough to leave, I quit and moved here.
DF: Walk me through the writing process for your lyrics. Do you have any literary influences when putting pen to paper? Similarly, what is your songwriting process? How do you start working on a song? Do you write music or lyrics first?
RB: Especially as of lately, my songwriting process has been pretty solitary initially. I make sense of what I'm feeling and conceptualizing and beginning to write. Sometimes, I'll just finish the song alone if the words are pouring out that way. Other times, I like to bring the start of a song to any of the writers I know and love working with to help me finish and make it stronger. I'm inspired and influenced by a lot of things… what I'm feeling or going through, the music I'm listening to at the time, a particularly cool title of a book or poem, or a phrase that sticks with me on a billboard. Whatever the inspiration is, I try to just let it flow as it wants to and not try to force it. What I need to say will make its way out one way or another.
DF: You call your fans "ghosties." Where did the nickname come from, and how have your fans embraced it?
RB: I put out a song called 'Ghosted My Therapist' and the merch for it had this adorable cartoon strip-esque design with a little ghost character in it. Everyone who got the merch really loved the little ghostie, and it became a recurring character in visuals and merch, and somewhere along the way it just felt so right to call my fans' ghosties' - me, Tiger, my frequent collaborator Alex, and a bunch of fans now all have matching ghostie tattoos… it's so special to me!!!
DF: In recent years, Pop music has shifted girlier and gayer. At this point in your career, and at this point in pop music history, your catalog fits perfectly into the current sonic zeitgeist. What is your take on the rise of queer/sapphic-pop? Do you identify your music under that label?
RB: It's always interesting that music written by a queer or sapphic artist has to have that additional classifier of "gay" or "queer" pop. In a way, it's really powerful for representation, for people needing to feel seen and find music that they can relate to. It's great to normalize queer artists doing queer things in mainstream media. It's great to make music when queerness is being celebrated. With Chappel Roan, Renneé Rapp, etc, it's a really exciting and celebratory place to be in music right now. It's exciting to me to be a part of it! I make pop music, but I don't want to just be known for making one kind of music. People always want to emphasize the "queer" part of "queer pop," but one day it will all be considered general "Pop."
DF: You frequently collaborate with Tiger Darrow and recently released a collaboration with Xana. Now that you are four years into your music career is collaborating with and chatting with other artists easier? How has your confidence as an individual artist grown with your past releases?
RB: I love working with my friends. It's so rewarding and awesome and surreal to create with people you love and watch it be received as passionately as you feel about it. Collaborating is such an important part of the process for me - especially in terms of production. Having been at this for 4 years in a way makes me more comfortable in whatever room I'm in, but mostly because I just have seen over and over that no one ever really knows what they're doing, no matter how long they've been doing it. We're all just trying our best.
DF: Speaking of Xana, you recently wrapped your first official tour with her! Talk to me about that. Was it just like you were expecting? Were there any unexpected bumps in the road?
RB: I loved touring with Xana. We're great friends, so it just felt like getting to hang out with your besties every day. I traveled with an awesome band and team, and all in all, it was a pretty smooth ride. I was on the road for about 3 weeks, and I thought I would be so ready to get back home at the end of it. When the last show rolled around, though, I remember my tour manager Alex and I looking at each other like… I could go another 3 weeks, couldn't you? Getting to play to so many new people, seeing places I've never been before, really seeing and feeling my music impacting people… it's pretty amazing.
DF: Tell me about "Alchemical," the music video, and the song's meaning.
RB: To put it simply, Alchemical is just a good, old-yearning song. It's inspired by being so fully captivated by your desire to know someone and be close to them, and letting yourself give in to it. As for the music video, I think it's a beautiful visual depiction of wanting and indulging.
DF: You've been teasing your upcoming track, "Groupie," across your social media. Can you share the inspiration for that song?
RB: Groupie is similar to Alchemical in the sense that it's about desire, but Groupie is more of a naive fascination with something new and shiny. It's about being enamored with someone glamorously motivated by the spotlight and not minding being just another body in the crowd as long as you're first on the guest list. It lives in a city light-adorned moment before the smoke clears and the limerence high fades.
DF: With most of your work being autobiographical, how do you separate Rachel Bochner, the individual, from Rachel Bochner, the musician? Do you feel like you need to balance the two?
RB: As I've grown as an artist, my music has gotten more and more personal. When I was just starting out writing, I thought it's almost easier to let yourself be a little more "academic." I was really trying to get more confident with my writing, so sometimes I would write to a prompt or text my songwriting friends for topics or song titles for inspiration. I feel like in the beginning my songs were a mix of things that felt personal to me, that were coming from authentic emotions. But the songs weren't necessarily about my life in a 100% honest way. With that, it was easier to separate my emotions, but as I've come into myself as an artist, I feel like my music has developed into a way to be honest and express myself. Now that it's personal, it makes releasing music a bit scarier. It's like a little diary entry! I found that if I'm writing about something specific to me, and when someone listens to it, they relate to it in a profound way. Somehow, the way I relay my experience makes it more relatable. It's a scary responsibility, but that's what I have to say.
DF: With you seemingly amping up to release a new EP, what do you hope your fans will retain from it, message-wise? What do you hope to showcase as you come into this new chapter of your career?
RB: This project was important for me because it involved writing about coming to terms with one's sexuality. This EP feels like not just a milestone in my career but in my life. I have one more single to release before the EP comes out; the song is called "Without A Doubt," and it'll be out on September 6th!
Lovergirl is the accidental, ultra-romanticized diary of the past year of my life. The project documents the way my heart moved and stumbled and shapeshifted in that time. In many ways, 'Lovergirl' is a character, a version of myself that was yearning to feel something I couldn't name (until I could). It's a celebration of queerness, the highs of falling in love, the anxieties of unreciprocated feelings, and the warmth of experiencing things you never knew existed. The project is so special to me, and I know it will resonate so deeply with the right people. I just hope it's able to find those people.
DF: What are you listening to right now/this summer?
RB: Brat!!!!! So much brat. Tommy Lefroy, MUNA, the Japanese House. Oh, and Chappell Roan…obviously.
Written by Daniella Fishman
Photography by Diana Victoria, @dianavictxria.jpg
Production by Mark Bluemle
