Credit: Marcus Prouse
Rachel Chinouriri, a 24 year old London born indie/pop artist recently played 4 consecutive sold out shows at Hoxton Hall, one of which I had the pleasure of seeing.
A few years ago, after she released her breakout EP “Four⁰ In Winter” she had to deal with the misclassification of her music. As a young black woman, she kept getting written about or categorised as a hip hop/rnb artist, even though that could not be further from the truth.
From old cult classics such as “Adrenaline” to a new debut song “The Hills” where Rachel reaches into new rock-adjacent genres, continuing to broaden her horizon and showcase what she is capable of.
Little monologues in between her songs, telling stories explaining how they came to be, whether it was written within a short time frame after her friend got her heart broken, or being out on a secluded get-away in the aforementioned hills, or reminding everyone in the audience to cherish their loved ones, gave beautiful context to how much the songs mean to not only her, but her fans as she sung to them.
The standout performances of “If Only” and then “So My Darling” the former ending in tears down her face as she looked to the sky, and the latter resulting in sniffles being heard throughout the venue as she sat on the edge of the stage with the standing fans, made this performance one to remember.
Rachel Chinouriri is a pop star in the making, already selling out venues and gaining the attention of large music reviewers and publications, I have no doubt she will continue to snowball into the fully fledged star she should be. I’m glad to have been part of such an intimate venue before she no doubt catapults into stardom.
