We were lucky to catch up with Rachel Bouzier recently and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

My earliest memories of singing are in church. But even before that – my mom always tells me stories about how when I was younger I would sing along, at the top of my lungs, to The Bodyguard [Whitney Houston] soundtrack. And my grandpa would always tell me stories of riding around with him, and singing Bobby Rush at the top of my lungs – so perhaps I learned to sing in the car. But I definitely fine tuned my skills by singing in church and in school. I never really took it seriously though, it was always something I simply enjoyed doing / could do well naturally, so I just leaned on that ability.

I released my first single in March of 2023, and even in that short amount of time there are so many things I know now that {if I would have known then} would have sped up my learning process – or that would have at least helped me understand my voice as an instrument better. I also wish I would have done more early on to understand the industry and how things really work. That isn’t to say I never worked on anything outside of church and school, or haven’t done anything within the industry, it was just never intentional. I was having fun. And I still am having fun – but with a little more conviction.

When it comes to singing and songwriting I think it is essential to be nimble, and continue educating yourself about the world – especially the things you are interested in. I also think it is extremely important to network, build-relationships and be involved – which is something I struggle with, but am constantly working on. Outside of my music I am not the best at communicating emotions, and I’m a little awkward – and that registers to other people as me being nonchalant or aloof – so I tend to stay to myself. Which I also know isn’t the answer, and has also proven to be an obstacle with trying to build relationships and be involved…so like I said, I’m constantly working on it. But it’s a journey for sure.

Rachel, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Let me tell it: I’m a storyteller and cultural historian. But for now, let’s just say I’m a singer / songwriter. For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved singing, and my family did the best they could to nurture that. So of course I sang in church and at school, and on rare occasions, out in the community. I began choir and theater in middle school, and I also started writing in middle school. First it was short stories about fictional characters, then I got into poetry – which quickly became songs. Growing up I didn’t really take it seriously though. But by the time I was in high school, I had somewhat of a reputation for singing, so I started collaborating with various local acts on demos, background vocals for songs and live performances, and I even did some community theater. But it was all just for the fun of it. It wasn’t until 2023 that I released my first solo single, and just this past February I released my first project, an EP titled, CRUSHED.

I feel like this is so cliche, but the pandemic really made me realize that writing songs and sharing them – giving life to, and holding space for, feelings and emotions we’ve felt, but maybe felt alone with, or couldn’t even fathom to begin to process – that is what I am supposed to be doing. I’m not the best at communicating strong emotions myself, but somehow they come out so eloquently in songs, and that used to be so personal for me – and it still is. But because we’re social creatures, and we literally need communication with other humans to survive, I recognize that I need to share so that, if at the very least, I can relate to someone – anyone – who knows I have also experienced this thing, whatever it is, and offer them comfort and compassion. I think we could use more of that. At first the idea of sharing my songs with anyone was terrifying, and it still can be a little nerve wrecking, but viewing it from this lens has helped me tremendously in my pursuit for more.

I know that there’s a lot I’m going to see and accomplish, I just don’t know what all those things are, but I know that with my music I’m going to make people feel seen and heard.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

Getting out of that “my songs are mine” mentality was hard at first, but along my journey my aunt shared the book Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert with me, and it completely transformed the way I felt about my own individual experience as a human and its role in the collective consciousness.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I still have a full time job, but ever since I can remember (especially the past two years) music has played such a significant role in my life that it doesn’t even feel right to describe it as something that I do in my spare time – or on the side. It is very much a lifestyle that is equivalent to a demanding career. But being an independent, newer act, in a smaller city, with a unique sound – sustaining that lifestyle can sometimes be challenging.

Although I love being able to stream my favorite music in one convenient place – and i think the ease of access to music has helped put upcoming artist on – I also think the way in which this is even able to happen exploits artists, leaving us to have to make a majority of our money from other avenues such as shows, merch, collaborations, etc. Having additional streams of income is cool, but it’s not cool to spend time, money and energy creating a song (usually from the depths of your most vulnerable soul) and only expect $1 for every 100 streams your songs gets – and that’s on the high end! This is even proving to be challenging for artists on larger platforms / with more resources! And it’s gotten to a point now where people know what’s happening isn’t necessarily right, but not a lot of people are doing anything to counteract it. And of course you get on board and do what you have to do to survive, but it just sucks because we all enjoy music. People attend concerts and festivals in droves; people love listening to live bands in intimate settings…you literally can’t go many places and not hear music playing in the background.

I’m not an expert and I don’t know exactly how to fix it, but I definitely think there could be more of a concerted effort to fairly compensate artists for their contribution to society. So if you aren’t already, it is very helpful to not only stream your favorite artist’s music, but purchase it – especially if you can find physical copies. You can purchase their merch, attend their shows, and if you have the means to do so, offer a space for them to curate shows / events where they can perform, sell music, merch, etc. And if your establishment hires artists for entertainment purposes, be sure to offer competitive rates / splits for their time.

Don’t be greedy!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rachelbouzier.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelbouzier/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/RachelBouzier
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0SwLAwBQcRQiI1KSI3Xydg

Image Credits

Image 1 and 2 by Martell Stepney

Main image and image 3 by Bino.