In a gold and green-colored cafe in Chelsea on a clear Wednesday afternoon, amongst the quiet atmosphere of people working on their tasks, one individual was bursting into immediate delight while asking about astrological signs.
RAEGAN is a big believer in astrology, comprised of a Leo sun, Cancer rising, and Gemini moon. She considers herself primarily Leo as the ferocious beast is mainly reflected in her chart. She is not wrong, with her self-confidence and honesty to her own emotions she has built herself a platform for her feelings and isn’t afraid to let them lead her into writing a new song. Her single “COINS” is a combination of her emotion-led storytelling and artistic eccentricity.
Music is how RAEGAN speaks to not only the outside world but also to herself, “it makes me feel really satisfied and really good that I can express myself,” she said referring to the music writing process. “It always helps me release a moment like I feel.” Her single is an extension of that quirk. The song was meant to be a confidence booster for herself during a previous relationship where she dealt with bad energy from her current partner’s ex. Instead, she morphed those negative feelings into feelings of lust towards her, a type of mental trick to make herself feel better about the situation.
It was only a few days away from her milestone live performance on Nov. 13, yet RAEGAN showed no signs of nervousness. Instead, she was animated with pride as she spoke about what she looked forward to in the upcoming days. It would be her first time performing with a live band, and she had been practicing for days. “It’s gonna be so exciting,” she said. “I can’t wait to have that intimate journey with this band and with the audience.” Her live shows are more than a concert – RAEGAN coins them as “performance art,” and the addition of a live band will evolve her stage.
“I get so bored of standing there with a mic and singing my songs… it doesn’t really fulfill me,” RAEGAN said, “I always try to create a storyline and visually represent this journey through my music – honestly creating musicals, rather than a setlist.”
RAEGAN is eager to grow as an artist, she books all of her performances by searching different venues and emailing as much as she can. She only started performing on stage this past summer in June, and since then has participated in two to three shows a month. By starting her stage life without a fanbase, she was able to piece together a presence she was proud of and create her personal “musical.”
By being a living Musical, RAEGAN is staying true to her roots. She grew up in musical theater learning the trifecta of talents that she uses today; singing, dancing and acting. By eighth grade she had her first original song written by her brother. By high school, she was writing her own. Finally, on March 23, 2023, RAEGAN released her debut track “TIM BURTON” launching her professional career. The song became popular on TikTok and was used widely as a sound claiming to bring good luck if used, it garnered over a million likes and thousands of uses on the platform.
When writing, RAEGAN tends to start with the beat before moving down to the melodies and filling in gaps. Lyrics are usually the last to be penned in and are written in the moment, sometimes it takes years for that moment to arrive. Her strategy is to walk away from the piece, no matter how long it takes for her to come back. She has songs she still hasn’t completed despite starting on them in high school.
“I’m honestly never thinking when I’m making music,” RAEGAN said, “It’s all just a representation of who I am in that moment, what I’m feeling… I kind of feel free to walk away from that emotion after I make a song about it because it’s my healing process.”
One of those songs that she walked away from did make it out of the vault. “WALTZ” was released earlier this year, yet the story revolves around an event from high school and was written before ironically earning the role of Juliet in a school play. The song became a staple in her discography, mixing elegance with drastic beats to tell the story of her star-crossed love. She refers to the song as her lesbian version of Romeo and Juliet, which came to life in a fully produced music video imagined by RAEGAN herself and directed by Isabella Tan.
The song itself is about RAEGAN’s coming out and an homage to the difficulty of dealing with her parents’ feelings. She is not alone in dealing with those feelings, her YouTube comments are filled with support towards her voice and thankfulness for creating something relatable. “It makes me feel happy that my experiences can relate to other people, and make them feel better going through the same experiences,” RAEGAN said when told about the support she receives.
Aside from her fans, RAEGAN’s support system consists of her girlfriend, her friends and her parents. Since high school, her relationship with her parents changed. With time and set boundaries, her vision came to life and revealed a passion rather than a waste. She doesn’t hold anything against her parents for that time and hopes her parents don’t either. “I feel so elevated and grown from then, and I think everything did happen 100 percent for a reason… I really learned from that experience,” RAEGAN said. In her mind, the “Juliet era” was a moment that every queer kid has to go through, naturally, but she held her head high and persevered through.
Music has become such a large part of her life that she claims not creating will leave her feeling sad. Therefore, she is always creating, finding a gap where she is not stuck at the moment. Completing something, whether it be lyrics, a beat or a melody, once she has finished something she feels a sense of comfort.
Before debuting music videos to accompany her songs, RAEGAN used visualizers to create the images that flowed through her brain. They are all her vision stemming from what she thinks of while she is writing. The complex workings of her artistic brain can not be easily interpreted, therefore, animated visualizers became the metaphorical connection between her thoughts and the audience.
Each visualizer began its life through an initial meeting with an animator who would create a draft and tailor it until it met her vision. The only exception is “HI MY NAME IS” which was created by an animator by the name worm. It was a production done out of free will by worm, when REAGAN saw it she thought it perfectly captured her story and proceeded to ask for permission to use it and it was published on her official channel.
RAEGAN also boasts several live-action visualizers she worked on her own with her girlfriend and no budget. When rewatching them, she cringes. “It’s cool, but it’s not what I was trying to do, but it was almost there,” RAEGAN said, “but I’m keeping it so people can enjoy the growth, enjoy the progress.”
What’s most captivating in RAEGAN’s music is her siren-like voice accompanying the chaotic noise that she gravitated towards. Her music is experimental, the only manner she could truly capture the emotion she feels. Just like the brain, her music style is not something that could easily be studied. Her musical inspiration however can be narrowed down to a select few: MARINA and Tyler The Creator.
While the easiest thing to do is call her music alternative, it is not as simple as it seems. RAEGAN experiments with all types of music – in her upcoming EP, she plans on including a ballad. Her versatility is her charm, without fear she continues to push through in the industry at the young age of 21.
“If [people] resonate with my music, then I’m happy for that, but I don’t have anything specific that I need or want anyone to take away from [my music]. I know some people are gonna be like, what type of music is this and some people are gonna be like, wow, this is amazing,” she said, “I’m happy with the opportunity of having people perceive my music and just even listening to it.”
In the future, RAEGAN hopes to continue growing as an artist. If given the opportunity, someday she would like to create her own live musical, movie soundtrack or musical movie. The theater kid in her lives on despite the almost four years since she graduated from high school, and it won’t die anytime soon considering her ambition.
For now, RAEGAN must focus on her current activities while juggling classes for her bachelor’s degree in recorded music. She took a gap year, so she has a little over a year and a half left. Despite her busy schedule, RAEGAN is ready to continue her journey deeper into the music world. Early next year she plans to release her EP where she will reveal more genres that she’s been dabbling in. For now, you can stream her latest single “COINS” on all streaming platforms.