Rachel Chinouriri
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Rachel Chinouriri (born 1 November 1998; pronounced , ) is an English singer-songwriter. After posting numerous songs on
SoundCloud SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...
, she began releasing music on major streaming platforms in 2018. She released her debut
extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...
(EP), ''Mama's Boy'', in 2019 to critical acclaim. One of the songs from the EP, "So My Darling", received attention on
TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...
when it became a popular audio to use. Chinouriri was signed to
Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...
, with whom she released her debut mini-album, ''Four° In Winter'', in 2021. Its single "Give Me A Reason" was nominated for a
Ivor Novello Award The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Welsh entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and Musical composition, composing. They have been presented annually in London by the The Ivors Academy, Ivors Academy, formerly called the Britis ...
in the category "Best Contemporary Song". She then released her second EP, ''Better Off Without'', in 2022. Chinouriri released her debut studio album, '' What a Devastating Turn of Events'', in May 2024, followed by the EP '' Little House'' in April 2025.


Early life and education

Chinouriri was born in
Kingston Hospital Kingston Hospital is an acute hospital in Kingston upon Thames, England. It is managed by the Kingston and Richmond NHS Foundation Trust. It has an emergency department, Accident & Emergency Unit, a popular Maternity unit, and an sexually transmi ...
on 1 November 1998. Her family later moved to the Forestdale area of
Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...
, where she was raised from the age of three. Her family had moved to UK from
Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...
shortly prior to her birth, and she experienced a "traditional African upbringing". Her upbringing led her to be curious about
British culture The culture of the United Kingdom is influenced by its History of the United Kingdom, combined nations' history, its interaction with the cultures of Europe, the individual diverse cultures of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and ...
, specifically its music, and as a teenager, she became influenced by the discographies of
Daughter A daughter is a female offspring; a girl or a woman in relation to her parents. Daughterhood is the state, condition or quality of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show r ...
and
Lily Allen Lily Rose Beatrice Allen (born 2 May 1985) is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. List of awards and nominations received by Lily Allen, Her accolades include a Brit Award, alongside nominations for a Grammy Award and a Laurence Olivi ...
. At the age of 17, Chinouriri began writing songs and recorded them on a £20 microphone, uploading them to the music-sharing website
SoundCloud SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...
via her mother's laptop.


Career

Chinouriri began formally releasing various singles on major
streaming Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...
platforms in 2018, which led to her being signed to
Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...
. Her first release with the label was "So My Darling", which she wrote aged 17 and released in 2018. The song received radio play when it was picked as a special play on
BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...
. She was then announced as an act at
Field Day Field day may refer to: * For the armed forces use and its derivatives, see wiktionary:field day * Field day (agriculture), a trade show * Field Day (amateur radio), an annual amateur radio exercise * Field Day (band), a Canadian pop-punk band fro ...
festival in 2019. Chinouriri followed "So My Darling" with "Adrenaline" in April 2019. She played a headline show in London in June 2019. Chinouriri released her debut
extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...
(EP), ''Mama's Boy'', in August 2019. It was released to critical acclaim. Following the release, she dropped the song "Where Do I Go?", which she said was written about her thoughts on the
afterlife The afterlife or life after death is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's Stream of consciousness (psychology), stream of consciousness or Personal identity, identity continues to exist after the death of their ...
. She played at
Dot to Dot Festival The Dot to Dot Festival is an annual music festival taking place since 2005, currently held at various venues in Nottingham, Bristol and previously Manchester across May bank holiday weekend. Previous artists that have performed at the festiva ...
and
Pitchfork Music Festival Pitchfork Music Festival was an annual music festival in Union Park (Chicago), Union Park in Chicago, Illinois, organized by the online magazine ''Pitchfork (website), Pitchfork.'' Starting in 2011, the festival announced a branch staged in Paris ...
that year. The song "Beautiful Disaster", featuring Sam Dotia, was released in July 2012. Tom Bibby of ''Yuck'' magazine described the song as "an honest and heartfelt portrayal of the isolation and stillness felt in the midnight hours, told through Chinouriri's powerful falsettos", adding that she has proved herself to be "a powerful singer-songwriter". She then released various singles, including "Give Me a Reason", "Darker Place" and "Through the Eye". The latter acted as the lead single for her debut mini-album, ''Four° in Winter'', which was released in September 2021. She released a
deluxe edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, collector's edition or expanded edition are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as b ...
later that year, with the addition of three new songs. In January 2022, after the rise in popularity of her 2018 single "So My Darling" on the video sharing app
TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...
, Chinouriri re-released the song in acoustic form. At the time of release, the audio had more than 40,000 videos shared on TikTok. In March 2022, she released the single " All I Ever Asked". The song was chosen as that week's "Hottest Record in the World" by BBC Radio 1's
Clara Amfo Clara Amfo is a British radio broadcaster, television presenter, podcast host and voice-over artist. She is known for presenting her shows on BBC Radio 1. Early life and education Born to Ghanaian parents. She has five siblings. Her father, w ...
. Chinouriri subsequently announced plans for a second EP that would feature the song, as well as a national tour throughout the UK. That summer, she played at the
Great Escape Festival The Great Escape Festival is a four-day music festival held in Brighton and Hove, England every year in May. It is operated by MAMA Festivals and showcases new music from a variety of genres. The festival was founded in 2006 and hosts roughly ...
and
Boardmasters Festival Boardmasters Festival is an annual event held in Cornwall, United Kingdom, usually spanning five days on the second weekend of August. The event is a combination of live music and surfing/skateboarding competitions in and around the town of New ...
, and also had a gig supporting
Sam Fender Samuel Thomas Fender (born 25 April 1994) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. Born and raised in North Shields (near Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle), Fender discovered his passion for music during his teenage years and released sev ...
. In early 2023, Chinouriri was one of the openers for
Lewis Capaldi Lewis Marc Capaldi (born 7 October 1996) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and musician. In March 2019, his single "Someone You Loved" (2018) topped the UK Singles Chart where it remained for seven weeks, and in November 2019, it reached number ...
on his tour, and humorously told the story of how she had secured the gig through having sent him a drunk DM. She played at a number of summer festivals, including
Latitude Festival Latitude Festival is an annual music and arts festival set within the grounds of Henham Park, near Southwold, Suffolk, England. The first edition of the festival took place in 2006 and has continued annually (apart from 2020 when it was cancel ...
,
Truck Festival Truck Festival is an annual independent music festival in Oxfordshire, England. Truck Festival started in 1998, founded by the Bennett family (including the brothers Robin and Joe of the band Goldrush). The Bennett family decided that mainstr ...
,
Kendal Calling Kendal Calling is a music and arts festival, held annually at Lowther Deer Park in the Lake District, Cumbria in the North West of England. It has grown from a two-day, 900 capacity event in 2006 to a 40,000 capacity 4-day music festival. Kend ...
,
Connect Music Festival Connect Music Festival is a Scottish music festival. It took place at the Royal Highland Centre Showgrounds in Edinburgh in 2022 and 2023, having been revived from the previous format of the festival, which was held in the grounds of Inverar ...
, and
All Points East All Points East is an annual music festival held over two weekends in London's Victoria Park, run by AEG Presents. The 10-day event comprises one festival weekend, four days of free entry and community activities known as "In the Neighbourhood" ...
. Later that year, she was selected as one of the openers for
Louis Tomlinson Louis William Tomlinson ( ; born 24 December 1991) is an English singer, songwriter, and fashion designer. Born and raised in Doncaster, England, Tomlinson auditioned for British singing competition ''The X Factor'' as a solo artist in 2010, w ...
on the Europe leg of his Faith in the Future World Tour. In January 2024, Chinouriri announced that she would be releasing her debut album, '' What a Devastating Turn of Events'', on 3 May. Four singles were released in the build-up leading to the record: "The Hills", "Never Need Me", the title track and "It Is What It Is". ''What a Devastating Turn of Events'' debuted at number 17 on the
UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...
, and at number 5 on the
Scottish Albums Chart The Scottish Albums Chart is a chart compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) which is based on how physical and digital sales towards the UK Albums Chart fare in Scotland. The official singles chart for Scotland, the Scottish Singles Chart, ...
during the week starting from 10 May 2024. Also in May, the artist performed as one of the headliners on the Introducing Stage at
BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...
's
Big Weekend BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend (R1BW) (previously known as One Big Weekend, for 2012 as Radio 1's Hackney Weekend, and for 2018 as BBC Music's Biggest Weekend) is a British music festival run by BBC Radio 1. It is held once a year, in a different l ...
festival in
Luton Luton () is a town and borough in Bedfordshire, England. The borough had a population of 225,262 at the 2021 census. Luton is on the River Lea, about north-west of London. The town's foundation dates to the sixth century as a Saxon settleme ...
. In June, Chinouriri played on the Other Stage at
Glastonbury Festival 2024 The 2024 Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts took place between 26 and 30 June at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset and followed the 2023 edition of the festival. The three headlining acts were Dua Lipa, Coldplay, and SZA, with S ...
, playing both her own songs and a cover of Estelle's
American Boy "American Boy” is a song by British singer Estelle (musician), Estelle featuring rapper Kanye West from the former's second album ''Shine (Estelle album), Shine'' (2008). The song was written by the artists, alongside Ethan Hendrickson, John ...
. In July, it was announced that she would be the opener for the United Kingdom and European leg of the Short n' Sweet Tour by
Sabrina Carpenter Sabrina Annlynn Carpenter (born May 11, 1999) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She first gained prominence starring on the Disney Channel series ''Girl Meets World'' (2014–2017). She signed with the Disney Music Group, Disney ...
. On 7 February 2025, Chinouriri released a new version of "All I Ever Asked", recorded in collaboration with American singer-songwriter
Sombr Shane Michael Boose (born July 5, 2005), known professionally as Sombr, is an American singer, songwriter and producer. He released his debut single "Nothing Left to Say" in 2021 and his first extended play (EP), ''In Another Life'', in 2023, thr ...
. On 4 April 2025, Chinouriri released the EP '' Little House'', consisting of four tracks including the single "Can We Talk About Isaac?". Chinouriri has mentioned the EP is written about her "dreams of maybe having a little house with my future partner."


Artistry

Chinouriri grew up listening to indie music, pop girl groups such as
Girls Aloud Girls Aloud are a British-Irish pop music, pop girl group that was created through the ITV (TV network), ITV talent show ''Popstars: The Rivals'' in 2002. The line up consisted of members Cheryl (singer), Cheryl, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, N ...
,
The Saturdays The Saturdays are an English-Irish girl group based in London, England. The group formed during the summer of 2007 and has been on hiatus since 2014. The lineup consists of Frankie Bridge, Una Healy, Rochelle Humes, Mollie King, and Vanessa Whi ...
and the
Sugababes The Sugababes are an English girl group composed of Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan, and Siobhán Donaghy. The lineup changed three times before returning to the original lineup in 2011. Formed in 1998 by Ron Tom, the manager of All Saints, ...
; African a cappella;
Britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s United Kingdom, British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. Musically, Britpop produced bright, catchy alternative rock, with significant influences from British guitar pop of the 1960s and 1970s. B ...
bands like
Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentBlur, and
The Libertines The Libertines are an English Rock music, rock band, formed in London in 1997 by frontmen Carl Barât (vocals/guitar) and Pete Doherty (vocals/guitar). The band, centred on the songwriting partnership of Barât and Doherty, included John Hassall ...
; as well as the likes of
V V Brown Vanessa Brown (born 24 October 1983), known professionally as VV Brown, is a British indie pop singer-songwriter, model and record producer. Early life Vanessa Brown was born in Northampton, England. She is the eldest of six siblings; her mot ...
and
Noisettes Noisettes are an English indie rock band from London, currently composed of singer and bassist Shingai Shoniwa and guitarist Dan Smith. The band first achieved commercial success and nationwide recognition with the second single of their seco ...
. She cited
Daughter A daughter is a female offspring; a girl or a woman in relation to her parents. Daughterhood is the state, condition or quality of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show r ...
and
Ladysmith Black Mambazo Ladysmith Black Mambazo are a South African male choral group singing in the local vocal styles of ''isicathamiya'' and ''mbube (genre), mbube''. They became known internationally after singing with American Paul Simon on his 1986 album ''Grace ...
among her main influences, while
Coldplay Coldplay are a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer and percussionist Will Champion, and manager Phil Harvey (band m ...
is her favourite band. She has also expressed an admiration for
Sampha Sampha Lahai Sisay (born 16 November 1988) is a British singer, songwriter, musician and record producer from Morden, South London. Sampha has collaborated with Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean, SBTRKT, Jessie Ware, Alicia Keys, Gorillaz, ...
,
Kings of Leon Kings of Leon is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, in 1999. The band includes brothers Caleb, Nathan, and Jared Followill and their cousin Matthew Followill. The band's early music was a blend of Southern roc ...
, and Phoenix. For her debut album, Chinouriri took inspiration from the sonic and visual aesthetics of the noughties Britpop culture and icons of her childhood.


Personal life

In March 2024, Chinouriri was one of the acts who decided to boycott the
South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...
music festival in
Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...
, over the event's sponsorship deal with the
US Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...
and major defense contractors, and in protest against the
Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...
. In a statement of social media, Chinouriri explained her decision by stating that the topic of war was "extremely triggering" for her, as both her parents had served as
child soldiers Children in the military, including state armed forces, non-state armed groups, and other military organizations, may be trained for combat, assigned to support roles, such as cooks, porters/couriers, or messengers, or used for tactical adv ...
in Zimbabwe before
emigrating Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...
to the United Kingdom; she also encouraged fans to "support victims of war in any capacity".


Discography


Studio albums


Mini-albums


Extended plays


Singles


As lead artist


As featured artist


Tours

Headlining * What a Devastating Turn of Events (2024) * All I Ever Asked for Was a North American Tour (2025) Supporting * Short n' Sweet Tour (2025)


Awards and nominations


References


External links

*
Rachel Chinouriri
on
Marathon Artists Marathon Artists is a London-based independent record label founded by Paul-René Albertini, Philippe Ascoli and Jimmy Mikaoui in 2012. The label also runs its own publishing and management divisions. Artists on the label include Courtney Barn ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chinouriri, Rachel 1998 births Living people 21st-century Black British women singers 21st-century English women singers Black British rock musicians British indie pop musicians British indie rock musicians English women singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters English people of Zimbabwean descent English pop rock singers People educated at the BRIT School People from Croydon Parlophone artists Singers from the London Borough of Croydon