Interview with Irish Singer Stephanie Rainey

It’s exciting as we start to see the world come back online, I’m hearing from more and more musicians who have new music and are making plans for 2021. Recently I got on the phone with Irish singer Stephanie Rainey to interview her about her past successes, future hopes and how really, really big America actually is.

Check out Stephanie’s music on Spotify and her site, as well and watch the beautiful music videos embedded below. I’ll be first in line for a Denver show!

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Stephanie Rainey Interview

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Aimee:

Okay, so, it’s so nice to meet you. I apologize, I had not heard of your music before you reached out. But I love it. It’s beautiful. You have such a lovely voice. Can you just tell me a little bit about your journey, and what you’re looking to do? I know you’ve just released a new single, so I’d love to hear about that as well.

Stephanie:

Yeah, so no problem that you didn’t hear of me, that’s okay, that’s fair enough. I am an artist from Ireland, and I’ve been playing and writing music for a very long time. But a couple of years ago, I got my big break when I released a song called “Please Don’t Go.” The song and a video actually as well, which is a very important part of it. That song and video was about grief and loss. I wrote it about my nephew who I lost when I was a teenager. He died really suddenly.

I guess it’s about my experience of grief, and what it’s like. I asked my friends and family who I knew had lost different people to come and take part in the music video. We interviewed everybody, and got them to answer certain questions about what they’d say to their loved one, or what it was like when they lost them – all that kind of stuff. We ended up with this amazing video. And the day I put it out, it just went completely viral. It was a million views the first day.

So, that’s what gave me my big break. That one went worldwide viral. And then I signed with a label. Yeah, it was really, really crazy. I think anybody who’s ever had a viral video will tell you that it’s the most bizarre thing that can ever happen. I mean, I had writers calling me up asking me if they could share the video. I was like, “I don’t know… maybe?”

Aimee:

“Like, let me ask one of my family, cause I don’t know?!”

Stephanie:

Yeah, it was terrifying. And I think as well because of the content of the video, I wasn’t really expecting what happened. So it made it just a little bit more difficult to enjoy the success of it, because it was obviously something very personal, very sad, and I was very protective of the people that were in the video.

Aimee:

I lost my mother and my aunt, who was like my second mother, in the last couple years, and also an uncle. And I’m sure with what’s going on with the world right now, many have lost people.

Stephanie:

I’m really sorry to hear that. But I think the world is in a really difficult place at the minute, and a lot of people are losing people under, I think, the worst circumstances. Nobody can be at funerals, and things like that. I don’t know what it’s like where you guys are, but for here, there’s ten people allowed to go to a funeral, it’s just really, really stark, and sad. And the video is … It’s beautiful, and it’s amazing, but it is very sad. I never met anybody who didn’t really cry watching it, because it’s very honest.

Aimee:

That’s wonderful. And that led to a record deal, you said?

Stephanie:

Yeah, so I ended up signing a record deal, and then I released a couple of songs with them. And that naturally came to its conclusion. So, I ended up taking some time, and just recording music. And that’s what I’m doing now, putting it out. It’s not a restart, because I never really stopped putting out music. I was pretty successful here in Ireland. But this feels like a relaunch. And we’ve built a new team of people, and we’re really trying to focus a little bit more on America.

When I signed my deal at that time, I never signed a deal in America, so the music has never been exposed there as such. Obviously “Please Don’t Go” did kind of … It got quite big over there. But the other stuff never was released properly. So, it’s like backtracking, but then going forward. So, yeah, the new music is … It’s going down really well, and it seems to be an exciting time.

Aimee:

That’s great. Tell me about the song “No Cowboy.”

Stephanie:

Yeah, so “No Cowboy,” it’s an ode to … Well, I’ve done a couple of interviews today about it, because obviously I’m doing the promo for it. And I think the more you talk about a track, the more you understand it yourself, because I think by the time you go to record it, you release it, and you’ve done all these different things, you haven’t really stopped to think exactly why you wrote it in the first place. So it’s been cool exploring that again.

It’s basically about the happy endings that we are sold in movies and things like that, versus real life, and how hard those happy endings actually are to achieve. Anybody that I know that’s had a very, very, happy, happy ending … It takes work to make a happy life I think. Things don’t just fall on your lap. And I think that that’s the overriding message of the song is that.

But for me when I sing it, it was my eureka moment when I wrote that song where I was like … Things had gone a little bit awry with the record label, and different things like that. And for me, I was like, “Nobody is coming to save you. You have got to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and save yourself.”

I think of it as being a very empowering song, because there is no cowboy on the way, but you can fix this. So, that’s the vibe. And so with that, I got a chance … I was in LA last March before the world shut down. And I got a chance to film the music video there. I had wanted to do that one there. It’s really simple. I mean, we put an Irish person in the center of Hollywood Boulevard in the middle of the day. We’re not that confident. It was a couple of hours that I was like, “Just put your head down, and this will all be over soon.” But the actual video we ended up with, the result, is really cool.

Aimee:

Obviously the world is on pause right now, but is that what you want to do? You want to come here and tour?

Stephanie:

Yeah, I mean, at the minute, we’re just working with different people to try and get the songs placed in a few, hopefully, with TV shows, and things like that. And I think that having things like that will help. It’s going to be a little while before we can travel all over again. But I think when things do open up, I’ll be spending more time there doing it than here. Because here is taking care of itself. But I feel like the music and the sound is a little bit more American than anything else really.

So, I’m excited to get over there. I’ve never toured in America. I’ve played some shows, but I’ve never toured there. And so hopefully we’ll get on a really good support, and just get going. I mean, I know it’s going to be … It’s big. I come from Ireland. America is so vast, so it won’t be an easy task. But I want to do it.

Aimee:

Right. Yeah, that’s one of those things. I live in Denver, which is the middle of the country, and it’s really difficult for bands here to even start touring, because you have to drive at least five, eight hours to get to the next big city. Where the East Coast, and even the West Coast, but particularly the East Coast, you can drive five hours and hit five major cities.

Stephanie:

Well, five hours to eight hours in Ireland, I mean, you can drive the whole thing.

Aimee:

For sure.

Stephanie:

Yeah. I mean, Ireland has such a rich history. And I think that’s why people love coming here, because the history here is … It’s apparent everywhere you go. Buildings even are so old. And that’s one thing that struck me about being in America, when you go to America, you actually realize how new the country is, so to speak. But it’s just such a different … It’s so big, and there’s so much that there’s just not as much history as there is in other places.

I always say to my boyfriend, I’m like, “No wonder people from America love coming here.” It just looks wild. It’s a different landscape. And I love that kind of thing, when you travel to different places, and you go, “This just looks completely different to where I come from.”

Aimee:

Yeah. And even again where I live, our history only goes back a small amount even compared to the East Coast … You know what I mean? So you cross the country, and then it gets newer and newer as you go across.

Stephanie:

Yeah, it’s crazy, but it’s so beautiful. That’s Colorado, yes, that’s where you’re based?

Aimee:

Yeah.

Stephanie:

I mean, I really want to go there. I really want to go to Portland, to Oregon, and I really want to go to Colorado, they’re all definitely places on my list to play. I’ve only ever been to New York and LA. That’s it, and just all music places. But I really want to travel around, and see. It’s just so naturally gorgeous there.

Aimee:

I saw that you’re doing a show for Donovan, you’re performing on that. That’s exciting. Tell me about that.

Stephanie:

Yeah, so I met Donovan about a year ago now. And then his family is working on a project where they’re reimagining versions of his songs. He saw me play, and he really liked my voice. I invited him to a show. And I just love his songs too. I mean, I grew up listening to … I’m quite a pop artist, but I grew up listening to a lot of folk, and a lot of stuff like that through my parents.

And he asked me to cover two of his songs. So, I ended up covering “Colors”and “Catch The Wind.” And there’s a documentary coming up that I’m going to be part of for that. It’s celebrating his 75th birthday. I’m excited about that.

Aimee:

That’s amazing, congratulations. So again, obviously, you’ve grown up Irish. But are there any American singers, songwriters, or artists that you’ve really liked or want to work with?

Stephanie:

Oh, yeah. I actually grew up listening to quite a bit of country music from Nashville. And I don’t think that’s ever really left me. My favorite artists at the minute are Maren Morris, I think she’s amazing. Brandi Carlile, I love.

And then do you know Finneas, who’s Billie Eilish’s brother, he’s got his own artist career. And he’s amazing. If you’re looking for a really good song to listen to, check out his song, “I Lost A Friend.” I think it might be one of the best songs I’ve ever heard. It’s amazing. So I look to a lot of American artists. But it’s all the songwriters that I gravitate towards.

Aimee:

That’s interesting. And it’s funny, because I mean, I obviously like American artists too. But I have this propensity for UK artists as well. It’ll be always some rock band that come out, and I’ll look it up, I’ll be like, “Oh, of course, they’re from England, or Scotland, or wherever.”

Stephanie:

It’s weird isn’t it? You just gravitate towards certain sounds I think.

Aimee:

Totally. Okay, so and then I saw that there’s another single coming out after “No Cowboy.” Is that true?

Stephanie:

Yeah. We were going to be bringing out a song. I’ve got a song called “Woman” that’s coming out in the next couple of months. And it’s a big song. But we’re actually going to hold that back, and we’re going to release a different song first called “Ross And Rachel.”

Aimee:

Like from Friends?

Stephanie:

Yeah. You’re the first person that knows that. It’s a love song. I’m cheekily calling it “Ross And Rachel,” because there’s a line about Ross And Rachel in it, and I just think it’s a good title. The line about Ross and Rachel is pretty fleeting. And it’s just a big pop song. Pop acoustic vibe.

Aimee:

And what about “Woman”?

Stephanie:

Yeah, yeah. It’s a good song. We’re holding it a little bit because we’re hoping that it gets placed in something. It’s a song I wrote about my mom. She was really sick for … She’s been well for about seven months. But she was very sick for about two years. She went through a lot. It was rough. The song is about her. And inspiring women.

Another point of it is that I want men to be able to sing it too and think of the person that they’ve had in their life that inspired them. So I’m really excited for that song to come out, because there’s a lot of people over here that have heard it that are like, “When’s it coming out?” And I’m like, “Soon.” We want to just put it out at the right moment.

Aimee:

You have a ton going on!

Stephanie:

Yeah, sometimes you leave the studio or wherever, and you go, “What am I doing with my life?” And then other times, you leave and you go, “That’s a good song.” That day I was like, “That’s a good song.” But I’ve had way more, “What am I doing with my lives?” Than I’ve had, “That’s a great song.” So they’re a dime a dozen.

Aimee:

Oh, that’s the best. Mostly my site is concert photography. And obviously have not been able to do that for a year now. But that’s how I feel when I walk out of the pit, and I’m like, “Yes. Nailed it.” And then sometimes you’re like, “I’ll be lucky if I get three shots out of this.” Nothing. I think everybody has that feeling.

Stephanie:

Sometimes you know. Sometimes you know, and sometimes you know. You know?

Aimee:

Yup. Well, that’s awesome. Is there anything that you would like to add that I didn’t ask you about?

Stephanie:

No, thanks. I think we covered my background, and then sharing some of the music will be awesome. That’s me in a nutshell. Just trying to make it in the world.

 

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Check out my other music interviews!