Rachel Croland

fayetteville, AR

words by Liz | photos by emma

Scan through Rachel’s Instagram, read a couple captions, and then ask yourself why you’re not her BFF yet. For real. She radiates one of those authentic cool girl vibes and when we saw that she was working on music, we couldn’t be more excited to hear what she’s got planned! She just finished her first song Baby Where’s Your Brain? with her band year19 and is working on getting it recorded, so stayed tuned. Take a peek below and get pumped for what's to come!

When did you get into music?

R: Well, I’m pretty sure I could sing before I was talking! I’ve grown up wanting to pursue music, but last summer I went to Nashville and it changed my life. One of my friends asked, “Why can’t I go online and hear you voice yet?” and it’s because I hadn’t really been trying. That was a huge epiphany for me. After that realization, I started to write about life and feelings went into this direction with my drummer, Miller. We are adding more people but I’m super particular with the sound so there’s a lot of patience. I wanted to immediately put my music out, but I think it’s cool to kinda grow with your songs.

For you, what is it like to be a female artist in a city whose music scene is growing?

R: Especially in this area, it’s not common to be a female artist- I only know of one other girl, Nancy, who's kinda taking the same path as I am. I don’t think that it makes it more difficult for us, but more unique- almost like there’s a certain spotlight since we are different. I don’t know if that difference makes it harder in other cities though, but I think there’s a lot of potential for females when you’re the only one pursing it and that’s really cool. People here who are our age crave new music.

Do you think that makes it easier to get the support you need as an emerging artist?

R: For sure, people here are like “Wow, that’s bold!” They want people to say it then do it. With anything- music or athletics or whatever- as soon as someone wants to pursue something and they say it out loud, that’s an entirely different mentality. The second I vocalized it to my friends they were like “Ok! Come on, let’s do it.” They were super supportive, like when I asked to use their garage to practice. Maybe it's just because I have a good group of people around me! But to me, the most important part after saying it is actually doing it, so having that support backing me has been incredible. I don’t wanna look back when I’m 45 and see that I didn’t try.

Check out some of Rachel's current faves + get a feel for what kinda vibes her music has! Spotify @honeypunchmag!