Go Back In Time With Raiche

Photography by Andrew Zaeh

Fashion styling A Guy and A Gurl

Fashion Market Dwayne Adams

Hair by Shannon K. Young

Makeup by Tish Ferguson

“I’m inspired by a lot of people. Mariah Carey, she’s indefinitely an inspiration.  I also listened to a lot of Christian and gospel music growing up, but I eventually started going into my own lane. I started listening to remixes of Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simone. I fell in love with Jazz music. I even wrote my senior history thesis on Jazz. I have a lot of influences; I think I pull from a lot of people.”

Her career started at a young age and took off from the comfort of her home. Through the power of YouTube covers and Instagram, the budding songstress was discovered by DJ Knock out, and as some say, the rest was history.

“I just always knew I wanted a music career, but I had no clue how to start or what to do. I was even terrible at working YouTube.[laughs] But I tried it, and people started to follow me and my music. Social media definitely played a big role in my career. I just wanted to express myself and make my music and show my voice in any way that I could. It was a good creative outlet for me. I wish I did it more; I wish I were a little bit more expressive with it. I was terrified back then. I wish I weren’t so fearful because clearly, things are great now.”

Perhaps most notable of these covers is her 2018 rendition of Chasing Pirates, which quickly went viral. Following her surprise hit, she began being mentored by DJ Knock Out, who introduced her to the GDE production team and the award-winning songwriter and producer Prince Charlez. Prince Charlez was equally impressed by her talent and promptly signed the gifted young vocalist to his recently launched Island Prolific imprint at Atlantic Records.

Since then, she has toured with Pink; had songs featured on the Netflix movie Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker,  all while being named an artist to watch by both Essense and Billboard. 

Her most recent endeavor continues in the theme of blending old and new as she has returned to one of her old tracks to give it new life. The Song Pick A Side originally came out back in 2020 and was inspired by the contrast between Raiche and her sister.“You know, when I was younger, I used to be very shy; I used to be very passive. Even to this day, I’m still working on my passiveness. But that song is one inspired by my older sister, who was the complete opposite. She knew what she wanted from relationships and men, and she would be straight up with them, ‘do you want to do this or not? I like you; I want to be in a relationship with you; what is it?’ Pick A Side is about just going after what you want and telling him what it is. Plain and simple.”

The revamped version features TY Dolla $ign and according to Raiche “can translate on a bunch of different levels. I think you can just be chilling in your house and cleaning to it or bumping it in the car and vibing with your friends. You know recently two people have told me this. They were like ‘I was at my house and I heard this loud noise and I stopped and listened and it was their neighbor bumping “Pick A Side.” That was so cool to me, -to know someone was blasting my song. But also, this new remix is just really fun. It’s got a little more of a beat to it; I absolutely love it.”

The revising of past tracks doesn’t stop there. When asked what was next, she mentioned that another remix is already underway. “I have so much music that I’ve been recording. So much fun stuff; I absolutely love what I do. But also a second “Complicated” might be coming out. It’s actually the same one, but I re-cut it, and we just fluffed it up a bit, and I’m obsessed with it. It sounds so cool. It sounds like Complicated 2.0; it’s beefed up, with a harder beat to it, it’s less instrumental. It’s a little bit younger. I’m happy that I have both because a lot of older people love Complicated and some of my other songs are instrumental like that. I like that I have that array, a good circle of people that listen to my music. So that and hopefully a couple more singles and possibly an album soon.”

A powerhouse vocalist with a sound rooted in soul, Raiche is an artist whose future will be well worth following.