Rachel Chinouriri Returns With New Single 'The Hills'

Alternative indie pop artist Rachel Chinouriri shares her brand new single and video “The Hills” via Elektra Records. The track premiered today as BBC Radio 1's Hottest Record In The World by Clara Amfo, and is available now on all streaming platforms.

“The Hills” unpacks feelings around identity and searching for the comfort of home, written following a realization that it had taken Rachel feeling agonizingly out of place while spending an extensive period of time far away from London to know that she’d been home all along.

Rachel explains: “I wrote ‘The Hills’ about the feeling of not belonging and being out of place. I was in LA having a pretty terrible time. I didn’t feel like I connected with many people musically or in general, and I was stressed out about lots of things in my personal life. I also love being at home, and felt very out of place.

After a month in LA, I was having my last session and it was going very bad… I was texting Aaron Shadrow in the session… one of the few people I really connected with creatively, we made a plan to leave and he took me to his house and I just told him how I felt. He just started playing the guitar and drums and I started writing about how I felt and in that moment I realized the UK truly is my home.

Despite how alienated I’ve felt at times because of my race, battles and experiences, in that moment I realized where I enjoyed being was around my friends and loved ones in London. I was writing this in the hills and I felt like no matter how beautiful of a home I was in, in the LA hills, I stuck out like a sore thumb and that was the beginning of the end of this album… a project I started with a song about how I wanted to find my home.”

“The Hills’’ cinematic music video was directed by Jake Erland and draws inspiration from the music videos Rachel grew up watching. She adds, “I always grew up wondering if I’d ever see black girls making music videos like Lily Allen, or Kate Nash, or seeing black women in bands who made music like Coldplay, so in a way this video pays homage to videos like “Lily Allen - LDN” and “Coldplay - scientist”.

My nostalgia of seeing people walking around LDN / England made me want to do it. I’ve made it back home and I guess it’s a celebration, maybe bittersweet but at least I’m back where I belong…”

Rachel has also announced that she will play a headline show at London’s KOKO on March 6, 2024. Artist and venue presale tickets for her biggest London headline show to date will be on sale from Monday October 16, with general sale commencing Wednesday October 18. Rachel will also be supporting Louis Tomlinson on his Faith In The Future arena tour on select UK dates this November. For up-to-date ticketing information, please visit here.

“The Hills” marks the start of a new era for Rachel; the first single from her highly anticipated debut album follows a number of standalone single releases earlier this year including “Ribs” and “Maybe I’m Lonely.” Further highlights include being shortlisted for the BBC’s Sound of 2023, supporting Lewis Capaldi’s European arena tour and a number of headline dates (including 4 sold out nights at Hoxton Hall) and packed out summer festival shows at the likes of Latitude, Barn on the Farm, Y Not and more, which saw her praised by NME as “a confident and often sublime vocalist”.