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Still, there are no plans for Rachel to end her involvement with the genre she considers her musical home. “As long as they will allow me to sing in the clubs, I will do it!” she cries with enthusiasm. “Always, always, always and forever.” Careful, Rachel… that’s one promise we plan to hold you to.
On the artistic statement behind her album: “It’s coming out in the summertime [and] I feel like the summer is full of possibilities… Back to Love is the title of the album, but it’s a metaphor for getting back to yourself, back to your focus, back to all those things you want to do with your life, and not looking back to anything that holds you back.” On the benefits of working in the dance genre: “I find that dance music is one of the few places where you can really be free. If you want to formulate pop music for Top 40 radio you have to follow the cookie cutter mold… I didn’t follow a cookie cutter mold, I did what felt good!” On being a DIVA: “ On being a studied musician in an industry of one-hit wonders: “Luckily for me, I found my way by the Grace of God to people who know what they’re doing, as well. I’ve never been subjected to working with people who didn’t get it… Josh Harris [producer/co-writer] is a traditional songwriter and musician, Chris Griffin [engineer/musician] is an amazing, virtuoso saxophone player… anyone in my close creative circle. I got lucky. There have been a couple instances when you hand off an acapella to be remixed, and you’ll cringe when you hear the result. I’ll name no names on that front!” On surprisingly good publicity: “I got in some gossip column in DC. They were like, ‘Rachel Panay performed 362 times last weekend: once at the Pride Parade, twice at the night event, the fourth time at a festival… and then 358 times when she got home, in front of her mirror.’ I loved it! My friends got offended on my behalf, as though they were insulting me. I wrote an email to the guy thanking him for the kind mention. The audience that reads it, they’re gonna be like ‘FIERCE! Fierce little bitch!’” On one of her favorite performance memories: “I did an impromptu performance for a friend’s birthday party at a new place in New York. Some people would say, ‘don’t do it! You don’t know what the venue’s like, the sound might suck, you don’t know anything… don’t do it!’ So you can just imagine what a bundle of nerves I was. A drag queen introduced me, and the whole crowd was laughing and in a great mood. So by the time the music kicked in I wasn’t nervous, I was feeling fabulous. The sound was amazing, the crowd was great, and it was brilliant. I’m still in the afterglow of that!”
Diva Divo • copyright 2007 • kurtmalecdesigns.com
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That doesn’t mean Rachel’s ambitions stop at the club floor, of course. In fact, this studied musician has her heart set on tackling other favorite genres, as well. With Kristine W and Deborah Cox releasing jazz albums, Rachel – who considers Ella Fitzgerald a primary influence – is looking forward to her turn. “I see someone like Michael Buble or Diana Krall, and that’s kind of where my heart is leading me later in life,” she admits. “At some point there’s definitely a jazz album coming from me. A lot of my club fans, when they come to a jazz gig, they don’t know a lot about jazz. But they’re open to it. If it’s good, they like it!”
I feel that if you have power, claim it. Don’t deflect it! Claim it. Own it. Use it wisely. And if people are feeling your energy and fueling your energy, then that’s a beautiful place to be. I feel like I’m about to explode, but it depends on the support of the listener. I feel like there’s still so much good stuff to come from me… I feel like I’m building an empire of music!”
