On day one of All Things Go NYC (Sept. 26), buzzy English pop-rocker Rachel Chinouriri delivered one of those special sets that convinced everyone in Queens’ Forest Hills Stadium that she’s the next big thing.
Playing a smattering of songs across a half-hour set – several of which were from her 2024 breakthrough debut album, What a Devastating Turn of Events — Chinouriri commanded the stage with a calm self-assuredness that she occasionally dropped for vivacious bursts of energy. From leading dance-a-longs to “23:42” to getting the entire venue to raise its hands during the “All I Ever Asked” chorus, the 26-year-old singer-songwriter was one of the early winners of this year’s NYC staging of All Things Go. Near the end of her set, Chinouriri played one of her newest songs, a sweet, indie-pop ode to her boyfriend titled “Can We Talk About Isaac?”
“Isaac is in New York for the first time ever, and I’ve always had a vision of him running out with a tambourine,” Chinouriri tells Billboard backstage after her set. “We didn’t have a tambourine, so I was like ‘Come out, anyway,’ and Amira, my tour manager, said she’d push him…. so he was forced onstage. [Laughs]. I think he deserves his moment, he’s inspired some songs!”
“Can We Talk About Isaac?” appears on Chinouriri’s Little House EP, which she released this spring (April 5). The EP arrived the day after Chinouriri concluded her stint as an opener for the first European leg of Sabrina Carpenter‘s Short n’ Sweet Tour. With Carpenter set to bring that tour back on the road this fall — in support of her latest Billboard 200 chart-topper, Man’s Best Friend — Chinouriri already has an idea of which new song she’d like to remix. “‘Sugar Talking,’” she says without hesitation. “It’s undefeated, it needs to be No. 1.”
Alongside Carpenter, Chinouriri also named Pinkpantheress and Hayley Williams as artists she’d like to collaborate with this year. Of course, Chinouriri is no stranger to receiving love from pop superstars; Adele popped out to her L.A. show in June and sent her flowers to celebrate her first two Brit Awards nominations. “It’s mental because she feels like this magical entity,” Chinouriri jokes. “I’ve not met her, so I just want to sit with her and be like, ‘Who on Earth showed you my songs? How did this happen?’ But I love that she’s a South London girly and feel very grateful to have her support.”
As she continues to prep her follow-up to What a Devastating Turn of Events, Chinouriri remains focused on lifting other Black girls in the indie and alternative scenes as her star rises. “We need more [Black girls in these spaces]. It’s not acceptable that my only other Black indie counterpart, Cat Burns, went to my school,” she stresses. “I can’t wait until I’m 60 and lots of young Black girls can enter the industry and not have to do the whole ‘Don’t call me R&B’ dance. I want them to do it freely, be supported freely and not feel like they don’t deserve to be in this space.”
