Tour, "Ocean" Demo Featured in a Film, NEW SINGLE!

Hey everyone!

Wow, it's been quite a while, and I'm really sorry about that. Those of you who have kept up with me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and YouTube know how huge of a year 2014 has been for me both as a person and a musician. Personally in the last few months, I turned 19 and started college, which has been a really exciting new experience. However, this year in music has been even more exciting and special to me.

2014 started with the release of my demo Failure, which was the first look at my upcoming album Understand. Most of 2014 consisted of late nights staying up and writing Understand. The songs are all so special to me, and I am still to this day refining them even more so that the album can be as incredible as possible. Keep your eyes peeled for an early 2015 release. ;)

(*edit: Due to many artistic changes over the course of its production, the 2015 working title "Understand" has evolved into the upcoming release, "Growing Up". )

Smack dab in the middle of the blistering hot month of July, Sofia Torres (drums), Michelle Gorman (bass), and I set out on the road for the RM Tour, crammed into a little van (with no A/C). The drives out to the ten venues we performed at were sweaty and long, but they were so much fun. We were fortunate enough to be joined by friends and family (including the incredible photographer Melissa Wahler, whose work you can see in the RM Tour gallery) who supported us on each step on our journey. For that, I am eternally grateful.

However, it's YOU guys who really made the tour special. Whether you came out to one of the shows physically or just tuned into the webcast we had on YouTube, we LOVED spending time with you. Creating music is an awesome feeling, but connecting with people THROUGH that music is the best feeling of them all. To all of our new friends that we made on tour, THANK YOU for making the experience one of the best of my life, for the love and support, and for being you.

Speaking of the YouTube webcast and YouTube in general, until lately I have been posting weekly videos on my channel. The reason for the current hiatus is that I have actually been without a laptop since October (...there may or may not have been an accident involving seltzer and my motherboard..), so it has been really difficult to edit and upload videos. However, thankfully my system will be up-and-running again soon, and with it, I will be putting out a WHOLE lot more videos than ever before. For 2015, I plan to put out TWO videos a week and to host live webcasts to hang out with you guys at least once a month. YouTube is such a HUGE part of why I love what I do because the community on there is simply incredible (cough cough especially the Millertary soldiers cough cough). I love you guys so much.

Another cool thing is that the short film A Modern Tragedy by Jesse Magill was released earlier this month. Check it out to hear an EXCLUSIVE demo of my song Ocean during the credits!

In closing, I have a gigantic, exciting announcement: my holiday single AND an official video to accompany it are being released next week! Song for Christmas is so close to my heart, and I hope that you guys love it as much as I do.

Thank you all so much for the love, support, and patience throughout this incredible year. To those of you who have been waiting for a news update all this time: I'm sorry that I've been gone, I'm back now, and I'm not going anywhere anytime soon.

Xoxo

Rachel