Gen Z artist Rayne: ‘Music is my oxygen’
· Citizen
There’s vacuous bubble gum pop, empty vessel dance music and then, well, there’s art.
Gen Z performer, figure skater, writer, and artist Rayne, his stage name, makes the latter. It’s the cloak he dons, he said, that shape shifts every day into a pop star.
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Art happens when you listen to the music, but you can feel it, too. When you can visualise the lyrics and make take something home beyond a sweaty afterburn of the wiggles. And he said that performing before an audience, creating, and sharing are his absolute passions.
Self-taught on piano, a figure skater with provincial colours, and a love for mentoring special needs children how to take to the rink, he’s an artist whose will has determined the realisation of his dreams.
Savage Love, Rayne’s latest, is a single that dismantles stereotypes, builds a solid narrative throughout and is lyrically as relevant to Gen Z dreams as it is to the desires across any generational divide.
Savage Love dips into 90s house nostalgia, but it’s got Gen Z innards.For me, it’s escapism. Savage Love was written with the intention of transporting you to another, better place, where you can just ‘be’.
“There are so many terrible things going on in the world now, and I think a little ‘recession pop’ (as I’ve seen it be called) would be a welcome escape in the current climate.
Rayne’s life performances are legendary. Picture: Supplied ‘Savage Love’ suggests a measure of intensity. What does it say about how you fall in love?I am 100% a cautious type. I am very guarded, but when I do fall, I fall hard.
You have had over a million streams. At what point does success start to feel real, and at what point does it start to feel like pressure?This is a difficult question to answer, because I don’t think it has set in yet. Although a few moments have come close to feeling like “success” (in the general sense), like hearing my music on the radio, seeing a picture of me in public, and hearing a crowd sing a song that I wrote in my bedroom at 3am.
But it feels rather surreal in a way; it’s a moment of disbelief when things like this happen.
Art and social commentary. Do musicians have a responsibility?I believe that my core role as an artist and performer is to create an escape for people. A moment to ‘recharge’, so to speak.
That being said, my responsibility as a human being is to take a stance and to stand up for what is right. And that human being can use the platform and opportunities created by being an artist to highlight certain issues in the world, to increase the likelihood of positive change occurring in the world.
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Listen to Savage Love:
You are a Gen Z, a cohort that grew up online. Has social media made artists braver or more anxious?I think that it’s caused some anxiety; there’s a lot of pressure to always say the correct thing, which has unfortunately resulted in many people staying quiet out of fear of backlash, which I think is counterintuitive.
However, it is now easier than ever to connect with fans of your music and to get to know them and spend time with them, which is a massive positive.
But on a less serious note, it’s caused a lot of anxiety for introverts like me, but I’m learning to have fun with social media and not to take it too seriously.
You list your influences carefully. Why?I think the easiest way to answer this would be on a case-by-case basis, otherwise I’ll end up taking 4 days to answer this question.
Lady Gaga taught me about authenticity, fearlessness and an unerring belief in yourself. I think the biggest thing I’ve taken away from her as an artist is that ‘fame’ comes from within, from your belief in yourself and your craft. It’s the way you carry yourself.
Rina Sawayama taught me that pop music can be experimental. With her album Sawayama, she blended several genres flawlessly while maintaining an honest, vulnerable core.
Billie Eilish showed me that vulnerability and honesty are powerful and necessary.
Michael Jackson taught me about the art of performance. He was a master, the best at what he did. From stage presence to theatrics and spectacle, he knew how to entertain people. I use lessons that I’ve learnt from studying him, almost daily, as an artist.