Q&A With AV Queer Hits Featured Artist: Jeannie Rak
Ambient Vibes had the opportunity to ask Jeannie Rak some questions. I hope you enjoy it!
Tell us about the collaboration between you and Brittany Rogers! How did it start and overall experience?
I came across Brittany's Instagram Page as a result of following similar artists around the Seattle area. Then one day, she uploaded an acoustic cover of Justin Timberlake's song "Mirrors", and because I'm a huge JT fan and was looking for potential collaborations, I messaged her saying that we should create a JT cover together! I recorded my vocal and guitar parts at home on a crappy microphone, and sent them to Brittany thinking we'd end up with a decent acoustic cover. As you can hear when you listen to the final product that Brittany added on to, mixed, and mastered, the end result is anything but "decent"--it's amazing! We also created a music video that celebrates queer relationships between womxn that was released in June 2021--for Pride month.
How would you describe the music that you typically create?
Saaaaaad, tragic ballads where the vocal performance is a mixture of pop and r&b. However, the latest song that my producer Amit Amram and I worked on is actually a super funky and high-energy bop called "A Dance With Demons"!
What first got you into music?
My mom worked at the schools that my siblings and I attended, which meant that we had 45 minutes in the car with her every morning and afternoon, to and from school. She just had such an intense love of music (I grew up listening to Elvis, Bill Withers, Carol King), and taught us to love it too. She showed me my first chords on the guitar when I finally picked it up at 15, and my enthusiasm took off from there. A decade later, after teaching public elementary school for a couple of years, I knew that I had to go back to music.
If you could go open a show for any artist who would it be?
Sara Bareilles. No question. Her songwriting has been a huge influence on my own, and when I run out of new music to listen to, I always fall back to her albums. Few other artists are as good as she is at conveying depth of emotion, both through instrumentation and incredibly precise vocal performance. She's my idol!
How does it feel being a Queer artist at this moment?
Honestly? It feels like "old news". I've been out and queer for just under 10 years now, and like every queer person out there, I'm used to constantly "coming out" to people. These days coming out has become both easier (great!) and less momentous (people are less likely to make a big deal of it). However, that's just in my Seattle bubble; I know that I can continue to have a positive impact by being a queer role model to other folks (especially Asian women!) who may not have ever seen someone like themselves in music.
Do you sing in the shower? What songs?
You know, I'm a really efficient showerer--I get in, and I get out. I don't tend to sing, ha!
What is the most useless talent you have?
I'm excellent at finding loose change on the ground. And I always share my lucky pennies.
If you could change anything about the industry, what would it be?
Right now? I'd love to earn more than $0.003 per stream for my original music on streaming platforms!
What's next for you? Tell us everything.
I'm playing music at a dozen different venues in and around Seattle, and have two original songs just about ready to release. We'll be shooting a big music video for one of the songs (A Dance With Demons)--colorful outfits, people dancing in the streets!--and I just can't wait to show folks a different side of my songwriting. Finally: if anyone out there would like to collaborate on music, hit me up! I'm always looking to broaden my range and to meet music folks.
Listen to “Heart, Broken” by Jeannie Rak on the Ambient Vibes: On the Radar on Spotify now.