REVIEW: Rachel Chinouriri's debut album 'What a Devastating Turn of Events'
Image: Lauren Harris
Published: 13 May 2024
Rachel Chinouriri is an artist who is nothing short of beguiling. First releasing music in 2018, she leant into a R&B-soul sound but over the last couple of years has moved firmly into an alt-pop space.
Chinouriri recently released her debut album What a Devastating Turn of Events, which has seen her achieve her first major chart success, with the album this week hitting number 17 on the UK Album Charts.
Compromising of 14 tracks, the album explores Chinouriri’s life to date, the good and the bad, the lessons she has learned and amongst the devastation she alludes to in the album’s title, she also wants to project a message of hope and to remind everyone there is great beauty in life, even amongst our darkest moments.
“This album is a culmination of the beginning of a journey I’ve been waiting to take for a while and to be honest, there were points where it might’ve not happened. I hope people are able to hear my potential and creativity and tune in for many more future albums,” Chinouriri says. “This album could’ve gone so many ways but I decided to try and make it reflect on my life and upbringing. I could’ve made it wonky, moody and more experimental but to get to this position has been such a struggle, especially being black and British… and now I’m just ready to have FUN. The topics are sad, but I felt like I was just so sad for years and now I feel like I’m healing and can just have fun and be free now. With releasing this album… I just feel so free and so happy. No matter what anyone thinks, I just am happy that I can hopefully perk more interest and continue to grow and flourish in music”.
The album journeys through many genres, with touches of rock, electronica, R&B and soul, yet it all pulls together beautifully, with Chinouriri’s endlessly expressive and magnetic vocal leading you empathetically, but directly, through every song.
The album kicks off with ‘Garden of Eden’, its dramatic, cinematic opening being the perfect curtain raiser to the album. It is a remarkable song, with a discreet but persistent beat and a vocal that switches from Chinouriri’s higher register to a flatter vocal signifying the lethargy of defeat. Guitars and touches of glam rock mixed with new romantic pop swirl together as lyrically it speaks of the pain of growing up and questioning life. “No matter what, your youth is gonna end / My God, it’s sinking in / There’s no point in anything.”
The album’s second single ‘Never Need Me’ is an irresistible joyful burst of pop sonically, but has a darker undertone to the lyrics as it speaks of the heartbreaking moment you realise you have to walk away from someone you love because their inability to change their ways is ultimately hurting you. It leads into ‘My Everything’, a heavier pop-rock-grunge track with fuzzy guitars and a repeating hook of vocals played backwards as Chinouriri sings of regretting giving ‘my everything’ to someone that ultimately broke her heart: ‘I wish I could have you for myself / But the problem is that you're for someone else.’
‘All I Ever Asked’, originally released on her 2022 EP Better Off Without, was named Hottest Record in the World by BBC Radio 1 in March 2022, and sounds just as fresh and melodic now as it did on its first release, while ‘Dumb Bitch Juice’ is a smooth flowing track of funk mixed with R&B with Chinouriri singing of how she has fallen for the wrong type of man: “I'll be giving it the same excuse that "He looks so good" / And my friends tеll me, "No" / But I keep sipping on this dumb bitch juice.”
The second half of the album takes a darker turn as Chinouriri sings of “worst case scenarios”. “It’s a turning point. Each song represents how you deal with trauma, but on the second half it’s when you get bad news and your world turns upside down,” she says. “I’m a lot better now and all of these topics don’t hurt me anymore, to a degree, but they shaped me and made me the person I am. When these things happen, you will never be the person you were before then, you adapt; and I think this album reflects that. It’s a healing tool, and I’m hoping people listening to it might feel less alone.”
The title track ‘What a Devastating Turn of Events’ is possibly the darkest song on the album and tells a true story of Chinouriri’s cousin who lost her virginity to a man and after he broke up with her, she discovered she might be pregnant, a huge taboo in her African family, and ultimately committed suicide. Told in verses that resemble chapters in a sonnet, it is a beautifully produced track, as compelling as it is disturbing.
The following track ‘My Blood' acts almost as a companion track to ‘What a Devastating Turn of Events’ and speaks of depression and self-harm and how people can use this as a cry for help, for someone to notice their pain and help. “What do I do when pain comes at a price I can’t afford?…It's my blood on the broken door /
It's my blood in the makeup drawer.” It is a hauntingly beautiful song which soars with strings towards the end.
Latest single ‘Robbed’, a gentle guitar ballad, tells of the pain when something or someone is taken away from you - ‘you were robbed of summer / I was robbed of you’ - while ‘Cold Call’ brings in the late 1990s indie-rock sound as Chinouriri refuses to put up with shit anymore and says enough is enough: ‘Life can be unfair /
So I won't take these cold calls anymore.”
‘I Hate Myself’ is a raw and confronting portrayal of eating disorders: ‘Saw my lunch sprayed on the bathroom floor / My new size small don’t fit no more…I hate myself, I hate my skin.’ It has a pared back indie-pop sound, with Chinouriri adopting a conversational tone to her vocals, and the song ends on a positive note of self-acceptance: “It’s not okay for a man’s opinion to cause pain / They say looks can kill and they almost did…I love myself and I love my skin.”
The album’s penultimate track is the simple love song ‘Pocket’, in which Chinouriri sings of the type of love she is now ready for. “You’re the perfect secret I can’t tell…I promise I can love you by myself.”
The album ends with an acoustic version of her 2018 single ‘So My Darling’ that went viral on TikTok in 2022. It is a beautiful sign off with Chinouriri saying it was important for her to end the album on nostalgic note after all the new songs. “You’ve gone through this journey of (mostly) new songs, and then you get thrown back into one that everyone knows,” she told Apple Music.
What a Devastating Turn of Events is nothing short of an outstanding album, the fact that it is Chinouriri’s debut is even more impressive. Lyrically it is challenging, confronting, raw, honest with Chinouriri’s vulnerability making her songs incredibly relatable and moments you can effortlessly lean into. Musically it is near faultless, a collection of songs that will instantly move you, even before you pay attention to the lyrics, with gorgeous melodies and harmonies and Chinouriri’s mesmerising voice that seems to be speaking just to you.
What a Devastating Turn of Events is surely one of 2024’s greatest albums, and we may have just seen the breakthrough of one of music’s future global superstars.
What a Devastating Turn of Events is out now via Warner Music Australia. You can buy and stream here.
Follow Rachel Chinouriri on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.
