An Artist on the Rise: Musician Raquel Lily

Born in the Philippines, raised in New York, and currently residing in Atlanta, Raquel Lily is a star on the rise within the music scene.

No stranger to entertaining the masses, her music is a mixture of R&B, jazz, pop, folk, and funk on top of her superb songwriting talents. Playing venues all over the country, she delivers a fresh and unique sound entirely on her own. The independent musician has acquired an enormous following on social media, YouTube, and Twitch.

Lily took a couple minutes to chat with OUT FRONT about her passion for music, LGBTQ themes in her songs, and how the COVID-19 pandemic has helped her grow more into an artist.Hi, Raquel! Thank you for taking some time to chat with me. Can you begin by telling us more about how you first got into music?
Sure! I grew up in a pretty musical family, and I have been playing since I can remember. I didn’t really start writing tunes front to back until I was about 13 when I picked up a guitar. Mainly, it was because I aspired to be like the Beatles, and the fact that they wrote all their own music was super inspiring to me. The more I dove into listening to other genres like jazz and soul later on, that was when I eventually found my voice. It didn’t take me until I was in my 20s to do that. Honestly, I still feel like I am still finding it to this day the more I write. Essentially, I just really liked writing songs.

You released a track earlier this year called “Mary,” and it is dedicated to your LGBTQ fans. How did that come about, and why did you want to write a song like this?
One of my biggest influences is Amy Winehouse, and a thing that I was always bothered with is the fact that she was openly bisexual, but none of her biographers, documentaries, or anything you read about her, no one really talked about it. It was something she was vocal with, and it is kind of upsetting that everybody else was fixated on other things about her. It was a big part of her life. When I first heard the song “Valerie,” that became really apparent to me and kind of sent me down this whole, oh my God, is she singing about a girl?

Well, it turns out she did not write the song, but I really liked the way I felt after hearing it. I have never heard a song like it before where it had such longing and haunting lyrics for this woman sung by another woman. I always kind of wanted to strike that with my audience and garner that same feeling with the songs that I wrote, coupled with the fact that I was also kind of coming into terms with my own sexual identity. “Mary” was one of those songs where if I performed it, people either get it or not. Those who know, know. I think it is really cool that it speaks to people in that way, and I have had people in the LGBTQ community say, ‘Oh, I get it; this is awesome.’ I was looking for that same affirmation that I got when I listened to “Valerie” for the first time.

Is this a theme you think you will continue to visit in your music?
Oh, for sure. I am working on a lot of new music. I have been putting out old songs I have been working on for the past few years on this next album, but my material coming forward has definitely been inspired by similar topics and women who have inspired me in a very similar manner.

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“Mary” also has a music video?
Yes! It is similarly dedicated to LGBTQ women. Even though the video is directed by a man, I really wanted it to be fem-empowering.

Another one of your hit songs from this year is “Ghost.” Can you tell us more about that one?
“Ghost” is a genderless song. It does not talk about any specific gender, but it’s about anyone who decides to ghost you even though you spent so much time, energy, and effort with this person. Essentially, you kind of just have to walk away, grow from the situation, and learn more about yourself in the process. That is what the song is about, and I was super excited to release it.

COVID has disrupted so much throughout the year. Is there anything in particular you had to change direction on?
My plan this year was to release an album, but I was really getting worried because I was looking at my schedule, and I spent a lot more time making plans and traveling based on where my music was going to take me and where I was hired. I was getting very worried that I was not going to be able to work on my album and “Mary,” which was supposed to release in April.

It was not looking good, and I had back-to-back trips everywhere in March. I was becoming very anxious. Then the whole COVID thing happened, and it could not have been more perfect timing for me to just hunker down and sit in my studio. I produce everything myself in my house. So, it was perfect timing for me to stay home and work. COVID definitely helped force me to work and focus, so that was kind of nice.At least there is a positive story that came out of that!
For sure. I have also been live streaming music for the past three years on Twitch. Because of COVID, Twitch kind of realized the influx of musicians, and musicians were trying to find outlets to stay creative. I have definitely benefited from the growth in the general audience and the population coming in that has never before experienced music online.

What are some of your long term plans?
Since most of my music is online based and on Twitch, I am hoping to be able to gain such a following that I can take my music outside of just internet fame and pursue stages, like music festivals. Hopefully, they are still as strong as they have been in the past few years, but that is definitely an end goal of mine in the next few years. I just hope to continue releasing and try new things with my tunes.

Follow Lily on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to stay up-to-date. You can also visit her official website, and check out her streaming content on YouTube and Twitch.  

Photos Courtesy of Raquel Lily and Facebook