Project Description
Interview with
REIGAN DERRY
by Brittany Long
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Some Blonde has collaborated with Reigan Derry with the launch of ‘Set You Free’ Cutting straight to the mustard, ‘Set You Free’ features an undeniably catchy vocal from Reigan, which only gets juicier on every listen. Partnered with an uplifting wall of synths, the record is bound to make some serious noise – in the best kind of way. Served up with a pair of undeniable floor fillers, the Bombs Away and Friendless remixes, put a flavour on the plate for every dance floor enthusiast. There are no signs of slowing down for the Blondie train in 2019… All Aboard!
Reigan Derry is one of Australia’s favourite contestants from ‘X Factor’ in 2014. The West Australia born singer songwriter entered the industry as a teenager when signed by Jay Z and L.A Reid to internationally renowned label ‘Def Jam.’ With a recording contract underway, living between LA & New York, Reigan began honing her songwriting skills during co-writing sessions with Snoop Dogg, Ne-Yo and Stargate. Having come back to Australia, she has since released 2 singles and 2 EPs through Sony Music and tours regularly. Reigan is a performer of the highest caliber, renowned for her vocal virtuosity, souring vocals and heartbreaking lyrics. Reigan‘s new music has been likened to English indie folk band Daughter mixed with elements of Radiohead and powerful emotion of Florence and the Machine.
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Hi Reigan, how are you?
Hey, Good, how are you?
Good thankyou.
How was your uni lecture?
Haha, not bad, it was chemistry.
Oh haha, what are you trying to be, a doctor or something?
Yes I sure am. Okay so, Happy release day!!
Thankyou so much I’m so excited!!!
How has it been working together with Some Blonde on this new track?
Have you spoken to her yet? She’s just such a delight she’s one of the easiest people to hang out with, and to like get excited with, she’s just a positive vibe. Yeah she’s just, she’s such a bundle of joy, I really appreciate, just her energy.
That sounds awesome. So how did this collaboration come about were the two of you friends or?
We were introduced by Redfoo. I was doing a corporate gig on the Gold Coast and Redfoo was also on that gig and so was Some Blonde. so he took me to meet some blonde because they’re friends, and then he gave me a microphone and was like ‘hey, rap over this’. So he gave me a microphone and I was just singing over Some Blonde’s set. She was so cool about it, like just imagine this random person coming and like rapping random stuff over your set, any DJ would be like ‘get away from me’ but she was like ‘you’re the best’. So then we got chatting, went back to the hotel together, me and Some Blonde, and we just kind of became friends. Then started mixing music and that’s where it all began.
That sounds absolutely amazing. What a special relationship to get to build through music as well.
It’s so good, she’s actually a really talented producer, she’s got really great melodic ideas. The very first time I heard one of her bits of production I just thought ‘oh my gosh you are a boss babe, like you’re just so talented my gosh’.
She sounds amazing and what a special collaboration to be part of. Now you’ve had a pretty illustrious music career yourself, tell me about that?
Well, gosh where do I start. Oh my gosh, I’ve just been doing it for such a long time now. 13 years since I did Australian Idol and that got me signed up with X-Factor, and then just recently I released a song with ‘Bombs Away’, that’s doing pretty well and, I’ve got some ‘Reigan releases’ coming up later on this this year, which I’m so excited about. But yeah, it’s just been this, a long time of singing, I’ve never had a real job, I’ve always just been a singer.
Wow what a journey! Was singing something that you grew up doing? Or how’d you find that passion?
Yeah I grew up in the church, singing tunes with my family, and my mum and dad never liked the keys that they sang the hymns in so they would harmonise, and that’s how I learnt to harmonise, because they never sang the melody.
I absolutely love that and really understand, and as a fellow singer myself I totally agree that those church hymns were never built for singers.
I know! Like why do they make it in that ridiculous key! It’s like opera or like super low. Like guys, come on, where’s the inbetween?
Now, seeing as it is release day, let’s talk about the new single with Alicia (Some Blonde). What’s the inspiration behind the track ‘Set You Free’?
Oh my gosh so, it was actually Alicia’s idea from the very beginning. At the beginning I think she sent me the backing track and she said ‘I wanna write a song called Set me free’ and I was like ‘okay’. So then I started writing the song to it with the words ‘set me free’ in mind, but then my thought turned opposite like ‘no I am free I want to set you free’. Then I sent it back to her and she called me up that day, and she was like ‘oh my gosh I keep thinking about dolphins and whales that they keep in those like sealife places’ and she’s like ‘I keep thinking about like how they need to be set free, I totally, I love it’. I thought this is so funny, I love her pure spirit. But yeah, the track was actually built by Alicia a long time before she met me, and then when she sent it to me I wrote a topline to it, but then I didn’t finish the topline to where it is today for two years! It took me so long. Like at the time I was studying and I was just like ‘oh man’ I was just not together. I revisited it with Thomas from Bombs Away and I was like ‘hey what do you think of this melody?’ He was like ‘what is that song, it’s a great song, you need to record it immediately’ and I was like ‘man I totally should’. He was friends with her and he was like ‘hey, remember a little while ago Reigan sent you this song, here’s the second version, which is like produced vocally’ he put the vocals down for me. She was like ‘woah now we can actually get this song out there into the world’
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That sounds absolutely amazing! I have had a chance to listen to the new track too and can I just say how much I enjoyed it, amazing!
Oh you like it? It’s a really positive song.
It is and it’s really upbeat and catchy.
Yeah it is, I really love it when the chorus hits.
So, what does being ‘set free’ mean to you? I know we’ve spoken about Alicia’s view of orcas and whales in captivity being released. But what’s your interpretation?
Okay so to me it’s a really simple story about a girl who likes a guy and she wants him to like her back. But she’s not like putting herself down, she’s basically saying, so she’s amazing, she’s like ‘I’ve got amazing things to offer you, and time with me could be amazing, and you should consider it’. Basically it’s like, I learnt that you’re free, and I know that together we can become stronger. In life I believe that relationships and connections with people are truly what sets us free. Because that’s where we’re able to talk about how we really are, it’s how we’re able to develop, it’s how we’re able to become better people. You can become better or worse through other people, but through the right connections that’s truly what can help your life you know?
Honestly I truly do understand that. Especially talking about friendships as well. A lot of my own friendships have been strengthened over the last few years, I’m actually a wheelchair user due to illness.
Wow my gosh, and only recently?
Yes I’ve been in a wheelchair for more than two years now.
Oh my gosh.
It happened in 2016, I was in year 11 when my whole life was turned upside down. But through it all, like I was lucky enough to have the relationships with my family and friends and their strength, which ultimately helped me get through it, because it was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through.
Oh my gosh, that is incredible! How is it now? How are you going?
I’m doing a lot better, I’ve seriously come a long way. I still can’t walk at all but I can weight bare which is a massive accomplishment in itself and, hey I’ll get there.
Is it something where you’re going to therapy and getting like Physio and that sort of thing?
Yeah, I’m doing physiotherapy regularly. There’s no timeframe, like I know that I’ll walk again, but I just don’t know when, and I don’t know how.
Wow! Keep that strength. That’s beautiful. I’m so glad that you’re staying so strong, and how interesting how friendship really makes a difference right, because you see both sides of it when something like that happens, you’d see all sides of it. Like some people really shift, they change, the way that they are to you, they’re different. It’s amazing to see how people can change your life.
Absolutely, and luckily for me, like my friendships have been strengthened in a positive way. You know, I’ve discovered a new passion, like I’m a music photographer, and I’m still following my dreams of getting into medicine. So you know it’s just another obstacle to overcome.
A lot of my friends. I’ve probably got about three friends actually that have gone through some pretty traumatic body things and were told that they’d never walk again, and they are walking!
Wow! That’s amazing! I think that’s the thing, everyone has their own battles. Some people choose to share them and for some it’s more of a physical thing that people can see. So you know for me, people can see that I’m in a wheelchair.
A lot of my friends. I’ve probably got about three friends actually that have gone through some pretty traumatic body things and were told that they’d never walk again, and they are walking!
The power of human spirit hey!
Honestly that’s what it is! It’s spirit, it’s nothing else. Like it’s not medication, it’s the individual and how they take it on you know. Really incredible.
Absolutely! So, if you could request five items for your dressing room what would you choose?
Champagne, I love French champagne, I’m horrible like that, I waste so much money on expensive champagne. I like having a mirror with good lighting, and I mean it’s not good to have chocolate before you sing but, I just love it so much. What else. I mean if it’s a dressing room that’s like a rider right, like what you like to have before going onstage. On my rider I have a hot meal, basically. Usually I’m performing at corporate gigs so there’s a hot meal for everyone in the crowd, so I just have whatever they’re having. And my phone so I can listen to podcasts or I can warm up with my phone before I go onstage.
Beautiful, is that the final thing you do before you go onstage? Warm up with your phone?
Yes it is, I am singing basically to myself before I go onstage, and especially for the performance. At the moment I’m singing on Dancing with The Stars. I took a video of myself singing for Courtney Act’s last performance and I guess, I sing the beginning notes of my song over and over again until the beginning of the song begins and then I sing it properly. I just sing it over and over again until I do it.
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Wow that’s awesome. I know we’ve spoken a bit about obstacles. So what’s been the biggest obstacle for you in your life, that you’ve had to overcome?
My own self-doubt. It’s basically my lack of knowing what to do when I get to the situation of ‘okay, time for me to put a song out, what do I do’. I’ve always been good at writing songs and creating something but then when it comes time to selling it and like, saying to someone ‘hey have a listen’ I hate that side of it. I get really nervous, like asking people to listen to my song and stuff like that. I think that’s been my biggest setback, because I’ve been so shy and, yeah I just haven’t been able to be open about it. This year has been my first year just going ‘fuck it’, sorry excuse my French, just like see what happens. Like I’m going to hit this person up and see if I can, you know make a connection. Sometimes I get rejected and sometimes people will just never reply, or sometimes they will flat out say no. Like only a week ago I was on the phone to a guy at a record company, and I was like ‘hey would you like to sign my next song, I sent it to you in an email, I got your number from blah blah blah’ and he flat out said, ‘I’m not going to listen to your song and I’m not going to sign you, because you’re Australian’. That’s exactly what he said to me.
Wow, because you’re Australian! That’s crazy!
Yeah, he’s like ‘you’re Australian, I don’t sign Australian artists’ he said unless you’re like ‘Kylie Minogue level of famous’.
Oh my goodness!
That’s the kind of stuff that I’m willing to do now, I don’t know why, something’s changed.
I understand, like I started off as a freelance concert photographer and now I shoot for publications including Amnplify. But for me it was like ‘I want to shoot this show,so I’ll send this press contact an email’. Because the way I see it the worst they can say is no, or I never get a response, and you’ll never know until you try.
Yeah, that’s it. That’s exactly right! I guess the more that you become cool with that, the happier you are to just send it off to anyone, you know, and you open yourself to so many more doors doing that.
Exactly right. I just received approval for Groovin’ the moo about five minutes before you called. So yeah my heart is going a million miles an hour right now. I’m so excited.
Yay that’s awesome! Oh my gosh, well done, that’s so good.
So, how was your time living in America? What made you decide to return to Australia?
Australia is where my heart is, I love going back to Perth, that’s where I grew up, and I just miss my family. But America is just the ‘land of opportunity’, I love it, I get it. It took me a couple of years getting used to people and their ‘fakeness’. L.A. is so fake, oh my gosh! It’s like, at first I got really shocked and I was really disheartened when people would be like ‘oh my god you’re a singer, that’s so amazing! I have someone I can introduce you to’ and then they never speak to you again. Then I got used to it. Like when you’re in L.A. you’ll have five people a day say that they’re gonna make you famous, like it’s crazy. Everyone feels like they’re hooked up, and everyone feels like they can make a quick buck off you, it’s crazy. To be honest the more that I just go ‘okay cool, whatever man’ like whether you do or whether you don’t, it’s nice that you even said that to me. The more I take it with that attitude, the easier it is for me to cope in a place like L.A. But yeah I mean, like I’m cool with it now. I like it there, I like the opportunity, amazing things have happened to me while I’ve been there, so I feel like I’ll keep going back until I lose that feeling.
Amazing! I think that’s a really great attitude to have. You know people come into your life and they’re there for a reason, sometimes you’ll never know that reason, but it’s an experience at the end of the day. Everything is an experience.
Totally.
So what sort of artist do you see yourself as? Has this changed or evolved over the years?
Oh man, it’s so weird. Like I look back at myself when I was twelve years old busking on the streets and writing songs, and I feel like I’m the same person. I did this show in London in August last year, I did a little acoustic show and sang all of my original songs, and I haven’t done that in Australia. Because I get a bit nervous in Australia, and I just felt like, like one of the songs I sang was a song I wrote when I was like 14, and like, wow I just feel like the same person. But then when I look at all the stuff I’ve done since then I’m just, worlds different. I’m a much better singer than I was when I was twelve. I should probably do a comparison video between now how I sing, versus how I sang when I did Australian Idol. i’ve got a much more polished voice because I’ve done such hard amount of practice and I’ve done a bit of voice therapy as well. Because I had some problems with my voice when I was singing too much and I had to go and learn how to talk again, because apparently I’ve got a really bad talking technique. Yeah, as a result my voice has gotten a lot better and stronger and I can sing a lot more. I think that’s how I’ve evolved the most, is I’m a better singer than I was when I was younger but I think in my heart, authentically I’ve been the same since I was little.
That’s absolutely beautiful. Please do a show in Australia playing all of your original songs because I would definitely come to that.
So, you write a lot of original songs, is there a particular message you’re trying to convey through your music? Where does the inspiration come from?
Everywhere. Lately my inspiration is from stream of consciousness writing. Which is, you wake up and the first thing you do is write and it’s gibberish. I just type on my keyboard, sometimes I hardly even look at the screen, I just type. Because I don’t know I have this weird stream of consciousness, we all do. Where sometimes I talk to myself as well like in poetry form; I pretend I’m having a conversation with someone and it’s usually kind of external or it’s kind of like writing a book or poem. It’s not like a ‘oh hey how you going’ conversation, it’s like ‘she moves back when the wind goes to the side of the wall’, and then like, those kind of words. They sound horrible when I say them but when I write them, sometimes I can have a whole page of stuff and I might find three lines within that one page that I really resonate with. Or I read it back and it never makes sense because it’s gibberish but there’s some times , there’s a little glimpse of sentence that I just get drawn to and I can create a whole song from that one sentence. But I quite often pull form stories that I’ve heard or that I’ve experienced myself. I’ve been in many relationships in my life and experienced love in many different forms, and I think that it’s been really helpful. It’s been really helpful for writing songs, because I’ve experienced like disappointment and pain, but I’ve also been the one to cause that as well, I think it’s really helped in songwriting and being able to see all sides and empathise.
Wow, I think it takes a really strong person to have experienced all these different things in your life and be able to channel it into your music, and do it so well. Like for me, I’m all about feeling. So when I take a photo I want people to be able to look at the shot and feel like they were there and relive that moment, to be able to feel the passion and emotion the musician is portraying in their face.
100%. I think it’s so important as well, I love it. I just, I think that so much can be conveyed through a dance, through a photo, through a painting, through a song, through a poem, you know. These are our forms of expression and whichever one you resonate with the most you know, that’s your connection to, you know I don’t mean Christian God when I say this, I just mean like, the greater whatever there is, like your connection to like love, to the higher power. Your form of expression is that, and it’s so powerful to hook into that and have faith in yourself to be pure with that. Like if it’s photographs with you, to be able to take that on into your heart and go like this is how I express myself, and this is what I want to capture. There’s so much power, and so much beauty in that.
Yeah absolutely. You know I can put out a photo and you can put out a song and someone can hate it, someone can love it, someone else can be in the middle. Like it’s everyone’s individual unique interpretation.
Totally. I’ve been experiencing a lot of this lately, because I’m singing on Dancing with the Stars and watching the dancers. Because each dance is a story, and they quite often take the stories from the celebrity’s background. I’ve just been in tears so much listening to the other singers do a song and watching the dancers dance. Oh my god, there was this one song on the weekend, my friend Andre sang ‘hold my girl’ and then it was Jimmy and Alex that danced, and their dance was so beautiful it made me cry. This is my favourite thing ever, is watching expression in its purest form. I love it.
Absolutely. Expression is so powerful. I’ll admit I’ve had a few performances while photographing shows, that have made me cry or left me on the brink of tears, not to mention those that have touched my heart and left a lasting imprint.
And there’s also a story attached, hey. There’s always like a story there, that’s why we feel it.
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So returning to what we were speaking about before, your stream conscious writing and how that involves you waking up in the morning and writing absolute gibberish, can you give me an example of a song you’ve written from that process?
Yeah, I wrote a song, it’s an original so you wouldn’t know it, but I’ve written this song called ‘The Wind in the Water’. It’s a story about how the wind, it’s personified. A girl swimming in the water and when she comes out of the water, the wind is jealous, the wind is her husband. The wind says ‘I saw you lose yourself in the water, I saw that you were happy to be weightless, and to be free’ you loved being in the water basically. Then the girl explains ‘don’t you understand that you’re air, you’re my lungs, I need you to live, you’re everything to me’. I guess the gibberish that came from where I got that song. The first sentence is ‘why are you mad, I asked the wind. Why do you howl so loud? I only want to feel your skin, I want to wrap myself around your crevasses i want to touch you like the water does.’ That was a bit of gibberish that I turned into a song.
Wow, I’m blown away. It sounds like a beautiful piece of poetry. That is so incredibly beautiful.
Aww thankyou, I love that story, it’s a sad story but it’s about jealousy. But I guess it’s true, it’s easy to get jealous.
So, is there a quote that you live by, something that gets you through whenever you’re struggling?
No, I guess, there’s different things that will come up every now and then that will inspire me. I don’t know, there’s not really a quote no.
If you could play with anyone onstage, dead or alive. Who would you choose and why? Or, if not specifically a person, if you could play anywhere in the world, at any venue, where would you play?
You know, I’d actually, I think I’d love to meet Mozart, and sing for him and see if he hated it or loved it. Because he would’ve been used to like operatic singing, so I don’t know. I think I would love to have just known. I would love to know what he dressed like, what he looked like, what it was like to be around him, what his personality was like. I’d also like to know what he would do if he heard singing now, you know. Would he create something even more insane, would he be inspired, would he be disgusted, oh I just don’t know.
Wow, what an interesting thought. Because of course obviously the music back during his time was completely different to our music nowadays.
Yeah, 100%.
So expanding on that, do you think online music streaming is taking the appreciation away from CD’s and making records?
Yes, CD’s and records I guess in my opinion, the less that we dispose of the better, and CD’s I definitely know that there’s a history of some mass pollution, when it comes to CD’s. Because it’s the way some record labels work. But at the same time, I’ve seen some beautiful recycled art happen from CD’s and now we aren’t making them anymore. But what I do love, I mean I love the artwork, i think that’s a really important part of a CD and an album. I think that streaming is taking away the magic of an album, the magic of listening to something, seeing all the pictures that go along with it, and going on that journey. Nowadays it’s just single, single, single, you know, one song comes out, you don’t have time to listen to an album. So I think that streaming has taken away from the journey of an album.
Yeah absolutely, and I think you kind of don’t have as much appreciation when you’re streaming, it’s just ‘oh such and such released a new song’ and you very quickly move on to something else and another song. As opposed to saving up for your favourite CD or buying a record to play in your record player.
True, yeah. Saving up for it was definitely a thing, I remember getting my first CD for Christmas, I think I was about eleven, it was ‘Steps’. It’s like the Spice Girls but worse. I would never listen to it now haha.
How would you describe your voice?
Oh my gosh, versatile. I’m a versatile singer, and I think it’s a curse because I have mixed voices. I sometimes get lost about how to sound when I’m just being myself. But I think I can say I’ve got a raspiness, and I guess I’ve got a soul form and a fast vibrato.
Beautiful. What does a typical day in your life look like? What do you do in your free time?
Lately I’ve not got any spare time, I’ve been running around so much, just travelling as well, just with Dancing With The Stars and a few gigs as well. Occasionally there’s rehearsals. But mostly my day to day, when I’m not doing a gig or like doing a vocal session. Would be, I go to the gym in the morning and I do vocal warm-ups in the car, then usually I will write or I will go through my massive list of people that have sent me songs that I’m trying to write topline’s over and then I will try to write a topline.
So, thinking back to when you were like a teenager and just starting out in the music world, do you have any advice for your younger self?
Yeah my advice is, that you can be a fulltime singer, and it’s not that crazy. It’s an easy path, like it’s been easier for me than I thought it would be when I was little is what I’m trying to say. So my advice to myself would be just do it, you love it so just do it ,because it will all work out beautifully, and the more energy you put into it the more you’ll be grateful.
That’s some solid advice. See, you know I’m feeling so much, and so connected from just speaking to you, I could seriously chat to you all day!
Aw that’s so good! It’s crazy isn’t it. I love connection, I love conversation and I guess that’s why I like interview days, man they’re always beautiful. You get to meet some really great people.
Yeah I absolutely agree, the first time I ever did an interview, I came out of it, and was just like I love it! Because for me, I’m a real people- person, like I love people and I love hearing their stories. So getting to sit and chat, which is basically what this is, sitting and having a chat. I just love it, and I love hearing a musician’s journey and discovering their why, like why they became a musician. Getting the opportunity to build relationships with musicians like yourself, and then getting to attend and photograph their shows, and meeting them, and just getting to be a part of their story, and they become part of mine. It’s the biggest privilege.
Totally, what I can hear is just your curiosity for people and their story.
You got it, that’s basically me in a nutshell.
Alright, one for the fans. Your favourite artist, movie, TV show, ice-cream and Disney film.
Favourite artist: My favourite artist, I really love Eva Cassidy.
Favourite movie: My favourite movie is Avatar.
Favourite TV show: My favourite TV show at the moment, I love ‘Traveler’s’. I love the traveler’s, i think it’s over now, I think they’re not going to do another season, but yeah I really like sci-fi.
Favourite ice-cream: My favourite ice-cream is salted caramel from Messina’s.
Favourite Disney film: Oh man, what one, I don’t know. Okay so, I could probably tell you the entire Lion King script, like I’ve seen it that many times.
Are you going to see the new remake when it comes out?
I am going to see it, and I’m probably going to love it but I am still a little bit disappointed that they’re just doing it again, when it was already perfectly, done. I love the songs from the little mermaid but I don’t, yeah I saw the Little Mermaid 2 and I saw how she went from being like a fun 16 year old mermaid turned into a human, into like this really annoying, scared mother, when she was still only like 22. I was like ‘what’s going on man, like what’s happened to your personality’. So yeah, that really made me not like the Little Mermaid as much as I used to. I love Pocahontas, that might be it, it might be her. I love the song ‘just around the riverbend’. For a long time my wake-up tone was the theme ‘Grandmother Willow theme’. Which is, it’s just like thirty seconds long, ‘ just let it, let it break upon you, like the wave upon the sand, listen with your heart, you will understand’, that one and to wake me up, I love it.
Well, your voice singing that I think needs to be my new wake-up tone!
Yay you should, hopefully it actually wakes you up haha. You might just be wanna be like that sounds nice, I’ll go back to my dream.
Well thankyou so much for chatting with me, I’ve absolutely loved getting to know you and hearing about your journey. Can us Melburnians expect you in Melbourne anytime soon doing a show?
Yes, I actually recorded my album in Melbourne with a guy named Mark D’Angelo, and we are in talks now of how to put the band together to basically tour what we’ve written basically.
That makes me so incredibly excited!
One last question, how are you celebrating the release tonight?
I don’t know, I haven’t thought about.
I think there’s a bottle of champagne with your name on it!
Oh man, that sounds about right my friend, that sounds about right.
Well you enjoy that bottle of champagne! I look forward to chatting soon. It’s been an absolute pleasure.
Have a good day beautiful, oh girl I will!
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SOME BLONDE
SET YOU FREE
TOUR DATES
(Half way through Tour):
MARCH 29 THRILLZ AT CRITERION, SINGLETON
APRIL 05 CASINO RSM, CASINO
APRIL 06 RIVAZ NIGHTCLUB, RENMARK
APRIL 20 MINISTRY OF SOUND, SYDNEY
MAY 03 EATONS HILL HOTEL, BRISBANE
MAY 11 POSTMANS TAV, NOWRA
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