Rachel Chinouriri: What A Devastating Turn of Events Review
A listen to the Short n’ Sweet Tour opener’s discography.
I received a request several months ago to write about Rachel Chinouriri and am just now getting around to it (oops). The English singer-songwriter is currently opening for Sabrina Carpenter on the European leg of the Short n’ Sweet Tour, so her debut studio album What A Devastating turn of Events will be heard by many new audiences this month. I was already familiar with a few of these songs from Spotify recommendations, but I listened through the album in its entirety for the first time and took notes to comment on it here.
Garden of Eden
“Garden of Eden” opens with a quiet and slowly building intro with muffled speech that fades into a guitar riff. Thematically, this is a coming-of-age personal 20s crisis song. Lyrics like “[t]here’s no point in anything” and “[t]oo young but too old for this” reveal the speaker’s existential crisis and discomfort with her age as she reckons with losing her “youth” but not feeling fully adult either. The only reference to the title is “[t]he kids are throwing up in the garden,” a play on “growing up” with the “of Eden” implicit. The speaker suggests through this Biblical reference that the “kids,” faced with too much temptation, have overindulged and made themselves ill in an environment that she has since outgrown.
The Hills
One of the songs I had heard before, “The Hills” has a throwback pop punk sound on account of its grungy guitar. The catchy dark chorus and theme of depression add to this impression. The song is about Chinouriri feeling like she does not belong in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles. The personification of the hills is a manifestation of the fear that everyone can see through you; even “the hills will know.” She writes of homesickness through this lens of anxiety and insecurity while maintaining a level of self-awareness.
Never Need Me
“Never Need Me” is the second single from the album, after “The Hills.” It’s an upbeat and empowering breakup track directed at someone that the speaker realizes she can no longer help: “If you can’t change, I doubt that I can help you / I’ve made plans and, sorry, they’re without you.” In the first half of the chorus, most of the instruments drop out, emphasizing the drums and Chinouriri’s soft but precise vocals before the production reenters at full force as she sings “I hope that you never need me.” The speaker makes it clear that she still cares about the muse’s well-being but also knows that she had to put herself first and leave the relationship.
My Everything
The next track is “My Everything,” a heartbreak-infused mid-tempo song about a lost love. The intro has a chaotic sound with modified vocals and distorted guitar to reflect the speaker’s inner turmoil. She regrets opening up emotionally to the muse, who is “for someone else.” In a fun twist on the phrase, the title is not a form of praise for the muse; rather, it is a part of her lament: “I can’t believe I gave you my everything.”
All I Ever Asked
Chinouriri released “All I Ever Asked” in 2022, but included it on this album as well. The song begins with a catchy “hoo hoo” vocal motif in a call and response with the funky guitar. This instrumental pattern continues into the verse, with fuller instrumentation coming in on the chorus. The speaker shares her struggle of putting up with too much in a relationship for little in return from her partner. In the final chorus, there are layered vocal harmonies that support the melody and thus the speaker in her desperate plea.
It Is What It Is
“It Is What It Is” is another single that was released before the rest of the album. The song has one primary melody in the chorus, which is imitated in the whistle motif from the intro and post-chorus. Besides the short sung chorus, the rest of the song features verses that start out as talking and turn into rap. The second verse in particular picks up the pace with more rhythmic delivery and rhyming lines. This gradual increase in tension throughout the song complements its theme of a confusing situationship: “Don’t know whether you’re in or you’re out.”
Dumb Bitch Juice
The following song, “Dumb Bitch Juice,” is another complaint about a mediocre “little man.” The speaker insults him throughout the verses only to regret the fact that she likes him anyway in the chorus: “I keep sipping on this dumb bitch juice.” She ignores her friends’ advice and the red flags that she identifies in the man; by the second chorus, however, she has a change of heart and pledges to change her behavior. Instrumentally, the song is simple, with a groovy electric guitar throughout and a silly radio announcer outro to match its lighthearted tone.
What A Devastating Turn of Events
In an abrupt tonal shift, “What A Devastating Turn of Events” is the title track of the album and the darkest in subject matter. It is a story song, told in third person, that Chinouriri has explained is about her cousin in Zimbabwe whom she never got to meet. The song opens with the speaker’s idealistic hopes for a picture perfect love when she meets a man who fits this narrative. This facade quickly slips when he leaves her and she discovers that she is pregnant.1 Faced with an impossible situation, she resorts to suicide by poison: “Life’s unfair for women where she lives / What a disappointing world she didn’t choose.” Narratively, the song takes the listener on a horrific journey, but the monotony of its sonic landscape reflects the bleak reality that the world’s treatment of women makes stories like this happen all too often: “She’s in me and she’s in you.”
My Blood
“My Blood” continues with the theme of depression from a different angle, that of self-harm. The speaker finds herself comfortable in her depressive state: “What if I’m not worth healing? / What if I like this feeling?” The melodic tension rises on these lyrics in the pre-chorus before settling out in the repetitive chorus: “It’s my blood that I do this for.” The speaker’s “blood” might also be a reference to her sense of self and identity that she hopes to find through “healing.” The song begins with acoustic guitar, but the instrumentation amps up throughout.
Robbed
Opening with a catchy guitar melody, “Robbed” is a tragic ballad of missed opportunity and connections. The speaker mourns someone “gone too soon,” missing a relationship or connection that never reached its full potential: “I was robbed of you.” The song makes its way through different instrumental textures while maintaining the same overall melancholy feeling and energy.
Cold Call
“Cold Call,” like “Never Need Me,” is a song about a partner’s trauma and mental health taking a toll on the speaker. She recalls “living in [their] world of fear,” experiencing all of their negative emotions secondhand. Chinouriri sings an ascending melody, with accidentals from outside of the key interrupting on the “cold calls” lyric. This results in a satisfying explosion of sound as the chord resolves into a clanging catharsis.
I Hate Myself
“I Hate Myself” returns to the topic of insecurity, this time in the context of body dysmorphia and eating disorders. The speaker struggles with disliking her appearance and wanting to be “skinny” above all else: “They say ‘looks can kill’ and they almost did.” She comments on the severity of these issues with a light self-awareness provided by her distance from these feelings upon reflection. Chinouriri also uses this song to criticize societal beauty standards and how they are unhealthy to maintain: “My body aches, jaw looks gaunt / The compliments and likes come more.” She also comments on the impact that men have on women with their physical expectations: “you’re way / Too beautiful, it’s not okay for a man’s opinion to cause pain.”
Pocket
The final new song on the album, “Pocket” is a sweet love song. It opens with a whistle and incorporates clapping and acoustic instruments for an apt intimate sound. The speaker both marvels at the fact that love is “so easy” and recognizes the need to nurture a relationship to keep it alive. She describes the overwhelming desire for someone to be all hers: “I wish that I could keep you in my pocket for myself.”
So My Darling - Acoustic
The last song is the acoustic version of “So My Darling,” which was released in 2022 following the original version’s release in 2018. This is another romantic track, with a catchy refrain on “I love you.” The speaker tells of a love story between her and Marcus as they go from friends to lovers, and vows to keep that love alive forever. Chinouriri included this as the album closer to lean into a nostalgic feeling for her existing fans and her younger self. Despite my unfamiliarity with her work, this song did feel nostalgic to me, the acoustic factor giving it a level of intimacy and trust.
Overall, I really liked this album and wish that I could see both Chinouriri and Carpenter on tour! The songs that stood out to me the most were “Never Need Me,” “All I Ever Asked,” “What A Devastating Turn of Events,” and “I Hate Myself.” If you were listening along, leave your favorites in the comments, and have fun if you’re going to the Short n’ Sweet Tour soon!
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I gasped at “A morning sickness and she knew it from then.”
omg i think this was my request yay