Rising Star Racheal Fahim On The Five Things You Need To Shine In The Music Industry

Learn how to do as much as you can yourself. This one is important so you can make important decisions and support yourself with confidence!

Be kind to everyone. The world is a small place, and you never know who you might cross paths with.

The hard work never stops. Pursuing music is a really tough job, but it’s so worth it!

As a part of our series about rising music stars, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Rachael Fahim.

No stranger to hard work; performing more than 800 live shows over the past 5 years, Rachael Fahim is one of Australia’s brightest country-pop crossover stars!

As the winner of the prestigious “Toyota Star Maker” 2017 competition alongside past alumni such as Keith Urban, Travis Collins and Sam McClymont, Rachael had her eyes firmly set on the prize!

In 2016 Rachael’s first 2 singles “Say It” & “Confetti” consecutively charted at #1 and #2 on the iTunes country charts and spent more than 10 weeks in the KIX country radio top 10, but the best was yet to come!…

2018 was a year of highlights for Rachael, who went from strength to strength in her transformation from teen sweetheart into a young, strong woman rapidly building a reputation as the face of the modern country movement in Australia.

The year kicked off with a CMC award nomination for “New Artist of the Year” soon followed by a 19-week rampage that saw her single “Brake Lights” at #2 on the Australian country music singles charts , #1 on CMC, #1 on KIX country, and made Rachael Spotify’s highest streamed Australian female Country artist of 2018.

Rachael’s much-anticipated follow-up single “What I Don’t Know” was released on Friday the 20th of July 2018. The track, which again, combined the team of Grammy Award winner Emily Weisband with Sydney based producer ZuZu and mixer Peter Holz was a powerful sing-a-long anthem that again pushed the boundaries that see country-rock and pop music mashed into a radio-ready banger that hit #1 at country radio for a consecutive 3 weeks and followed suit on Spotify achieving the million stream mark in a matter of weeks.

Rachael spent the early part of 2019 in the US, having been invited to perform at SXSW (and featuring as the only country artist on the highly coveted Austin 100 from NPR) and lighting a spark in the Nashville songwriting scene. She returned to Sydney inspired by her experiences and with a host of new songs under her belt.

In September 2019, Rachael dropped her sophomore EP, titled Iconic, fans scored a further six tracks including a stunning duet feature with fellow Toyota Starmaker winner Brad Cox that was a winner both at Country and Commercial radio accumulating more than 2 million streams.

Shifting her focus momentarily to a group project, Rachael co-founded all-female Country Rock supergroup ‘Southbound’ whose October 2020 release ‘Find Our Way’ topped the Country charts achieving rave reviews, #1 Country Radio and #1 Australian Independent chart accolades.

A brand new, instantly infectious single, ‘Middle Ground’ which came out in November 2020 features Rachael’s trademark Cole Clark guitar and powerhouse vocals. Anthemic choruses and emotion-filled lyrics, hitting the irresistible blend of country-pop that Rachael has perfected, that is destined to be the ultimate sing-along record of this summer.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

Thank you for having me!

Well I grew up just outside of the city in Sydney, and I’ve always been obsessed with singing and listening to music, so I entered a lot of talent quests growing up.

Mum and I would travel hours sometimes and stay overnight in cheap motels in rural areas because she knew what great experience they were and how much I loved them! My whole family has always been really supportive growing up.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

To be honest, there is no great story! I have always done this and one thing has led to the other, I honestly can’t see myself doing anything else — this just feels so natural to me.

There have obviously been specific moments in my life that have really enforced this.. one being my high school experience. High school was really tough for me, I left at the end of year 11 and jumped straight into music full time, it was really great for me to have music guiding me at that time in my life.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

The first thing that comes to mind, is this time I was at a gig and a lady came up to me after I sang and handed me a banana.. I think it was a really nice gesture but at the time I was very confused haha

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I am a klutz so it’s really hard for me to choose just one.. I’m always embarrassing myself and making silly mistakes but the funniest mistake I made was just before I went on stage this one time — I jujed my hair, you know when you turn your head upside down and give it a shake? Anyway, I was rushing and when I flipped my hair back, I did it with way too much force and fell straight back onto the floor on my bum, boy did that hurt!

Lesson learnt: don’t juje and flip in heels.. also to SLOW DOWN and stop rushing :) :)

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

At the moment all of my focus is around working on my new single ‘Darts in the Dark’. My team and I are putting together the video clip and my first Sydney headline show where I will perform the single live for the first time!

We’re lining up some festivals in the new year and I’ve been working on putting a band together and getting our set sounding tight. We’re going out and turning up the dial with my live set which is so exciting!

We are very interested in diversity in the entertainment industry. Can you share three reasons with our readers about why you think it’s important to have diversity represented in film and television? How can that potentially affect our culture?

Lately, I have seen a lot of attention going towards this, diversity in the entertainment industry and just in the media, in general, is becoming a real big talking point and I’m so glad to see it.

The main reason why I think this is so important for our culture is for the up and coming generations, we need to make the film and television community is inclusive so they have more of a sense of belonging.

We need to ensure we are representing the minorities and giving everyone equal opportunities and representation if we want our society to evolve.

Lastly, if we have an authentic representation of our society on our screens and in the media, I believe barriers would be broken down and we would have more inclusivity around us. The media can really have a huge influence on how we see others, and ourselves.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

1. It’s okay to say no. I was once in a situation where I was told I wasn’t a ‘yes girl’.. which I’ve now learnt is okay, you need to do what you believe in and stick to your guns because ultimately — this is your life. Take advice from others but you make the final call.

2. Learn how to do as much as you can yourself. This one is important so you can make important decisions and support yourself with confidence!

3. Be kind to everyone. The world is a small place, and you never know who you might cross paths with.

4. Figure out a good trick to remember people's names/faces. I once introduced myself to someone 6 times.. my memory is shocking! (Still accepting tips and tricks for this by the way, I need all the help I can get!)

5. The hard work never stops. Pursuing music is a really tough job, but it’s so worth it!

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

I like to schedule time off, so my tip is to book yourself a “self-love day” and don’t book anything on that day unless it makes you happy. I know I find it really hard to say no to people and events, but sometimes you just need to say yes to yourself.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

This is a good one! I would love to inspire a kindness movement before I respond to people I always try to ask myself “am I saying/doing this with love” and if the answer is no (I’m not perfect haha) then I try to change my tune. I think if everyone did this, the world would be a kinder, happier place.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

There are a few names that come to mind, I am so grateful for my parents. They have supported me even when they were struggling and always made sure I had what I needed. My heart wants to burst whenever I think about them. I’m so lucky.

I also have to mention my manager, David Simon — we have known each other for roughly 10 years and I know he always has my best interest at heart. We have a really great friendship and working relationship and I trust him with my career 110%.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

I heard this quote the other day, and I wrote it down — it really resonated with me..

“If a flower is not blooming, you don’t ask what’s wrong with the flower, you ask what’s wrong with the environment”

This feels so relevant to my life because I think you really are a product of your environment and the life lesson I see in this quote is that you need to surround yourself with people who lift you up and make you feel special, loved and valued.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

Haha that would be awesome! I would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with Lennon Stella. I think she is phenom and I feel like we would get along really well!

How can our readers follow you online?

I’m always on Instagram — @rachaelfahimmusic

I also have Twitter, Facebook and Tik Tok — @rachaelfahim :)

This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!

Thank you so much, and thanks for the chat! ❤