I’d like to start at the end here by telling you that when Rachel Platten walked off stage at the Blender Theatre in New York City on Monday night after performing a house-rattling set with her killer band, I noticed that she was…barefoot.  That sealed the deal for me.

Rachel is no less than a force to be reckoned with when put on stage (barefoot or not) behind her keys.  Her gorgeous smile is as big as her voice, and her joy and spirit seemed to fly out over the crowd at the Blender, leaving everyone asking, “Who is this girl?”  It is impossible to believe that Rachel could have ever thought she would do anything less? The stage is so clearly her home and sanctuary.  As obvious as it may seem now, though, she didn’t always realize that this was the road she was headed down.

Rachel told of how growing up with a love and devotion for music seemed, to her, to be nothing more than a side interest or hobby…the idea that this could translate into her life path was never even on the radar.  I love viewing a story in hindsight, piecing together all the little steps that led someone somewhere they never expected.  Rachel’s puzzle pieces include an interest in travel and foreign affairs which led her to her studies at Trinity College, which sent her overseas for a semester abroad in Trinidad, which brought her in the company of a popular band down there and eventually to perform, by fluke, with them…in front of 100,000 screaming fans.  And that is just the beginning of the journey.  From there, she returned home to her native Boston and made the decision that this was something worth devoting her life to, and from that point, everything changed.

Now, after five years in New York, climbing quickly in the network of local musicians and garnering much-deserved attention from managers and record producers, Rachel is plucking away with grace, tenacity, and a solid platform of ideals to stand on.  Her vocals are warm and endearing, just like her personality and demeanor.  Meeting with her was something akin to grabbing coffee and catching up with a good friend — open and inviting from the moment we sat down.  Rachel, in her daily practice and in her sound, is all about what’s good.   Her music is encouraging yet honest.  She has high aspirations for herself, to be sure, but at the pinnacle of it all is the simple desire to make an impact on people — to make them laugh and smile and enjoy the sweetness just a little more than the sour.  She is a testament to the unreserved artist, attributing her journey to a bravery of sorts — that willingness to follow your deepest love, even when the world around you says it isn’t practical or “right.” She is proud of who she is and what she does in an unapologetic yet completely humble sort of way.  She believes in herself, but she believes in the people around her even more, and if all of that isn’t enough to turn heads, she is so damn cute to boot.

But I haven’t even begun to talk music.  Perhaps because it seems to me more and more that an artist’s spirit sets the tone for everything that comes from there.  With Rachel, you’re starting off with good crop, so how wrong can you go?  Rachel Platten does more than just live up to her bubbly personality in her music — she blows it straight out of the water.  Her recordings have tones of Regina Spektor mixed with some of the candor and lyricism of Sara Bareilles, though there is an originality that frees her from being too closely compared to any of these fellow female artists.  In our talk, we shared a kindred love of Susan Tedeschi, and she noted Eva Cassidy as another important influence.  Give all of these artists a good mash-up and you might begin to sense the ingenuity that can be found in Rachel’s sound.

In her live performance, listeners are treated to a whole new ballgame.  Her songs took on a rocked-out persona when placed in front of an audience, with the company of her band of merry men and the gleaming lights encouraging the whole crew.  Rachel is expansive on stage…there is no other way to put it.  Her sound — the entire band’s sound — was enormous — not intimidated by the challenge of filling up a huge theatre but rather encouraged by it.  The collective moved with an awareness that only comes with great mutual respect and time spent together.  Songs I had heard in recordings took on a whole new vibe when performed live — something which, I feel, shows an artist’s ability to live and breathe with the music they’ve created.  To boil it down, Rachel Platten and her band exploded their souls all over the Blender Theatre that night — the place was dripping with it.

From here, Rachel is anxiously awaiting and preparing for the release of a new EP which will start a whole new leg of her journey as she begins to get serious about whether or not to sign with various labels.  True to form, she said her greatest concern in all of the momentum that is building is that she holds on to what it is that brought her to the music in the first place and the things she wants to do with her music from here on out.  The puzzle pieces seem to be lining up at break-neck speed now, which is always what we wish for and then never what we feel fully prepared to take on.  But this girl has gumption, so I feel confident in saying that I think she will be more than fine.  Rachel Platten is the answer to a question we didn’t even know we were asking.  Her music seems to fill a void that we didn’t even know was there.  This girl is good…and her band of merry men are good. And above all else, she is still smiling.  It leads me to believe that the rest of us should be too.

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