RAICHYL SINVERSA WAS A CHILDHOOD PRODIGY, WRITING HER FIRST SONG AT THE AGE OF 4. SHE'S A BIT OF A SIREN, SHE'S A BIT OF A DIVA, SHE'S FULL OF LIFE AND MISCHIEF(A). WE CATCH UP WITH HER NOW SHE'S ALL GROWED UP!

BIG lungs, demand a BIG interview!

How are you?

At the moment wishing I had an “angel investor” or some kind of massive grant to help me push this along a bit faster but other than that I feel great!

Where do you call home?

I currently reside in Jacksonville, FL but I would hardly call this home. I’m from Philadelphia, PA and proud! Though to be honest I’m not “from” anywhere because I wasn’t even born in the country!

What’s the music scene like there?

The music scene in Philly when I moved there was budding and amazing, but that all kind of ended when they closed the doors on the Trocadero Theatre in May of 2019. I made the decision to move in 2021 after a “promotional tour” – at which time I drove across 8 states in May of 2021 to promote my new single release, “You Tell Me” and decided to move to Florida because it had so many opportunities at the time. So like any self-acclaimed vagabond, I packed up my bags, my cat and abandoned the rest of my apartment (whatever didn’t fit in my Hyundai Tucson). I originally moved to St. Augustine, FL with my grandmother but we had an arrangement — 6 months and then go someplace else. Needless to say, Jacksonville wasn’t in the plan — Orlando was, but I needed a place to go so I ended up moving in with a somewhat famous person in the gothic music scene (who probably doesn’t want to be named here) and when that ended I found someone else to live with and we have been together 2 years now.
But I digress…
The music scene in Orlando is far different from the scene in St. Augustine — as is Jacksonville. When I first moved down here, my first show was playing the Grand Re-Opening Festival at Music Matters Remixed on the 27th of June 2021. (I officially moved in with G-ma on the 20th – I suppose I suffice to say that I have an immaculate sense of timing) Orlando has a lot of hip hop and pop artists and I have played a lot of open mics with an organization called We The Future (WTF Movement). They are kind of like a one-stop shop for all kinds of musician advice, recording, collaborations, shows, etc. I don’t live in Orlando though so I have yet to be able to take advantage of their internship program, affiliate program or teach at their community building.
Now living in Jacksonville, I found a completely different kind of scene and people to hang around, be inspired by and play shows with. When I first arrived here, a man named Josh Cannon and his female counterpart, Ari Grey were the ONLY musicians that were willing to take me un- der their wing and show me the venues, contact information and a general compassion and un- derstanding of the scene here in Jacksonville.
I have been dating Ryan Kirk from the band Skyview for just over 2 years now and I have seen things from a different angle because his band is nothing like my solo-project or any of the bands that my friends play in. Nevertheless, I have spent the majority of my time here being a watcher and just recently started booking consistently in Jacksonville proper.

Since I have lived in Florida I have played these venues (that I remember):

Orlando: WTF stages – (used to be at a Thai Restaurant) now Community Building #729)
DeLand Music festival – several times – more than one venue/sometimes booked even more than once every day
St Augustine: Music Matters Remixed festivals (Music in the Moonlight, etc – run by my dear friend Eric Wenstrom who owns the record store there), Sarbez (Zebras spelled backwards), Shang Hai Nobby’s (as a guest with a band called Blood Bath and Beyond)
Jacksonville: Shantytown Pub, JackRabbits, 1904 (before it was converted to Ocean Street Tequilla), Jus- tice Pub, Park Avenue Billiards (Orange Park)
Miami: Aspire Energy Fest at CityPlace in Doral and Ft. Lauderdale at the British Pub

Those are the ones I REMEMBER — I book a lot of shows.

Arguably, I have played more shows in Florida than anywhere else and I have also achieved more career-wise here in Florida than I could have in my home town of Lebanon, PA (where my father currently resides) or Philadelphia. I only ever played one “show” in the Philadelphia area and it was at a really cool bar my friend owns in Wilmington, DE called Bar XIII – my first “offi- cial” show as a solo-project was there in 2019. I played another show in Lancaster at a scary scammy location and several at The Church owned by Scott Church, the photographer – who is a very good friend of mine and took my main promotional photo. I also recorded “You Tell Me” there when Purple Park Studios was just a guy with some traveling recording equipment.

The “scene” here in Jacksonville, to answer your original question, is a lot like a family. There are some cliques and those kids kind of all run together, but when you find the right people and play shows with them fairly consistently, we all sort of help each other up the ladder. This is something I hadn’t really experienced before and I am very grateful to bands like Dancing With Ghosts and Skyview for giving me a chance to see another side of the industry. I appreciate pro- moters like Joey Alicea and Todd Miele for finding new opportunities to have me come and play — which as a solo act — is arguably difficult when most of the venues around here prefer bands or cover acts. I have been very fortunate to meet such incredible people and become a part of this scene. It’s not forever though: as a self-acclaimed vagabond, it will soon be time for me to take another leap of faith 🙂

You wrote your first song at the age of four years old – what took you so long?

Adorable. Yeah I was pretty much breaking into my dad’s instruments as a baby. The picture we submitted for my senior yearbook was a photo of me at 2 years old singing into a microphone after being found in my father’s supply closet (where he kept the instruments)

Who or what was the inspiration that guided you to a career in music?

I have literally always known that I wanted to be a famous singer. I cannot say that my father didn’t play some kind of a role in that because he was always playing and recording music either with his band or solo stuff. I know that when my parents were first married that my mother paid off his incredible Sonar drum kit.
But personally it’s just something I do. People ask me how I write songs often and the answer is usually “I don’t.” Or “they write themselves” Ultimately I am just the “medium through which the songs come to life” and I am sure there were MANY influences in this journey but I don’t choose to write songs; writing songs chose me.
As a child, I received a very small Casio keyboard from one of my aunts. I carried that keyboard around EVERYWHERE! In fact, for show and tell in school, I would “perform” in front of the class by pressing buttons on the keyboard and singing little songs I wrote. Apparently this caught positive attention because when my class wrote the theme song for the Young Authors In- ternational Program, “Young Authors Make it Happen” — they asked me to perform the song with my 2nd grade teacher (alone) in Kaiserslautern, Germany. I don’t remember too much about that day (I was about 7 or 8 years old) but I do remember that I got to meet Cynthia Todd who at the time was famous for illustrating some of my favorite sing along books.

Later on in life I rebelled against rock music because my mother was a huge fan of Nirvana — and she owned every EP, LP, taped special on VH1, and whatever else they had out at the time. Being that my house was all about rock music and I was bored of it, I looked for other places to find inspiration. I found a group of friends in the 90s who were really into hip hop and R&B and that got me into groups and acts like TLC, Brandy, Ma$e, and Destiny’s Child. I tuned in my personal radio (the one in my bedroom) to ALICE 103.1 and discovered a band called The Sneaker Pimps. I specifically recall being in the car with my whole family and at one point, “Six Underground” coming on the radio and me yelling out “THATS MY SOUND! THATS WHAT I WANT TO SOUND LIKE”
Then in my teens I discovered my mother’s copy of “Under the Pink” by Tori Amos while browsing her CD collection and fell in love with it. I ended up feeling so inspired by her that I bought the album “To Venus and Back” which had a side two, “Still Orbiting” concert special and then went and filled out the rest of my CD collection with any and all of the albums of the songs I liked from that. I wrote one of my papers on her in middle school and remember finding out that she was also some kind of child prodigy and it made me feel really confident about my music career. I know I was just a kid, but it really got into my head that I wanted to be more than just a pop-star. I wanted to sound like Britney Spears and company but I really wanted to write deep and meaningful lyrics and so I did. I let the songs do what they do and I have so many songs written now that I keep in an envelope, never used for anything, never recorded but a tes- tament to how dark my mind was as a child. Every now and then I look back on those lyrics to remind myself how far I have come.
Then came high school where I discovered a myriad of darker sounding bands, came back to rock, got into nu-metal and so my first EP had a lot of Disturbed and Korn influence in addition to the ones I had mentioned.

What music did you listen to growing up? Any stand-outs that helped to shape your style?

So I have this tendency to answer a question by talking about my life and by proxy, leading into the answer for the next question. Needless to say, I think I covered this one quite a bit. BUT — There are a lot of stand-outs in the bunch that came to me much later than early childhood. Those are the many underground bands in the Goth scene like Zeromancer, The Birthday Massacre, Tapping the Vein, Carfax Abbey, etc. Then there was college when I got REALLY into Orgy (the band not the act) and discovered Julien-K – who ended up being the remaining members of that aforementioned band. I ran a radio show in college that I built from the ground up called The Scavenger. I put bands on the show that didn’t have a label or if they had one, it wasn’t tied to a major label in any way. Ultimately a lot of the bands on the show ended up being great friends of mine and influenced my style, recording technique or brand in one way or another. Some I dated. Some I just happened to follow around like a lost puppy. Then of course there were a few that really took me under their wing, answered my emails and connected with me on a deeper level of understanding.

You have some pipes on you, were you trained to get that 5-octave voice or would you say it’s a gift?

My mother was apparently offered some kind of record deal in her teens out in Arizona — so I would definitely say I inherited quite a bit of it from her, but I shaped the stylistic versatility by imitating my favorite singers through the ages and ultimately made it my own. Every time I wanted to learn a new technique I would practice until I became “perfect” at it. I didn’t have any formalized training to speak of, but I did participate in choir from middle until the end of high school. This kind of focus continued throughout adulthood and even now I work hard to mimic styles that I hadn’t learned before.

You say that you write your music ‘autonomously’, any idea where that comes from?

So the idea comes from the understanding that “my brain is never silent” — No matter what I have going on elsewhere, I am almost always hearing clips from other people’s music, my own songs, riffs, television/movie clips, etc. I believe that creativity isn’t owned — it’s “rented” or “borrowed” from the Universe and that all of the creative minds have access to the source energy and the ability to write, draw, etc flows through them. Everything is energy. Energy can be nei- ther created nor destroyed so it is my belief that the greatest artists (not necessarily myself, but you decide) write in this way. The greatest minds “borrow” their ideas from the Universal source energy — or we are ferrying a deeper message from the great beyond. Whether you want to call it God’s gift or just a function of human behavior, it is inexplicable to the neurotypical and uni- versally understood by the neurodivergent. I don’t believe in mental wellness either. They poison our air, water and food so there is no room for “normality,” but be that as it may; the concept of being neurodivergent is more like being “chosen” for something. This “gift bestowed upon my- self and others” if you will, is also a curse. I do also believe that you truly have to walk through Hell to get to Heaven and in doing so, the best songs are found. I “find” my songs — be it a riff in my head or a hook or something that comes when I touch an instrument.

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It’s all borrowed from the vast creative energy in the Universe and it’s part of something greater and larger than I am. It feels good to be a part of that — even though my brain is never silent and it can feel like a curse sometimes.

Who or what do you ‘feel’ that you are channelling through your music?

I kinda mentioned the source energy of the Universe. It could be God’s message or will — it could be therapy for myself or others. It could be all of the above. I never actually know what my songs are about until I get to what I like to call the “lyrical perfec- tion stage.” Honestly, I am really honored that these songs keep choosing to use me as their medium for creation and it feels divine to me.

From being a childhood prodigy, how would you say you have progressed over the years?

I will say the thing that no one else has been willing to say. Thirty-five is the new twenty-five. With that being said, I am a MUCH better songwriter now, but I will say that my journey has been a bit harsher than most. When you’re told you are “special” as a child, often we let that kind of go to our heads. I spent most of my childhood and a great deal of my adult life living fully in- side my Ego frame of mind. It wasn’t until I had to find humility in accepting the help from oth- ers and fully accepting that I don’t know everything, that I learned to let go of the Ego and live from the heart.

What that has to do with, is that when you feel like you are divinely chosen, and I could have been (who I am I to challenge God’s choices?), you sort of think of yourself differently. It’s the reason why guys like Morrissey from The Smiths have kind of a God-like complex and put off a lot of other people with their demeanor. It doesn’t make them bad people. They just feel “gifted” and when around mere mortals it is hard to kind of water down your gifts and be humble. But that is exactly what I have had to learn to be. I have had to humble myself to opportunities. I have played shows for 5 people and 500 people. I have been on the stage more times than I can count now and every show is different. I was not as lucky in my youth. To be honest, and maybe because of the “gifted” complex, I was a complete and utter train wreck in my early to mid twen- ties. I even have a song called “Sobriety Check,” which I play live for now (it will be on the up- coming debut album) that discusses my mistakes in detail. I was a functioning alcoholic for the better part of 6.5 years. I have had several pledges since then and at the moment I am just over a year sober now.

In fact, I really didn’t start to have any kind of “career” in music until my mid to late twenties and the resurgence of Raichyl Sinversa as a project didn’t truly happen until I turned 34…
I would say that being a “child prodigy” may have had something to do with that. It really is all mind over matter and the choices that I am making now are much more prominent to my success than those of my youth.

How many instruments do you play and which was your first love?

The short answer: a lot. I play electric and acoustic guitar, bass, sometimes drums and keyboards. I am also the producer of my project and that includes everything from MIDI controlled instru- ments to drum programming and DJ turntables. I also have a Xylophone and an Auto Harp (which I cannot wait to get fixed and use on this record!) According to my father, I play “at” my instruments and I used to see that as an insult, but to be honest…I accept it fully. Every day I have a different approach to music. Some days I pick up my guitar, some days I play my key- board in my living room, and some days I don’t touch an instrument at all. I am however, learn- ing to be more proficient in all of the above because it is my plan to be as versatile onstage as Taylor Swift in concert.

My first love was the keyboard — as I mentioned before, it was my security blanket. I took my Casio mini everywhere and I think that was the main writing tool I used, outside of my brain, for the majority of my formative years.

How much impact does your versatility have upon you being sought for collaborations with other artists?

I have collaborated in just about every genre. I have done metal and symphonic metal, hip-hop, R&B, Rock, Pop and even Jazz. I once shared the stage with Pierre Kendrick, the famous saxo- phone player and there is a concert video of him playing sax over all of my songs live while I sang. I get offers fairly often to do some really cool projects and I have worked with some amaz- ing groups in the past. I have a lot of incredible team-ups in the works right now actually but I have to keep those a secret for now 😉

Who’s been the best to work with so far?

I had the pleasure of working with a band called Irregular Minds back in 2010 and we co-wrote a few things together. One one song called “Look Inside,” I wrote the hook and sang the chorus. On “Part the Skies” I sang the hook that Billy wrote and on “Release the Demons” I recorded a 7-layer backing vocal to imitate a Gothic Choir and even hit some Soprano 2 notes.

Who would be your dream collaborator and why?

I have a few of these!
1. Ollie Sykes – Bring Me the Horizon – any song with him/his band would be a dream come true.
2. Marshmello – I love his EDM style and I think we could write a really great song feature to- gether
3. Zedd – same reason!!! “ “
4. Chris Corner of IAMX/Sneaker Pimps — literally a God to me — no but seriously this man is the biggest inspiration in my ENTIRE career and I really would LOVE to do some kind of Col- lab with him in the near future.
5. Nothing But Thieves – my current favorite rock band in the UK and I think Connor’s voice and mine would have a wonderful dynamic if we harmonized with each other.

I have a lot more but these are the top 5!!!

You describe your life as the ‘pursuit of creating music’ is there any time left for the real Raichyl?

I think I have a good balance. During the day I sit with a controller in my hand, laptop in front of me and phone to my right. Networking is a FULL TIME JOB — but I do allow myself days where I decompress and just “exist” because too often, especially in America, people get caught up in the rush of needing to do “more” that they completely forget to live.
I just recently took a trip to Las Vegas, NV for my birthday. I wanted to spend 38 with a bunch of strangers and I really allowed myself to just be in the moment and soak up all of the culture and adventure. I didn’t really give myself any limitations other than my daily budget so I had the freedom to create, sightsee, tour, and play. It was needed. I feel that there are a lot more endeav- ors on the horizon in that part of the country, but I am playing it day by day. I have learned that if I don’t let myself live “one day at a time” I will get too overwhelmed and shut down completely. If I ever shut down I am really no good to anyone. So in order to keep my mental health in check, I allow myself time to just get “ready” to exist, then just exist and then push myself to be productive. I’m sure I could accomplish a lot faster with some self discipline but being kind to myself has to come first. It has taken me THIS long to create this debut album; I want it to be perfect so I am allowing myself to take my time.

You seem pretty busy all the time, what do you do to relax?

I may have mentioned this before but I’m a gamer. I LOVE playing my Nintendo Switch. Lately it has been all about Animal Crossing: New Horizons (ask me how that game changed my life), but I love anything Legend of Zelda or Super Mario Brothers. I live for the Nintendo franchise! I am also a caffeine addict (actually I’m not, but I really LOVE it) so I generally have fancy cof- fee or ice cream throughout my day to help myself center. Whenever I’m out somewhere or need some inspiration, I read. I am a lover of self-help books and could recommend quite a few titles 🙂

What’s the most precious thing in your life and would you let me touch it? 

That is a really hard question. At the moment I guess I would have to say that it would be my MacBook Pro with all of my songs on it. I might let you touch it but I would have to supervise.

There’s quite a range of styles between dance songs such as ‘Useless’ and the full-on rock of tracks like ‘You Tell Me’? Is this natural eclecticism or a deliberate choice to straddle a range of genres?

Every song chooses its own identity. I don’t make the rules. “Forgive Me Not” started out as a bass heavy hip-hop/rock crossover and when recorded, changed into a synth-pop/dark-wave track. My newest single (not yet released), “Inside Out” is a Grunge/Alt track. I don’t really choose. I have a myriad of influences and I just write and record what feels right to write and record. A lot of the time that I spend in the studio, I aim to just make “trash beats” and end up realizing…”Ohhh this is this song…” so I start to finish the song around that idea but the songs ultimately have been written with an original genre in mind. They just get to decide what they want and when they want to be heard by the world. I guess this is a concept I get from Tori Amos, because she has a similar philosophy about her songs having their own personalities and I really feel the same way about mine. Perhaps that is because she’s my idol, but maybe it’s just the way it is.

And honestly, you may or may not believe this, but “You Tell Me” started out as a country song! I got picked to perform in a hip-hop showcase, so I completely, with the help of Patrick Kearney (Purple Park Studios) changed the song into a bass heavy 90s groove. The idea was to turn the original riff (which would have been done on the acoustic guitar) into a bass line, which we did, and then add a more 90s rock element for the chorus. Originally though, the song was a country song and someday I plan to record it the way I had originally written it.

Who would you say your modern contemporaries are? Is Tori Amos still in there?

Tough question because Tori has been underground for many years. I would have to say that cur- rent modern contemporary music is built around an idea of the 90s women rock and pop acts I followed in my youth along with today’s modern pop sensations: Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Sia, Doja Cat, etc. I have assimilated a little bit of the old and the new together in my sound and like I said before — all the songs have an identity. I do like to tell people that I sound like a modern Madonna with an edge if Tori Amos wrote the lyrics. I find that to be a fairly ap- propriate description. I will also say that the 90s are popular again and I never left so I fit into this new mainstream perfectly.

What’s a ‘non-attachment lifestyle’ look like?

Wow. You really did some research on my self-motivation! I am constantly moving around. I try not to make roots anywhere too deep because I like to be able to disconnect from my current cir- cumstances in favor of growth and the pursuit of more creativity. It all comes from a deep under- standing that the world is vast and I am quite small. Whenever you become the smartest/most interesting person in a room, it’s time for a new room. I need a new room so I look elsewhere than where I am. I really like it. I have been so happy being a self-acclaimed vagabond through- out my life. I am reproductively challenged so I cannot have kids and I’ve never been married. I am able to just detach from things that are no longer serving me. That’s how I grow. That may or may not be because I was a military brat and we moved every 3 to 4 years. It makes sense to me though and I am happy this way. Ultimately I want to go overseas and move to Italy – I want my own Villa with a vineyard.

I also know that possessions do not make a person happy. Which is why every couple of years I sell off the majority of my personal inventory in favor of my new life…

Your songs are quite driven and emotive, where does that come from?

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is both a gift and a curse. Some of the darkest songs I have ever written were triggered by incidents that made me sad or angry. Though I don’t feel as though I am the “songwriter” in every scenario, I do believe that my endeavors are what makes for such deep and interesting concepts.

Can you share a personal story that deeply influenced one of your songs?

I have quite a few of these. Since I only have a few songs on the internet for your consumption I will use one of those songs as a focal point to this question.
“Forgive Me Not” is probably still my favorite lyrical composition that I have written and recorded thus far and so the story is this…

The song is about an abusive relationship. I was in several over the course of my lifetime, how- ever, this song is about all of them. There are pieces in which I discuss Guy A. Parts of the song talk about an obsession I had with a particular “rock star” in college. Another part of the song is the understanding that I am not the same person that I was back then. Here is the break down:

“So lately I have been prone to things; of heart attacks and broken wings…” is a metaphor for all of the hardships I have allowed myself to endure in order to prove my worth as an individual.
“I’ll never say I’ve given up. If I’m lost again, I’m out of luck…” – basically I don’t know when to quit when my heart is truly invested in a relationship and a lot of people have taken advantage of that.

“But through the veil of wicked dreams. The past rescinded by the poison…” – While looking back at all of the mistakes I have made in love, I have come to realize that history repeats itself and I have allowed my- self to be a victim.
“I’ve been there before. It seems to be a waste one can endure. An unconditional mindless craze…”

– I have been here before. This is just one more relationship that seems to be occupying my time and ma- nipulating me but it’s just a phase.
The chorus is comprised of a question and answer motif:
“So how’s it gonna be?”

“When everything you say is what I’m in for” — this is actually a second person on the line telling me what I don’t want to hear…the abuser if you will.
“A different side of me” – when BPD takes over and I become something else entirely (usually in a fight) “What I stand for? What we stand for” – them asking me if I am willing to give this another shot.

“So how are you gonna say…”
“Everything is lust and now I give up!”
“And throw it all away!” — I’ve had enough and I am walking away from this person.
“Cuz’ I’m sorry”
“…but you forgive me not!” — me realizing that no matter how many times this person tells me that they’re sorry — I’m the one that is sorry because I know that I need to leave but keep chasing to stay.

That’s the best I can do with this one. For really deep stories you’ll have to wait until my autobi- ography is done.

What do you want listeners to take away from your songs/performances?

I want everyone to realize that they have the ability to reject the status quo (you’re born, school, work, retire then die) and live outside of the metaphorical box. I want people to understand that they have the right to live their life by design.

What’s been your most memorable performance so far (where and why?)

Well it would probably be the one with the most people! I performed a few years back at Aspire Energy Festival (got paid in energy drinks yay!) and it was the first time that I ever rapped live! I was so nervous, but there were these three little girls aged 4 to 10 in the front row dancing to every song I sang that night. I will never forget how they came up after the performance and in- sisted on getting pictures with me and thanking me for being so cool. That was amazing. I love performing for kids and love the impact that I might potentially have on the youth of tomorrow.

What would be your dream venue to play at?

Like most bands, I want to sell out the O2!!! I am also dying to play at the Gothic Treffen Festi- val in Leipzig, Germany, the Sydney Opera House in Australia and I want to perform on top of a building in Tokyo, Japan.

What’s in the pipeline and do you plan to tour this year?

I actually plan on moving across the state for a bit and possibly across the country. I have a few collabs in LA going on, some stuff overseas and more local. I am going to be releasing this new single, “Inside Out” which just got added to the Amityville Barbi: The Movie Soundtrack while I wrap up the finishing touches on the album Everything and Nothing All at Once. My oth- er song, “Are We Lost” was just added to the Halloween the 31st: the Curse Continues Sound- track as well — it’s the opening song for the new album. I just live one day at a time but if any- one who is reading this is looking for a sign to follow their dreams, THIS IS IT! Live your life by design without limitations and give yourself permission to take up space and exist the way you want to.

Stay Blessed. Stay tuned!