If you managed to catch In Real Life on their For U Tour, then you most likely saw Jenna Raine open for their set. Raine was one of the openers of their tour this fall alongside Elle Winter and special guest on select show dates, Asher Angel. Raine is a 15 year old singer/songwriter that is well on her way to become a successful musician. She’s received praise from Billboard and Refinery29 for her singles such as “Us” and “Technicolor.” Raine just released her brand new album Be Like You and ECHO had the chance to chat with Raine about her new album and more at her LA show at The Roxy.
How has tour been so far?
It has been really fun! I’m not running out of steam at all, which is really nice because the shows are later at night, which is nice because I have the whole day sleep in haha.
Do you have a favorite moment on tour that stands out?
It’s not really a sentimental moment, but in Denver, this fan threw me a rose and I started singing with it and I really enjoyed that.
You released your song “Be Like You” last month, talk about the recording process behind that.
I wrote it with Kaydence and we were thinking of ideas, at first I wanted the song to be “I wouldn’t want to be like you,” so it was going to be really negative. So, to make it more positive and give more people an outside look of it, we decided to change it to “Would You Want To Be Like You,” asking yourself that question every single day, looking in the mirror, and being happy with the person that you are and around other people and if you’re being the person you’re truly meant to be.
Do you have a favorite line from the song?
“Put the mirror to your face and smile and tell me is that really you.”
You also recently performed at the US Open, talk about that experience.
It was super fun! It was my dad’s 60th and he has always wanted to go to the US Open, so it worked out perfectly because I ended up getting tickets and was able to perform there, which is really ironic. It was super fun, it was a great experience, kind of an experience like no other because I haven’t really performed in front of a crowd, like adults, I usually perform in front of teenage girls who know the songs already, so it was great having to reach out to a new crowd.
Were there any challenges at first when you got on stage?
It was really hot and windy, so I was dying, I was wearing pants and a long sleeve shirt, so I was really hot. I got the crowd slowly to gather in and listening, because at first there wasn’t as big of a crowd, so it was kind of a challenge to get people to start listening for sure.
How young did you get started in the music industry?
I was 10. I started getting singing lessons around when I was 10, after a few months I got an audition for a girl group and it started from there. I started my solo career a few years ago and I’ve been doing a lot in songwriting.
How do you stay so well composed being in the industry at this young age?
I just have to remember where I came from and who I am as a person because it’s really hard to get lost in all the drama and all the people in the industry. Especially at my age because all these kids are trying to do the same thing and if nobody really does anything they call themselves an actor. It’s definitely hard and it’s a challenge to be yourself around some people because everyone is so judgmental, they judge everything that you do, even if they don’t say it, you can just tell if people are being fake to your face. I’ve learned to make real friends and figure out who’s not using me for social media and stuff like that or my resources and it’s definitely helped me out a lot, I’m not a big partier or anything, I just stick with my really close friends and do what I love to do, which is staying in the studio and writing music.
If you could set up a fan in a setting for them to listen to your music, what setting would that be?
Me in my house on my grand piano playing and singing acoustically. It’s so magical and I love the grand piano and it also echo’s through our house.
What’s one quote that you want to ECHO out to fans?
“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”
What can we expect next from Jenna Raine?
I have a single that just came out called “You Can Blame Me” and I have my EP Be Like You coming out November 1st and I’m so excited about it. There’s some music on there that people haven’t heard yet and it’s definitely a new sound, there’s one song on there that I wrote completely by myself, so I’m super excited for it!
Make sure you listen to Raine’s new album out now!