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<\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>RACHAEL SAGE GIVES FANS HER UMBRELLA WITH NEWEST ALBUM CANOPY<\/h2>\n<h3>by Meredith Summers and Merlin David<\/h3>\n<p>Rachael Sage & The Sequins\u2019 new album, Canopy, is a fleshed-out response to some of the most challenging questions we\u2019re facing as a nation. When it\u2019s increasingly harder to stay upbeat in the face of global news, Canopy explores how we hold onto and expand the love in our lives\u2014 without either inciting or ignoring the complexities that threaten our most valuable relationships. Rachael recently spoke more about how she put that theory into practice, starting with her bandmates.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_21329\" style=\"width: 670px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21329\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-21329\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rachael-Sage-01-Photo-credit-Shervin-Lainez.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"661\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rachael-Sage-01-Photo-credit-Shervin-Lainez.jpg 660w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rachael-Sage-01-Photo-credit-Shervin-Lainez-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rachael-Sage-01-Photo-credit-Shervin-Lainez-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-21329\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo credit Shervin Lainez<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Rachael Sage on Collaboration<\/strong><br \/>\nRachael Sage\u2019s bandmates get their chance to shine on these tracks, helping her experience the music in an entirely new way. \u201cWhile there was no co-writing on the record, that doesn\u2019t diminish that these songs would not have the sound and impact they do without these particular musicians.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One thing she learned while making this album was just how much her bandmates brought to the process. Falling deeper in love with them at every collaborative step just reinforced how lucky she was to work with these \u201ckind, compassionate, and hilarious\u201d musicians.<\/p>\n<p>One of her favorite moments happened on a recording day with background singers, Annalyse and Ryan. During the session, her friend and photographer Tom Moore swung by with his pup and young daughter, Lois. It didn\u2019t take long before Lois jumped in to sing on the title track and, luckily, they were able to capture it all for posterity. \u201cWe have the most delightful photo evidence of this magic happening!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rachael Sage on Writing the Title Track<\/strong><br \/>\nThe title track is called \u201cCanopy\u201d, and it\u2019s an invitation to the listener to give up a small piece of control in exchange for an immeasurable dose of relief. Rachael wrote this song after doing what so many of us do when we\u2019re anxious or bored\u2014doomscrolling on social media. Her song is a salve to the seemingly never-ending testaments of pain and fear that we encounter every day.<\/p>\n<p>To create this song, Rachael had to take a step backward to think about more than just her own perspective. \u201cFinding that way of saying something that holds up a mirror to people and includes their own experience more than just being a means for me to vent or being cathartic for me is increasingly what I\u2019m interested in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to her favorite song on the album, though, Rachael Sage had her own sleeper hit with \u201cBelong to You\u201d. While she\u2019s not necessarily one for ballads, she\u2019s struck by how much this song touched her listeners. \u201cIt seems to be hitting a nerve with a lot of people in a good way \u2014 where they\u2019re connecting with the emotions of the lyrics and the gospel, devotional nature of the music and melody.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rachael on the Power of Festivals<\/strong><br \/>\nDuring the interview, Rachael opened up about how festivals have become a huge source of inspiration for her. She recalled traveling with her bandmate and friend Trina Hamlin to Ladybug Fest, and the feeling of peace that arose as everything fell into place: the music, the trees, the chairs, the smiles all around her. All of it gave her the strength to write the song \u201cJust Enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As she put it, \u201cI\u2019m not always able to do this but I took it in fully and mentally logged how \u2018right\u2019 and how unconditionally supportive the vibe between us was. Then I decided to write a song about that moment of \u2018knowing\u2019 … knowing when you can be absolutely yourself with someone, and them with you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The song is about being complete as you are, whether you\u2019re on your own, with friends, or standing by your partner\u2019s side. To throw in even more fun, \u201cJust Enough\u201d is the perfect crowd-initiator, and Rachael can\u2019t help but feel a tad giddy when she hears fans clapping along to the beat.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rachael on Being a Cancer Thriver<\/strong><br \/>\nWe asked Rachael to reflect on how cancer changed her mindset when songwriting, and she could honestly say that she still approaches the challenge in much the same way. What has changed is her pervasive perfectionism, one that\u2019s plagued her since childhood.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve always been a \u2018God is in the details\u2019 kind of artist, and I certainly still am, to a large degree, but I\u2019ve done a lot of work on myself to learn how to let go of some of that tight grip, so to speak, on the result needing to be the exact same as the initial vision in my mind\u2019s eye of how it should be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s allowed her to be more flexible with her ideas, keeping them fresh and allowing more surprises. You can see this exemplified in both the melody and video of \u201cLive It Up\u201d where she offers a little light-hearted joy and invites the listener to give themselves a pass to enjoy where they are right now.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_21328\" style=\"width: 670px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21328\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-21328\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rachael-Sage-02-Photo-credit-Anna-Azarov.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"661\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rachael-Sage-02-Photo-credit-Anna-Azarov.jpg 660w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rachael-Sage-02-Photo-credit-Anna-Azarov-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rachael-Sage-02-Photo-credit-Anna-Azarov-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-21328\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo credit Anna Azarov<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Rachael on Performing<\/strong><br \/>\nRachael calls tours in the UK and Europe her \u201chome away from home,\u201d and she loves how the audience responds more to the honesty in the music rather than the category. \u201cThey are less hung up on genre, and less worried about live lineups needing to be stylistically cohesive.\u201d She\u2019s had the chance to play with startup acts and older legends alike, and she\u2019s built her confidence brick by brick when working with trailblazers like Eric Burdon and Imelda May.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s jostled her out of her need to be one thing or another, which has been liberating. It gave her a boost of confidence to tackle genre-bending obstacles. For example, when she played The Hard Rock Cafe, she had to take her pop songs to a slightly rougher crowd. Instead of shying away, she walked up with her guitar and piano and curated the songs based on the audience. The result? More people signed up for her email list than when she played with songwriters similar to her own genre.<\/p>\n<p>No matter where she is, she usually performs \u201cSistersong,\u201d not just because it\u2019s a crowd-pleaser but because the message is so easily relatable from place to place. \u201cSistersong\u201d is Rachael\u2019s pledge to lift other women up in the music industry. \u201cIt became an anthem for me that made it crystal clear\u2014in addition to my early solidarity with groups like Indiegrrl, GoGirls, UrbanMuse and Women in Music\u2014that I was never going to get caught in the \u2018mean girl\u2019 mentality that so often is encouraged by our broader culture but also subcultures within music, among women. As a kid, I was very badly bullied at an all-girl school, and ever since I resolved to be someone who would support, nurture and encourage other women in this often cruel and dare I say sleazy business.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSistersong\u201d earned her a place on Ani DiFranco\u2019s tour and at Lilith Fair, which was a huge steppingstone for her to run her own label, MPress Records. When pressed to give advice to fledgling artists, she encourages young talent to get off the internet and to take their instruments to coffeehouses or open mic nights, where they can work out their performance style, songs, and arrangements on their own time\u2014without the debilitating criticism that\u2019s so easy to absorb on platforms like YouTube.<\/p>\n<p>As she put it, \u201cConfidence, confidence, confidence\u2014as developed by years of shedding all kinds of gigs\u2014is such a beautiful thing. I\u2019ve learned this also from the other artists on my label, especially Seth Glier and Grace Pettis.\u201d When you believe in your ability to create and you have the passion to fuel the fire, it puts your audience at ease because they can feel as much as they hear.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_21327\" style=\"width: 670px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21327\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-21327\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rachael-Sage-03-Photo-credit-Anna-Azarov.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"661\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rachael-Sage-03-Photo-credit-Anna-Azarov.jpg 660w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rachael-Sage-03-Photo-credit-Anna-Azarov-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rachael-Sage-03-Photo-credit-Anna-Azarov-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-21327\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo credit Anna Azarov<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Rachael on Pride<\/strong><br \/>\nRachael\u2019s approach to work is to keep going. Huge success, major failure, everyday steppingstones: you just get on with it, no matter what. But she did pause to share a story about a recent tour with Kristen Ford from Righteous Babe Records. Kristen asked Rachael to recite a poem by Andrea Gibson who had recently passed away from cancer.<\/p>\n<p>Rachael was nervous because she didn\u2019t want to mess up the emotional words, but she didn\u2019t want to turn down the request either. During her recitation, Kristen improvised guitar against the compelling narrative. \u201cThe room grew hushed and it felt like we were really creating something sacred in Andrea\u2019s memory. It was definitely a \u2018moment\u2019 and a reminder that saying yes to things you\u2019re afraid of usually yields some kind of growth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rachael on Visual Stylings<\/strong><br \/>\nCanopy is one of the most visually unique and colorful packages that Rachael has ever attempted, a tribute to the pop-art exhibit \u201cLuna Luna\u201d that premiered at The Shed in 2024. Deriving the palate and patterns from artists like Keith Haring, Basquiat, and Kenny Scharf, the album packaging features some of Rachael\u2019s own paintings alongside photography by Shervin Lainez and Anna Azarov.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe photo shoots were very collaborative, and each photographer captured their take on the \u2018Canopy\u2019 theme while incorporating my colorful and expressive styling. The architecture of the package itself is very unusual, and I modeled the hardcover accordion-style foldout on a handmade Japanese art book I found in a used East Village bookstore. It\u2019s a very interactive experience and I hope people love it as much as I loved creating it!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fans can purchase either the standard version or the limited edition deluxe, the latter of which features hand-numbered CDs against a bright orange vinyl. Rachael is proud to take her fans on a visual journey as much as a melodic and lyrical one.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_21326\" style=\"width: 670px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21326\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-21326\" src=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rachael-Sage-04-Photo-credit-Anna-Azarov.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"661\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rachael-Sage-04-Photo-credit-Anna-Azarov.jpg 660w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rachael-Sage-04-Photo-credit-Anna-Azarov-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Rachael-Sage-04-Photo-credit-Anna-Azarov-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-21326\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo credit Anna Azarov<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Rachael on What\u2019s Next<\/strong><br \/>\nRachael will continue to tour the US and the UK until the end of the year. In 2026, she\u2019ll work on an acoustic version of Canopy. She also teased a secret project she wasn\u2019t quite ready to share more about. The only hint we got was that it would be a part of the celebration of 30 years of MPress Records. One thing\u2019s for sure is that next year will be action-packed for Rachael, further catapulting her career and cementing her stardom.<\/p>\n<p>Fans can check out more about Rachael on both her website and social pages:<br \/>\nInstagram: rachael_sage<br \/>\nFacebook.com\/rachaelsagepage<br \/>\nBlueSky: https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/rachaelsage.bsky.social<br \/>\nWebsite: https:\/\/rachaelsage.com\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Video Feature & Web-Exclusive Interview Musician: RACHAEL SAGE Video: \u201cBELONG TO YOU\u201d RACHAEL SAGE GIVES FANS HER UMBRELLA WITH NEWEST ALBUM CANOPY by Meredith Summers and Merlin David Rachael Sage & The Sequins\u2019 new album, Canopy, is a fleshed-out response to some of the most challenging questions we\u2019re facing as a nation. When it\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21331,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7725],"tags":[12160,12214,15150,12584,15151,3155,15152,15153,15154,15155,15156,15157,6210,15158,5140,5142,88,15159,15160,15161,8394,15162,15163,15164,15165,149,15166,10161,15141,3010,7978,9127,10198,483,15167,482,13074,13075,359,361,15168,15169,10207,15170,8402,15171,15172,15173,15174,15175,15176,11381,15177,15178],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21325"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21325"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21330,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21325\/revisions\/21330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}