Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel “Essy” Braig.
Hi Rachel, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I grew up in a family of 3 brothers, none of them are musicians. But my parents had an affinity for music and introduced me to Springsteen, Fleetwood Mac, even John Mayer, and Coldplay at an early age. My dad took me to my first Coldplay concert when I was 11 years old in Washington, DC.
I remember seeing Robyn open up the tour and then watching the band do their thing – I was completely mesmerized. From that moment forward, music became the full focus for me. I started teaching myself piano around that age – playing every day after school. I wrote my first song at age 12 called “Always You” about my dad.
In high school, I was accepted into a summer program at NYU’s Steinhardt School in New York City, as well as the Berklee College of Music summer program. I spent a summer living in the city learning how to write music from some of the industry’s best players (Barry Eastmond, Maia Sharp).
I wasn’t really sure how to make a career out of music in high school, so I went to the University of Virginia to study Psychology and Media Studies. I totally 180’d my life for a second and decided to be a physician assistant. It wasn’t until my junior year, a piano ballad I composed in my college apartment got picked up by an EDM producer named Collin (he now works under the name Ship Wrek with Atlantic Records). For Christmas that year, I convinced my parents to let me record music I wrote at a recording studio.
I would send Collin the stems and files and we would make music virtually. The first song we ever worked on, titled “Fool’s Gold,” was picked up by NCS records. The second track “Open Up” was recorded on a subdivision of Warner Records UK, Knightvision Records. From those two cuts, I decided to refocus my time and energy on music. I wanted to know everything about the business, so I started taking internships. I worked at Warner Records Nashville, Redlight Music Management, and CMT while finishing up college.
I graduated a semester early from UVA to move to Nashville. I owe the move to my best friend from college, Reade. Her stepfather was an executive at CMT, whom I once interned under, and he mentored the start of my career. He recommended Nashville as a progressive space for music and songwriting and he was also the only person I knew working in music in Nashville. When I got to town, I worked full time at an APA music agency and hustled in the evenings. Every night I would go out to shows, introduce myself, learn to record my own demos when I got back at 10 PM. It took me about 8 months to get into my first writing room.
At first, my goal was to be a songwriter. Songwriting is something I’ve always been comfortable and confident in. After several tough conversations, I decided to give the artist thing a “go.” I created my artist project under the alias “Essy.” It’s synth-based pop music, with lots of organic elements like electric guitar and live drums. I used to have a lisp when I was little and sometimes sound “a little Essy on the microphone” – that’s where the name comes from! It also gave me a good reason to separate my personal and work life.
Until I moved to Nashville, I hadn’t performed music on a stage with a microphone. Maybe did the talent show in college, but that awfully different. My first show as Essy was in January 2020 at the High Watt. Ever since then I’ve been plugging away – writing, producing, and performing my own music. We got to tour a little bit this past fall and I am working on my first full-length record currently!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It hasn’t been easy that’s for sure.
From begging people to let me into a writing room to learning what gear I needed to record my own demos, to branding myself as Essy, to taking meetings and being rejected over and over again, to performing for the first time on a stage in Nashville – all of those things were hurdles I had to overcome mentally. And coming from a non-music family, the struggles I went through wasn’t always understood.
However, I think the challenges in the course have made the process rewarding and adventurous! Choosing this path has taught me more about myself than anything else I’ve ever done in life and I’m beyond grateful for that.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My name is Essy, I’m a synth-pop artist from Nashville, Tennessee.
I songwriter, who produces and performs my own music. My production style sets me a part of the most. I work with machines called synthesizers, which are electronic-sounding instruments that make really retro and unique sounds. A lot of music is experimental and dance-worthy for that reason. I also play a synth-based keytar on stage.
I am most proud of how I’ve always done what I love to do and stuck with it. I think in Nashville it can be easy to change your brand or genre based on what is popping off in the industry. But for me, I just felt really connected to the music I was writing from the start. Even if my sound evolves as I grow, my love for synths and electronic-based music has always stayed the same.
It’s helped me stay true to my course and make the right decisions for my brand and career path.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
1) Believe in yourself more than anybody else and remind yourself of that every day – stick to what you like and what you think is best for yourself and your career. Don’t change based on one opinion. Don’t run after what someone else is doing. Remember what you love about the music YOU create and believe in that love more than anything. Remind yourself you are capable because you wouldn’t have chosen the path if you didn’t think you were.
2) I wasn’t aware of how many hats I would have to wear as an independent artist. Not only am I a writer, producer, and performer – I am also a social media manager, a human being with personal life, a social butterfly that has to take meetings and network, a daughter, a friend, a tour manager, merch designer, a tech specialist. On the first tour, I went out on, I built an electronic IEM rig for my band. It was up to me to know every aspect of it because I couldn’t afford to have a tour manager or tech engineer.
I think in my head when I was 12 I thought being Hannah Montana meant showing up and singing on stage, but you forget the path to getting there is a lot more challenging than people lead on or share. Additionally, financially – it’s tough. There are always people that have your back, but I feel it’s gotten a lot more expensive than the world has lately.
Contact Info:
- Email: essy@essylive.com
- Website: https://www.essylive.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/essysounds/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Essysounds/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/essysounds
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS6EnaFSVxFbBo5LUQiWljA
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/essysounds
Image Credits
Jake Matthews and Jordan Merrigan
