RAEGAN celebrates Pride with lesbian 'Romeo & Juliet' music video for "WALTZ"
RAEGAN is back with a new emotionally charged and introspective track, "WALTZ". Inspired by her personal journey of self-discovery and the challenges faced while coming out as gay, the 20-year-old alt-pop artist poured her raw emotions into a song that beautifully captures her experiences and inner turmoil.
The track was created during her senior year of high school, a time when she bravely embraced her true identity and faced the resistance of her parents, not just to her sexuality but also to her chosen partner. RAEGAN channeled her feelings of entrapment and the longing for acceptance through the powerful medium of music. She explains, “One day I went into the studio and just wanted to make a song out of a waltz for some reason. The feeling of the music made me express how I was feeling in a very almost old fashioned, Shakespearean way. Everything I wrote is how I felt at the time in a more metaphorical sense. It's me expressing how I felt trapped and controlled when I just wanted to be allowed to be in love.
Shortly after the creation of "WALTZ," RAEGAN auditioned for and secured a role in her school's production of "Romeo and Juliet." As she delved into the classic love story, she discovered profound similarities between her own experiences and those of the iconic literary couple. She shared, “When I originally compared us, I felt our alignment in the broadest sense, but then as I learned more, I saw myself in them and was overwhelmed by my emotional connection and understanding of their story. That's when I got the inspiration for the music video; to create a lesbian Romeo and Juliet.”
"WALTZ" held a special place in RAEGAN's heart for two and a half years, locked away on her phone as a personal triumph. In her sophomore year of college, she met the talented up-and-coming director Isabella Tan, who immediately connected with the concept. Together, they crafted a visually stunning music video that brought to life her vision of a parallel universe where Shakespeare wrote her story instead. The resulting music video beautifully portrays the intensity of forbidden love, highlighting the emotional connection and understanding she found within the tragic tale.
But RAEGAN did not feel ready to release her creation to the world. She explains, “A year later, not only was WALTZ held hostage on my phone, the music video was too. I knew I created something magical but it still felt undone to me. I went to LA for a period of time to work on music and I came across a violin player on my instagram, Sara Jones. I reached out to her to recreate the song with me with live instrumentation. After one 3 hour studio session together I knew WALTZ was finally ready for the world."
The release of the "WALTZ" music video marks the culmination of RAEGAN's creative journey, capturing her unwavering commitment to authentic storytelling and her dedication to sharing her unique voice with the world. With its poetic lyrics, haunting melody, and stunning visuals, "WALTZ" promises to resonate deeply with audiences, both within and beyond the LGBTQ+ community.
ABOUT RAEGAN:
RAEGAN’s world is full of contradictions: at once eerie and enchanting, it’s the place where her adult nightmares and childlike daydreams collide.
When RAEGAN creates music, she warps her reality into a twisted scene: writing honestly about her experience in an all new, cinematic form. A longtime actor and performer, RAEGAN’s experience in musical theater has lent her writing an epic scope — in many ways she is merely method acting through song, spinning her personality into a sonic form. “For a while, everything in my life felt so controlled and watched over,” she shares. “Music was my only escape to truly be me — to do whatever I want and say what I really want to say.”
Amidst the swirling atmosphere of teenage angst, shadowy harmonies, and spectral self-expression, we find RAEGAN and her strong personality right at the center. Weird, wonderful, and witty, her self-produced soundscapes illustrate the authentic experiences of a 20-year old piecing through a life that is equally as invigorating as it is anxiety-inducing.
RAEGAN often mentions that she thinks through energies, striving to capture her core essence through all new sound waves. Blending disparate styles with breathless ease, RAEGAN’s unique combination of glitchy beats and euphoric strings reveal the inner workings of her mind. “All my music is just my brain in sound waves. Music is the only way I know how to communicate most of the time.”
Her debut track, “TIM BURTON,” reaches into the mind of the famed director, reinventing RAEGAN as one of his gothic caricatures that never made it to the screen. As violins careen in and out of a glitched-out backbeat, her disembodied vocal confesses to fear of failure. “I’ve been wandering in this world alone, I wonder if he finished me,” she sings, in search of purpose, “I guess I wasn’t good enough, I promise I’m trying to be.”
Captivatingly creepy, “TIM BURTON” made waves on TikTok for its witchy and spellbinding energy. Armed with over a million likes and thousands of videos made with the original “TIM BURTON” sound, RAEGAN built on that momentum with follow singles “STALKER”, “HI MY NAME IS” and “STOCKHOLM”.
In an industry overflowing with hyper-curated pop personas, RAEGAN stands out as incredibly self-actualized. Both her aesthetic and music are true reflections of herself — of the many facets of her personality and the wild nature of her unbridled imagination. “Sometimes I’m being serious, but don’t take me seriously,” she challenges, fully in control.
