Earlier this year, Scottish singer/songwriter Rachel Jack released her debut EP The Calgary Tapes to much acclaim, securing The Scotsman Artist of the week and being chosen three times by Jim Gellatly for his track of the day as well as a feature in his new music column in The Sun.

The EP received radio play from BBC Scotland, The Roddy Hart Show, BBC Radio Introducing nan Gàidheal - Rapal, & Amazing Radio, and was featured by a number of music blogs including Tenement TV, BBC Social and the SMIA.

Rachel now follows this up with her latest single Magazine Girls, which was released on Friday 9 October and is the first of four tracks to be released from an EP of the same name, which is due for release in March 2021.

When asked about the track Rachel explains:

Throughout my late teens and early 20’s, I was painfully insecure to the point that I’d spend hours getting ready only to decide not to leave the house. I hated the way I looked, and I wanted to change everything about myself. Magazine Girls is about realising that I could never look like those girls in beauty magazines because on a normal day, they don’t even look like that.

Magazine Girls is a collaborative offering, combining Jack’s thoughtful, evocative lyrics, with the production mastery of award winning producer and former classmate DUNT ( Stanley Odd, SHEARS and Solareye) and it heralds a significant departure from the folky acoustic style of The Calgary Tapes.

Magazine Girls is a huge glittery slice of electro pop, placing Rachel into the realms of acts such as Chvrches and Lorde. The great thing about the change up however as it does not lose any the brilliance of her vocals and her shining personality and her North East brogue are still to the fore.

Lyrically it is sardonically biting as it calls out the images of beauty that are imposed on women in glossy magazines, particularly in the verse when Rachel sings “follow me around with a big bright light, make my teeth straight and Hollywood white, give me a perfect complexion no pimples shall be seen, pull in my tummy, my arms, my legs, my thighs, enhance my boobs, my bum and eyes, change the colour of my skin, so I don’t look so pale”.

The best lines of all are when it is pointed out that the standards portrayed are unobtainable as Rachel sings “I want to look like the girls in the magazines, but the girls in the magazines don’t even look like the girls in the magazines”.

Magazine Girls is a bold change for Rachel, but it is absolutely fantastic, a sugar coated blast of gorgeous pop and has whet my appetite to hear the rest of her collaboration with DUNT.

Rachel Jack is definitely a rising star on the Scottish music scene and I look forward to getting the opportunity to see her perform live as soon as it is possible.

Give Magazine Girls a stream now: below:

https://open.spotify.com/album/3KDlT40EfCktDq7arHMwKZ?si=pgJnYW1lTDmmCjyXM8U-XQ

Rachel Jack can be followed on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Spotify:

https://www.facebook.com/rachelloojack

https://instagram.com/rachellojack?igshid=1xtlcj9vcafm0

https://twitter.com/Rachellojack?s=21

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7g9p7NptP3Dn6j9Ncgruqk?si=eXmGfr1DQUSA4We2NdLp_Q