Q&A: meet RARIA, up & coming Aussie pop star

Melbourne’s Rachel Costanzo has recently released her debut track under her new artist project RARIA. Will You Tell Your Girlfriend is a deep dive into the world of being the “other” girl and having no clue until it’s too late. RARIA’s new track hits from the outset. Her vocals have a smooth and lightness to them that are accompanied by a modern electro/RnB sound. “I didn’t know at the time that I’d be apart of the lie” she sings - the song detailing her overseas trip where she met someone who was already with somebody else, and finding out after the fact. We have ALL made mistakes so we absolutely feel you sis. 

The Australian musician hails from a big Italian family and was surrounded by large, colourful personalities that she had to learn to navigate to have her voice heard. Having found it, she values speaking her mind and telling stories that come from personal experiences that she hopes resonates with her listeners.  

We have been more than vibing to Will You Tell Your Girlfriend, it has has such a catchy hook and melody. It’s the perfect vibe when getting ready for a night out, or a night in @melbourne. 

We caught up with our Melbourne sister to talk about her new track, her completely rational obsession with ketchup and how Hilary Duff inspired her music career.

Check out all the feels below. Here’s a snippet of our conversation: 

How did you get into making music?

I was obsessed with the movie Raise Your Voice when I was younger. Hillary Duff was writing songs in the movie, and i remember watching it one day when I was around 12 years old and I picked up a pen and paper and started writing TERRRRIBLE love songs about primary school crushes!

Talk us through your new boss bitch song ‘Will You Tell Your Girlfriend’. 

The idea for this song of mine came while I was traveling overseas last year. I kind of got into a sticky situation with this guy that had something still going on back home with someone else. I didn't know until after we took things far that he did. So I decided to write a song about it all as that's my way of finding closure from f***ed situations. 

So real talk, what was it like finding out you were the boo on the side?

To be completely honest, i kind of had a feeling i was from the start. My gut felt a bit weird about it all. But i guess i was living in fairyland for a little bit and didn't pay attention to the signs until i copped a text saying it had to stop. Not going to lie, i was a little upset by it all but we all f*** up sometimes and i get that. We are still friends which is nice! 

I’m picturing a sassy music video to accompany this song, are we going to get one?

Atm there is no talks for a music video as it's super hard in iso to put one together! But I'm hoping everyone likes the lyric video visuals I had fun creating for the song that's up on YouTube and the acoustic video also :) 

You’ve mentioned no subject is off limits when deciding what to write or sing about. Do you think it’s important to sing about more honest and real topics?

Of course. I can only write songs about things that have happened to me. And most the time I just get heart broken by boys so I love going into details with my song writing about it all, it's kind of my way of saying f*** you. So basically don't hurt me, cause i'll end up writing a song about ya haha.

Where does the name RARIA come from?

I come from an Italian background so I basically took the name Maria And put an 'R' in front of it so it still felt close to my name Rachel!  

What’s your favourite weird food combo?

I personally love ketchup lol I can put it on ANYTHING. Ketchup is one of my obsessions actually! I'm known for sucking ketchup out of the maccas packets. Gross I know. But I'm addicted!

Time for an important question, favourite book/movie/series to help us Victorians get through lockdown 2.0?

I'm loving Power on Stan at the moment! It's soooooo good, it's a must watch! 

What’s something you did on your overseas travels your family don’t know?

Oh gosh, I mean.. what didn't I do... does that answer that?  

Sunrise or Sunset?

Deffs Sunset, I don't wake up until like 1pm hahaha

1pm wake up call sounds lush, where can we sign up for that?

Our girl RARIA has bought some much needed zesty pop energy back to Melbourne, she’s smashed her debut track and we have signed up, subscribed and swiped up to what she’s putting out right now.

Check out her new track below or head to our new Snap, Crackle and Pop 🎤 playlist to hear more fab songs like this one.

By Samuel Seedsman.