New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Rachel
Burns is preparing to release the new EP, What A Nasty Woman, comprised of soulful earworms with a theatrical (and often satirical) flair, in July. Ahead of the EP release,
Burns is bringing on her "Broadway blues" sound with her new single, "Mansplainin'."
The upbeat track is perfectly complimented by its accompanying music video, which follows the downfall of a mansplaining boss. Burns' playful songwriting lends itself to the visual seamlessly, leaving the viewer ready for what else
Burns has in store for the album.
Ahead of it's release today, April 28, get an exclusive first listen to the single @Top40-Charts.
"After years of singing opera, jazz and blues mixed with the rise of my feminist voice during the Trump era, my sound developed into a silly satirical feminist cabaret. My music incorporates elements of the American Songbook, art songs and bawdy backroom bar songs. Laughter is the best medicine, and the process of writing songs that are humorous and over the top dramatic was hysterical, yet cathartic for me. I hope the audience laughs and dances their cares away with me,"
Burns said to BroadwayWorld about the sound of her music.
The music video was directed by Logen
Christopher and features Burns. Sean Hankinson, Erin Halley, Andi Anderson, Anna Lines,
Hannah Brake, Chelsey Fuller, Hope Karwoski, Timothy Burns, and Ty Leech.
Of the song,
Burns shares: "After decades of being a young successful woman in business, I was used to the phenomenon of Mansplaining before it was even a term. I was accustomed to patiently wait for men to condescendingly explain facts or procedures that I was well of aware of, as I knew that men needed to prove to me they knew more than me and I allowed it, because let's face it, once they go into 'splainin, it is almost always the path of least resistance to allow and observe the mansplainer in their moment of explaining than to pipe in and let them know that you know what you are doing. It is a fool's errand to attempt to prove oneself to someone who already believes you do not know what you are doing.
The song came to me as I was attending a Moms Demand Action meeting after the Parkland shooting. We were at a church filled with concerned Moms. There was one man in a room of hundreds. He piped up constantly, interrupted the speaker, and had to make sure all of us women were aware of how he would go about fixing the gun issue in America. The women in the room all groaned with impatience and the eyes started rolling after the 5th interruption. I said to the women around me, 'There he goes, Manspalining again.' and the women within earshot burst into laughter. I got into my car after attending, and on the short ride back to my house, I wrote Mansplainin'."
The cancer-surviving mother of two has been an outspoken activist both on the streets, where for years she dressed in a Wonder Woman costume protesting the Trump administration, and in her music - using her voice as a beacon of positivity and a vessel for change.
A graduate from the New England Conservatory of
Music with a degree in Classical Vocal Performance,
Burns has always had at least one foot in the music world, captivating audiences in
Boston as well as her native Washington, DC with a mix of pop, country, jazz, and blues songs. After 25 years working in business and playing music on the side, she was ready to let her inner songbird soar.
It wasn't until more recently that she found her calling as a songwriter: 2022 saw the release of Burns' debut EP Living My Breast Life, a five-track collection that employed a mix of humor and hope to tell her breast cancer story in a unique way.
For Burns, songwriting is her way of celebrating life and spreading joy.
Burns brings that same animated spirit and unique personality to her sophomore EP What a Nasty Woman, a record of resilience and protesting the patriarchy while celebrating the power of feminism.
"What a Nasty Woman is about breaking through barriers of our societal conditioning-it's a humorous call to evolve from the past."
Burns says. "There are some outright silly songs on it, but they are based on truth, putting a satirical lens on the patriarchal conditioning that we're all used to existing within."
Blending soul, pop, country, and more, Burns' new EP is at once theatrical and emotionally charged, with deeper meanings embedded in every song. She sets the tone with "Mansplainin'," an upbeat tongue-in-cheek soul song that speaks to an all-too frequent experience too many women know all too well.
From the hysterical to the heartfelt, What a Nasty Woman encapsulates Rachel Burns' activism, her resilience, and her struggle. But first and foremost, it's fun. "I think powerful messages are delivered with humor the best,"
Burns says. "They're most impactful when they're funny; we have a southern saying, you kill a lot more flies with sugar than you do with salt.
A Wonder Woman in life and in song, Rachel
Burns has without a doubt embraced her truths embraced her truths with a twinkle in her eye, and a tongue in her cheek.
