Rachel Chinouriri doesn't do small — and a sophomore album announcement with a single called "One Song Away From Crying" proves she's not about to start.
The South London singer-songwriter has confirmed her second album, I Think I Spoke Too Soon, and dropped lead single "One Song Away From Crying" alongside the news. If the title sounds like someone reckoning with something they said in a moment of confidence, that tracks entirely. The debut was called What A Devastating Turn Of Events. There's clearly a pattern here, and we're entirely here for it.
What She's Been Building Towards
Since What A Devastating Turn Of Events dropped, Chinouriri has been anything but quiet. She's toured alongside Sabrina Carpenter and Florence + The Machine — two artists who operate at very different ends of the pop spectrum, which tells you something about how broadly she connects. She put out the Little House EP, turned up on PinkPantheress' remix album Fancy Some More?, and has been stacking up festival appearances along the way.
That's not a gap year. That's groundwork. She's been planting herself in rooms where the stakes are high, learning how to hold an audience that isn't hers yet. There's a calculated patience to it that a lot of artists her age don't have. Most would've rushed a second record out to capitalise on the debut's momentum. She didn't.
"One Song Away From Crying" is the first taste of where this album is headed, and it signals she's not retreating into safer territory. If anything, it sounds like someone who went and tested themselves on major stages and came back with something to say about it.
The Bigger Picture
We've written before about what it looks like when artists genuinely grow between records rather than just release more of the same — [FLO's second album Therapy at the Club](/getohedz/music/flos-second-album-therapy-at-the-club-is-their-boldest-move-yet) being a recent example of a UK act stepping up rather than consolidating. Chinouriri looks like she's operating with the same instinct.
The album title itself is interesting. I Think I Spoke Too Soon implies doubt, a revision of something previously claimed. Whether that's personal, romantic, or something more pointed about the music industry, it's the kind of framing that makes a record feel lived-in before you've heard a note of it. Chinouriri has always written with that quality — the sense that the song is arriving mid-thought rather than pre-packaged.
She's also confirmed London and Dublin shows around the release, so this isn't just a digital announcement. She's going back out on the road, on her own terms, with her own headline set. That matters.
Our Take
Two albums in, Chinouriri is building something that doesn't quite slot into any one lane — and that's her strongest hand. She's not a pop act pretending to have edges, and she's not an indie artist cosplaying mainstream ambition. I Think I Spoke Too Soon could be the record that makes that position undeniable. "One Song Away From Crying" is a good opening argument. We're listening.