Rachel Platten opens up about her seven-year break from music, the challenges of motherhood, and how her new album “I Am Rachel Platten” marks a triumphant return.
Bollywood Fever: Musicians often take breaks between albums, but for Rachel Platten, the pause turned into nearly a decade-long hiatus. Now, the singer-songwriter is back with her fifth studio album, I Am Rachel Platten, set for release on Tuesday, September 3.
In an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Platten, 43, explained that her extended break wasn’t planned. “It wasn’t intentional,” she shared. “I got pregnant [in 2018] and I had my baby Violet, and then the pandemic happened. I went on tour right before the pandemic and thought that I would get right back out there [after giving birth].”
Violet, now 5, was born in January 2019, and soon after, Platten found herself grappling with postpartum depression. The challenges of motherhood, compounded by the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, took a toll on her mental health. “I really had goals to just keep going and not let motherhood affect me or impact my career,” Platten admitted. “And so it just took time to heal both emotionally and physically.”
As she began to recover, Platten and her husband, Kevin Lazan, welcomed their second child, daughter Sophie, in September 2021. At that point, returning to the stage was even further out of reach. “I had to go through another struggle with my mental health after having Sophie,” she recalled. “It took a lot of healing to get ready to rise above where I had been.”
Despite the challenges, Platten is now proud of the time she took away from the spotlight. “I’ve changed fundamentally, and I’m really ready to bring this message and this new music into the world,” she said. “These songs weren’t written for other people. They were written for me to help heal me in moments of terror and darkness and fear and rage.”
The seven-year break stands in stark contrast to Platten’s rapid release of her previous two albums, Wildfire in 2016 and Waves in 2017, which followed the massive success of her 2015 single “Fight Song.” Reflecting on that time, Platten acknowledged the pressure she felt from her label to quickly follow up her hit. “They just want you to pump out music, and I wasn’t ready,” she confessed. “My process is I have to go really, deeply inward and feel and process the world around me… So it was too soon for me, honestly.”
Now, with I Am Rachel Platten, the artist feels more at home in her music than ever before. The album features empowering ballads like “Bad Thoughts” and “Mercy,” love songs such as “Need You” and “First Day,” and even a duet with Michael Bolton titled “Caroline.” Platten credits her journey through motherhood and mental health struggles with helping her rediscover the joy in her music.
“I love my life, I love my girls, I love my husband,” Platten said. “These songs that I’m about to share with the world… were already the medicine I needed at my lowest, darkest moments. So the album really is already a triumph for me. Whatever else happens is extra.”
I Am Rachel Platten is available starting Tuesday, September 3.
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