Following her powerhouse performance at Audacy's Leading Ladies concert presented by Olay Body, singer Rachel Platten sat down with NEW 102.7 morning host Karen Carson backstage in the Dunkin' Artists Lounge.
LISTEN NOW: Rachel Platten backstage at Audacy's Leading Ladies 2024
The singer was clearly in high spirits following her empowerment-packed setlist and even received a standing ovation from the inspired crowd. “I wish there was more of this! This event is so powerful,” Platten said.
Audacy’s Leading Ladies 2024 event was created to uplift the voice of female musicians and promote equity and inclusion within the music industry. “It’s so cool” Rachel added, and called the ability to perform with her fellow female musician and friend Christina Perri, “so rare.”
“We were taught to believe that there’s only room for a couple of us [female artists], and that’s not true,” the singer-songwriter said. “There’s no limit to what you’re going to listen to as a consumer and as a listener, so why can’t there be room for all of us women? And why can’t we celebrate each other?”
Platton’s set was certainly worth celebrating, as her songs ranged from topics of self-empowerment to resilience in the face of extreme hardship. All the while, her genuineness was undeniable, and had the audience standing up and cheering in support. “It was so incredible. It, like, moved me to tears, to be honest,” Rachel Platten said of the ovation, which followed the performance of her newest single. “To hear that people were really hearing it and responding to it, I don’t know. There’s something just so beautiful about the fact that maybe there was a plan for the pain I went through. And I’m just so proud of myself for being here and being strong enough to get through it” Platten said, beaming with joy.
When she wrote her 2024 single ‘Mercy’, the 42-year-old singer was fighting with serious bouts of postpartum anxiety and depression after the birth of her second daughter. “It was a real reckoning I went through, with my journey to motherhood,” Platton told interviewer Carson. She went on to recall the ‘darkness’ that she felt at the time, but how she’s since healed and loves being a mother to daughters Violet and Sophie. Now, Platton hopes to share her experience through music and reach others going through the same struggles.
“I just wish I could hug all of them,” she said of her fellow postpartum survivors. “To just say, ‘I’m so sorry we have to go through all of this.’ It sucks, but there is light after the dark. I am a living testament to that, that no matter how dark it gets, there is always the dawn.”
That dawn, in part, seems to have come through Patton’s music at Leading Ladies. Her inspirational set didn’t leave a single dry eye in the house- even Patton herself cried happy tears, joking with the audience and wiping her face. “That moment on stage today was… if you told me, when I was writing ‘Mercy’ in the throes of depression and fear, that I would have this moment on stage, I don’t know if I would’ve believed you because I was suffering so much,” she revealed. “But to be here is so incredibly empowering.”
“I’m so proud and I know, like, it’s not just me! We all can rise and use our pain for beauty and art and for good.”
Don't miss Karen Carson's full chat with Rachel Platten above, including her favorite parts of being a mom and a small hint on a new album release -- and stay tuned for more coverage from Audacy's Leading Ladies 2024 right HERE.