Q&A: Raquel Martins Soothes the Spirit on New EP ‘Empty Flower’
IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR AN ARTIST WHO REALLY SPEAKS TO YOUR SOUL — Raquel Martins is for you. Bursting into the scene in 2021 with her debut EP, The Way, the Portugal-born singer has built a buzz with her Latin-infused alternative soul sound. Mixing jazz, soul, and hip-hop, Martins is turning heads with a style heavy on intricate arrangements and dense production.
Sharpening her craft since landing in the UK as a session musician for established artists such as Rina Sawayama and Poppy Ajudha, Martins is getting her reps in so she can emerge sounding already like a veteran. Since the release of her debut, she’s put the UK music scene on notice. Her first three singles from The Way caught serious traction, with over 600K streams on streaming platforms, followed by co-signs from renowned tastemakers such as Gilles Peterson (BBC R6), Jamie Cullum (BBC R2), and Dan Digs (NPR Music). In 2022, Martins spread her sound at shows across the UK and her native Portugal with performances at the EFG London Jazz Festival, We Out Here, and NOS Alive.
In spite of her quick come-up, Martins is intent on keeping it 100% in her identity as an artist. With her upcoming EP, Empty Flower, she is set to drop her most vulnerable record yet, touching on topics such as gender roles, sexuality, and personal growth over lush string and horn-laden instrumentation, which accompany her Brazilian-influenced songwriting. With the first two singles, “Fragile Eyes” and “Mountains,” gaining steam with coverage by Wordplay Magazine and BBC R1’s Future Soul show, Martins is on her way to another smash.
Read below as Luna gets the scoop from Martins on the track-by-track creation of her EP and her upcoming dream collaborations.
LUNA: Hello Raquel! How excited do you feel with the release of your new EP?
MARTINS: Hey, thanks for having me! It feels quite surreal, as I spent last year in my bedroom producing it, so it’s weird to think that people will be able to play it whenever they want from their bedrooms too (laughs). But I feel very proud of it and I think it represents who I was last year very well (because I feel like I’m changing already).
LUNA: How long did it take to develop the concept of Empty Flower?
MARTINS: I didn’t see it as a concept EP but rather a little diary of what I was going through last year. Each track describes a situation I was struggling with, and writing these songs was a way for me to process them and find peace with them in my head. I was writing these songs as I was going through these situations so the entire process was quite long, from recording musicians to then producing the songs on my own. But I think that’s why it feels so personal. It taught me a lot about being patient with myself and the music, and I do feel like it’s important to let ideas sink to make sure that you are serving them in the best way possible.
LUNA: Following your debut EP, The Way, and the run of shows you’ve had in 2022, did you feel any pressure in remaining humble and honest as an artist with your following work?
MARTINS: I think in order to create something genuine that will touch people you have to be as honest and vulnerable as possible with yourself and the music, always. This still feels like very much the beginning, and there’s so much more I want to achieve and create so why would it be hard to stay humble? Still a baby!
LUNA: On the track “Fragile Eyes” and your experience over insecurity problems in a relationship with career ambitions, did it make you stop and re-evaluate your status in the music industry?
MARTINS: “Fragile Eyes” talks about competition and feelings of envy in relationships. I think for some men it’s still really hard to see women succeeding because of the way they were taught to see their masculinity, as they feel like this threatens it. It was making me feel really upset at the time because if your partner, one of the most important people in your life, supposedly, is not able to fully support you and your growth, who is going to? Especially in an industry that is so competitive by default.
LUNA: I like how simple yet straightforward “Mountains” is. Regarding the song’s message of self-acceptance, was it initially hard to reflect on yourself and accept all of your emotions when you began making music?
MARTINS: I wrote “Mountains” about someone else who was very close to me at the time. The way they saw themselves and the world was very distorted and I could see how it was affecting their life and our relationship, because they hadn’t unpacked certain parts of themselves. I started making music to understand myself, and it’s a way for me to process my emotions. I’ve always been very interested in psychology and how humans work so I guess I try to channel that same curiosity when making music.
LUNA: “Empty Flower” feels very therapeutic, especially with a line like “Where do we go from here?” With this track’s emphasis on change, do you feel that it's especially important to embrace change while keeping in mind nostalgia and the issue of being too attached to your goals?
MARTINS: Yeah, I think it’s important to not be attached to any goals/ideals too much and just commit to trying to stay as true to who you are right now, knowing that that’s likely gonna change in the future. I read this quote, “The fixation with your identity limits your identity,” by Ayishat Akanbi and I remember this resonating so much with me. Allowing yourself to be fluid is how you can learn the most about yourself, but it’s also a very hard mindset to have as we are not very good at not being in control and at not labeling things.
LUNA: I love the bossa nova groove that’s in “The Feeling” — it feels very relaxed. Considering this song’s influence from Pino Palladino, how did you want to balance his inspiration on the record while keeping your personal flavor in it?
MARTINS: I was influenced by the mixing of Notes With Attachments when I was recording the EP. I had written “The Feeling” long ago, before I recorded it, and it had a very strong bossa nova influence, but I knew that I wanted to take it somewhere else. I remember at the studio telling the guys to play this song as if it wasn’t a bossa, to see if we could make something new with it. I wanted the drums to be very minimalistic (like the Palladino album) and everything to be quite floaty with loads of space so it still felt intimate.
LUNA: Having performances at events like We Out Here and the London Jazz Festival, along with getting featured by the likes of Gilles Peterson of BBC, it must be surreal, since you’ve only been in the UK scene for a little over five years now. Does that create an expectation for you to carry the torch of UK soul/R&B onto the international stage?
MARTINS: Yeah, I moved to London five years ago to study music and it does still feel a bit weird to think that people that I look up to are actually interested in the sounds I’m making from my room. I’m very grateful and feel like I still have so much I want to say with my music and want to reach a lot more people everywhere in the world.
LUNA: I wish you so much success with this EP! With your current musical growth, who do you hope to collaborate with in 2023?
MARTINS: Thank you so much! There’s some artists who I would love to make music with from everywhere in the world, especially Brazi — I’m very interested in the new scene that’s happening in Rio and São Paulo at the moment, [such as] Tim Bernardes and Bala Desejo. And there are definitely some collabs coming this year that I can’t wait to share!
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