Indie multi-hyphenate singer-songwriter Rivkah Reyes is stepping into a powerful new chapter with her new EP, Fan Favorite. The EP is a six bubbly, grungy, unapologetically raw and honest tracks that are an outpouring of Reyes’ soul and a strong reintroduction to her longstanding talent. Atlas spoke with Reyes about the new music, her creative process and live show hopes and dreams. Check out our chat and listen to Fan Favorite, out now!
Atlas Artist Group: The new EP is fantastic- congratulations! Listening to it, I was hearing these songs in indie movies or classic rom-coms- is that what you were going for when making it?
Rivkah Reyes: I’m often going for a little more like back then in 13 Going On 30 territory. A little Liz Phair, a little rom-com montage- the protagonist girl is walking in the rain and she’s really in her feels. I’m trying to write main character music.
Atlas: You’ve been making music for a good while now and this is such a large part of your life. When you first started, how did you decide what sound you were going to pursue and the direction for your musical journey?
Reyes: I’m a big fan of grunge, but I don’t have a grunge voice. I love nasty guitars and drums and just filling the room with just so much guitar and I love to sing like a pop star. So I just wanted to blend those two worlds and do this kind of like bubbly bratty grunge pop. I think I’ve achieved it [and]I think the more I write too, the more I find my voice as a singer-songwriter.
Atlas: From where you started to where you are now, how would you describe your music now as opposed to what you might have said at the beginning?
Reyes: I’ve written songs forever- the first song I have actual recollection of writing was definitely about healing the world when I was in like third grade. It was very “We Are the World”, world peace vibes- very, very pageant-y.
Then I was in bands in high school and the songs I was writing then were very emo. Paramore was a big influence for me as well as Evanescence and No Doubt- pre-solo career Gwen Stefani, very into that. I then pivoted pretty hard into acting and did a lot of musicals so I definitely have this storytelling thing going on for me where I want to let the listener in on exactly where I was when the situation that inspired the song was happening.
I like to be detailed and specific in my lyricism- almost to a point where I’ve been given feedback from some of my collaborators that it might be too specific and the listener might not be able to relate. Yeah, maybe not everybody who goes and fucks their ex is wearing a red bikini and drinking blue Gatorade at the time, but they get it, you know? It’s about energy.
Atlas: Can you tell us about how the EP came together? Do you focus on lyrics first and then melody or vice versa?
Reyes: I have always been lyrics first, but with this EP, my collaborator Constantine Anastasakis, who was my co-producer on this- with some of the songs, they just came from me sending him a vibe. I maybe want to do one that’s kind of like “Crimson and Clover” by Joan Jett, but also a little bit like Olivia Rodrigo, you know?
He built me this track that’s just no lyrics- just guitar, drums, bass, some synth, a little production on it, just like a bare bones demo. Then I sit and I open my voice memos and I just hum and sometimes lyrics come from that. Then I go to my notes app in my phone and see what was going on- what I was writing about, any poetry or lyrics that I had written that I’m like, there’s a place in this track that works. In the studio, we noodle around and then six hours later, a song is born. That was the process for some of the songs on the EP, just looping things over and over and singing things over and over till we got the perfect melody, till we got the perfect lyric.
Atlas: Have there been any moments where a song just appeared to you quickly or has your process been lengthier?
Reyes: It’s a blend of both. I find that like once the track is looping, that’s when the brain starts working and I start to get into that process, that flow state where it just happens and then the song just kind of falls out of me.
Sometimes it’s a more lengthy process. Sometimes it’s a more complicated thing that I’m going through and I’m like, how do I convey that without sounding so desperate or how do I say this yearning feeling without giving away that I’m yearning because I want to play it cool. It’s also heavily about the emotion behind the song- I love my process.
Atlas: Is there a particular song on this EP that really speaks to you more than the others or one that you find yourself connecting with more? What do you hope that your listeners will take away from the new music?
Reyes: I love all of my songs [and] I feel very strongly about all six that are on the EP. I have so many things to say about all of them, but I have to talk about “Loopholes”. That was the last song that we made. It was going to be just five, but then “Loopholes” came to me and I was like, I need one more song and it needs to be this. I think it sticks out a little from the others because it was a couple months after we recorded the first five songs, but also it was happening to me in the moment- the story behind that song. It was another case in which I had written probably 20 percent of the lyrics of that song and other things were just little things that I was thinking about tweeting or things that I had just thought. I just think that it came from such a primal place, but I also wanted it to be like a Hilary Duff song and it was in a way where I was like, wow, this really defines me. I think as a songwriter, as a lyricist and as a composer- and Constantine and I put our whole souls into this EP- but “Loopholes” was the victory lap where we were like this ties it all together.
Then I’ll also say “Debt Collector”. It’s a song that when I listen to it back, I’m like, I feel like this has been my favorite song for my whole life. I feel like I’ve known this song since childhood, it just happens to have been written in 2025. Another one where the events that inspired the song had just happened and I was so heartbroken and the song just happened. It just poured out of us and on the plane ride home from recording the EP, I listened to that one on repeat and I was just bawling. I got such a beautiful piece of art out of it that it was all so worth it.
Atlas: What else is coming up after the EP release?
Reyes: I have three shows in November for the release of the EP. There’s one in New York, one in LA and one in Chicago, which are the three cities that I’ve lived in my whole life and they’re all going to be super fun. I have friends opening for me that I’m really excited about. I’m calling it the Homecoming Tour and I’m going to spend Thanksgiving with my family and then I am writing EP two. I’m writing the second half of this. Initially, I had wanted to do a bigger, longer album and then I just thought my first project should be more of a snapshot of what it’s going to be.
This one is a little more on the poppy side and then the second one I think is going to lean more into the grungy, rocky side and I’m excited about that. We’ve already got a track and a half done and I can’t share much much more but I would love to tour. I would love a full band tour situation with headlining artists that you know that I love.
I have a lot of friends that are musicians and they’re all gearing up for their tours and I’m like just think of me- I’d love to do an East Coast leg of a tour with Annie DeRusso or The Beaches or Olivia Rodrigo and just continue to travel and bring my music all over the world, which is what I’ve wanted to do since I was a little kid. We’re just making little Rivkah happy with all of this.
Atlas: Is there anything else that you want people to know about you or your music or is there anything that you wish you got to talk about more that people might not ask you?
Reyes: What I can honestly say is I’ve been at this for a long time. I’ve been a musician since I was four years old and I’m really, finally at 34 finding my voice, my genre, my essence, my brand if I could say that word and it’s taken this long because that is how long it takes for a person to realize who they are. I spent a lot of time hiding and not wanting to release bad stuff and then just not releasing anything at all and so I’m excited that I get to share it with everybody.
Fuck AI. I don’t use it. It’s just so pointless. It’s the worst. I could come up with 40 better ideas than a computer can.
I just write my own stuff and pour all of my savings into my art and don’t expect anything to come back but it would be awesome if it did. I’m just having fun making it. I’m just really proud of myself. I’m really proud of my work and I hope that other people are too and yeah- Katie is the bassist no more.
Stream Fan Favorite, out now!
Photo credit: Shelly Guidera
