Reagan Capaci is not at all "Bad 4 U"

There's something truly unique about Reagan Capaci (“cuh-pay-see”). She exists in the liminal space between musical genres like many of her contemporaries do nowadays, but there's an unequivocal Jazz flavor to her music that also sets her apart from so many others, it's almost like an evolution of jazz set some 30-40 years in the future that we're somehow privy to right now due to some extremely lucky set of circumstances. So if I had to quickly define Reagan's "Bad 4 U" I would simply call it very forward-thinking.

Reagan's vocals are very peculiar, they're very soft and childlike, but with a nice smokey raspiness present near the very end of each word. She sounds like if Billie Holiday was a modern-day dream-pop songstress, a very unique vocal character that pairs off incredibly well with the neo-R&B/Jazz/Darkpop cocktail that she proposes.

Reagan's uniqueness has drawn quite a lot of people to her corner since her 2020 debut, such as when she opened for Doja Cat in Phoenix Arizona, or when her previous release (ironically named "Don't recommend") was discovered and shared by T-Pain during one of his twitch.tv live streams. In 2021, Capaci won the 2021 ASCAP Foundation Harold Adamson Lyric Award in the pop category. All of this seems to be lining up to what's most surely going to be an incredibly successful EP set to be released sometime this coming fall, something that will surely favor her deep, jazzy, down-tempo sound massively as far as mood goes.

The rise of Reagan Capaci seems a bit meteoric but entirely deserved once you take stock of the refinement she shows in her musical catalog. There are no false steps, no "odd duck" tracks that feel exploratory, and there's this distinct feeling like she knows exactly what she wants to do and what she's all about from day one, that's not to say that she "has it all figured out" or that she has no room for growth and experimentation, rather it just means the music we're hearing is of someone who's already found their musical center. We're talking sophomore-album quality and experience here for someone who's yet to put out a debut EP even.

None of this came easy, in fact, the story behind Reagan's foray into music comes off almost as unlikely: It all started through a strict religious upbringing under an Independent Fundamental Baptist Church where the only music allowed was religious hymns devoid of any drums. After her family moved away from this "cult-like" environment to Las Vegas, the culture shock from this cosmopolis eventually broke down some barriers in Reagan. Shortly thereafter she enlisted in a performing arts school, where a fateful Jazz Program opened her eyes to a world of endless possibilities. The rest is history in the making.

MEET THE AUTHOR

Samuel Aponte is Venezuelan-born raised and based. 

I joined Rival Magazine after a few years of doing PR work for independent musicians of all stripes; understanding their struggles to be heard in a sea of constant  ADHD noise and paywalled access to platforms, I now bring a willingness to always appreciate and encourage the effort and creativity that artists put into their work . Can also find some of my writings on LADYGUNN and We Found New Music.