Rachel Leo returns with a moody, sultry pop anthem, ‘Nightfall’
London-based New Zealand artist, Rachel Leo, releases her new single, Nightfall today, July 4, produced by Joel Jones (Will Swinton, Balu Brigada, alayna) and mixed by Liam Quinn (Keith Urban, Peach PRC, Ruel). Sultry and energised, this track is reminiscent of artists like Tate McRae, 2010 Ariana Grande and Nessa Barrett. Capturing the essence of the tension that grows while anticipating seeing someone you have intense chemistry with, Nightfall was inspired by a forbidden relationship in the viral book series, ACOTAR. The single will be accompanied by a music video directed by award-winning cinematographer, Mason Bennett (BENEE, SACHI, Fazerdaze) and is supported by NZ On Air music funding.
With 1.8M streams, 2.5M TikTok song views, placements on 22+ curated Apple, Spotify and YouTube playlists, airplay on BBC Radio 1, ZM and The Edge, consistent appearances on the NZ music charts, features in major media outlets (Rolling Stone ANZ, NZ Woman’s Day, TVNZ Breakfast, MTV, and The Project), and a following of 17,000 across socials, this 4-time recipient of NZ On Air funding has firm support from the industry. Cutting her teeth during her Popular Music university degree and performing in front of 250,000 at Coca Cola Christmas in the Park while only 19, Rachel has gone on to secure slots at NZ’s largest festivals.
Alongside collaborating with Australasian pop legends including Liam Quinn (Peach PRC, Rita Ora), Alex Wildwood (The Veronicas, Broods), Joseph Corban-Banks (Foley, LA Women) and Drax Project for her own project, Leo enjoys writing for other artists and genres, most notably for Lee Mvtthews on their track Dice which has over 1,200,000 streams.
Written with producer Joel Jones at Parachute Studios and recorded at Joel Little’s (Taylor Swift, Niall Horan, Khalid) studio, Big Fan, Leo knew she wanted to write something that captured the essence of 2010s pop anthems. “I had recently made a playlist of hot, moody classics like Buttons – The Pussycat Dolls, Into You – Ariana Grande, She Will – Lil Wayne + Drake as well as Tate McRae’s new album, and all of those tracks became sonic ingredients for Nightfall.” Drawing inspiration from a TikTok-viral book she brought to the studio (A Court of Mist and Fury from the ACOTAR series), Nightfall explores forbidden chemistry and the feeling of painful anticipation of seeing that certain somebody. “I was reading the second book in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series (IYKYK), and was obsessed with the rich and detailed world Sarah J. Maas created and the enemies-to-lovers storyline that took painfully long to eventuate. I wanted to capture that tension and heat.”
Nightfall follows the successful release of her last single Good God! which secured features on 5 editorial Spotify playlists, placement in TikTok’s in-app playlists, radio rotation on ZM, a feature on Rolling Stone ANZ and was selected by Air New Zealand to play on their flights.
Outside of music, you may recognise Rachel from her work in the TV industry as an interviewer and digital producer, most notably for her coverage of the 2024 TikTok awards from which her interviews reached 10,000,000 views thanks to her viral chats with JoJo Siwa and Rob Irwin, as well as her recent interview with Miriam Margolyes (Harry Potter). Generating almost 200 million video views while creating content for Warner Bros. Discovery and Sky, Rachel’s humour and eye for virality places her well to continue building her strong international audience.
