Rachel Platten

With the release of her stirring 2015 adult contemporary power ballad “Fight Song,” Rachel Platten achieved sudden international breakthrough. The track climbed into the Top Ten across multiple countries and was adopted as Hillary Clinton’s campaign anthem throughout 2016. Although the song’s anthemic tone echoed Sara Bareilles’ “Brave” and Katy Perry’s “Roar,” later projects demonstrated that Platten’s range extended well beyond inspirational ballads. Her 2016 album Wildfire and its 2017 follow-up Waves both highlighted her ease with rousing pop and various dance-pop textures. She maintained an active touring schedule and, after publishing a children’s book in early 2020, issued the standalone single “Soldiers.”

Platten began piano lessons at age four and started composing songs during college. After earning a degree in international relations from Trinity College in 2003, she independently released the R&B album Trust in Me. The following year she secured a record-label internship in Trinidad, where she provided backing vocals for a band that performed before large Caribbean audiences. Convinced that music should be her profession, she relocated to New York City in 2006.

In the ensuing years she prepared her second album while accepting any available tour slot, including opening slots for the Strokes, Regina Spektor, Rusted Root, and Ziggy Marley. Licensing placements for commercials and television gradually followed, and her song “Seven Weeks” was featured in the 2009 romantic comedy The Good Guy. The resulting album, Be Here, appeared on Rock Ridge Music in spring 2011 and contained collaborations with Fredrik Thomander (*NSYNC), the Wizards of Oz (Avril Lavigne), and Jerry Abbott and Grant Black (Julian Velard). Its single “1,000 Ships” reached number 24 on Billboard’s Adult Pop Songs chart, prompting intermittent touring over the next two years.

During this period the ABC Family series Jane by Design (2011–2012) adopted “Work of Art” as its theme song, and additional Platten tracks surfaced on Pretty Little Liars. She co-wrote “Smile” with Dave Bassett and Christopher Umana (aka C4) for the 2014 film Annie. Early the next year she announced her signing with Columbia Records. After supporting Andy Grammer alongside Alex & Sierra in spring 2015, she issued the four-track Fight Song EP in May, allowing the empowering title track to become a Top Ten summer hit in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand.

Produced by Jon Levine (Melissa Etheridge, Selena Gomez), her third studio album Wildfire arrived at the start of 2016 and featured the established hit alongside the follow-up single “Stand by You” and “Hey Hey Hallelujah,” which included a guest appearance by Grammer. In summer 2017 Platten unveiled “Broken Glass,” the lead single from her second major-label album Waves; the track peaked at number 17 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart, and Waves itself debuted at number 73 upon its October release.

She released the non-album single “You Belong” in 2018. Her next Billboard chart entry arrived the following year as a featured vocalist on Tritonal’s “Little Bit of Love,” which reached number 16. Early in 2020 she published the children’s book You Belong, sharing its title with her 2018 single. Later that year she returned with the solo single “Soldiers.”