Rachel Chinouriri reflects on overcoming severe performance anxiety as her career gathers momentum, following a period in which she felt intense pressure to prove herself in the music industry. The Croydon singer-songwriter says early experiences of panic and embarrassment taught her that the worst outcomes she feared rarely happened, helping her become more secure in herself and her work.

Now 27, Chinouriri has won her first award, best new music at the O2 Silver Clef awards, after previous nominations at the Brit Awards and Ivor Novellos. She recently supported Wolf Alice before a crowd of 45,000 in Finsbury Park, adding to support slots with artists including Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo, Gracie Abrams and Florence + the Machine; the article also notes her childhood experience of racist bullying and later pigeonholing as an artist.