Reagan Capaci: Las Vegas' Brightest Old Soul
Music has undeniable healing energy, and especially so when the artist creates with this specific intention. Whether you’re going through a breakup or a tough day, Reagan Capaci’s music is meant to brighten up the room and your mood. Her bubbly voice and soulful sound can deliver any message, sweet or sour, in a therapeutic manner. And at the very core of every track, the message is clear: she’s there for you whether you need a good cry, laugh, or jam to dance to.
Ever evolving and learning, the Vegas-based artist blends her early influences from Jazz with her unique mixture of pop and R&B to create soothing and feel-good tracks. Reagan spent 2020 on fire with consistent singles, visuals, and acoustic covers, all while cultivating her uniquely energetic sound. Her latest single, “Don’t Forget”, came out this past December as a promise to a friend that she would be there for them, no matter what. Reagan feeds off people’s energy and loves to create with others even if they are just sitting in for the experience.
After a consistent and impressive 2020, we got to catch up with Reagan over a video call to talk musical influences, using music to capture stories, and plans for 2021. Focused on creating more original content, Reagan Capaci is on a journey of discovering her sound and we are grateful to witness it.
Thanks for joining today, Reagan! How are you feeling entering the new year?
2020 I was just in that slum, I think a lot of people were. But 2021, I'm so excited to perform again hopefully, fingers crossed, just get more active in the music scene and just being around more creatives. Being over Zoom with creatives is still a blessing but it's just not the same, you know? So I'm super excited to get back into the flow of normalcy as much as possible.
For those just tuning in to your music, how would you describe you and your sound?
Good question! I am figuring this out, I think this is the best part of being an artist, is kinda figuring out what your sound is and hearing what people think my sound is really interesting. I would say I'm definitely in the pop realm but with a lot of modern r&b and vocal jazz tones. That's kind of where I would put my sound, in different genres I'd say, but my voice has a home in that jazz, feel-good space.
Can you tell us a bit about how you got into music? How did your hometown of Las Vegas play a role in this, if it did at all?
I was actually born in Hot Spring Arkansas, super weird, don't really tell many people that ‘cause it's just random. I think Vegas played the biggest role in my music because growing up we weren't allowed to listen to anything with drums in it. That was a really weird growing up thing I had in my life. In Vegas, I started a local jazz class and was like ‘ewww i love pop music I dont wanna sing jazz’ and then I fell in love with it. I got to watch it and I feel as though a lot of artists in the jazz realm really inspired a lot of my music and where I am today. Originally I started out with only doing jazz, only covering jazz, and I wouldn’t ever go out of that box but I was like no one listens to jazz and people need to appreciate it so I like to incorporate it in pop.
Your latest single, “Don’t Forget”, came out this December! Can you tell us a bit about the making of the song?
I really love this track also! I wrote this basically when Covid hit and I was like ‘I can't create, I've been in my room I’m stuck’ and this song weirdly got me through it. It was upbeat and I needed to write something that was happy to kind of get me out of it. Even though I dropped it in December, which is funny, it helped me so much as an artist. First of all, thank you so much for listening. I was with a friend when I wrote this song and they weren't telling me something that was going on, and I remember telling them ‘dude doesn't matter what you go through, you know I’m gonna be your best friend in the end.’ So I really wrote this song specifically for friendship, but that could be for a relationship, it could be for friendship, it could be with a grandparent. It wouldn't really matter, necessarily just a relationship in general. I'm super loyal, I’m Italian, so that's in our blood- we can't not be loyal. So this song is all about reminding that person that you're with them like, ‘hey if you're in the slums, if you're literally at the worst of your worst, I'm gonna be there for you. But don’t lie to me, I know you're going through it! Let's be honest with each other and don't forget that I'm always gonna be by your side!
A frequent collaborator of yours is Moflo Music and you guys have obvious chemistry! How did this connection come about and what’s it like collaborating with them?
He's amazing! The funniest thing about him is that I've never actually met him in real life. It's kinda weird because Covid didn't really affect our relationship that much, because we do everything online. I did a song with an artist named Bodie, who is based out of Phoenix and is now in Cali, I did a song with him called “Lovin You,” and Moflo was on that track. I really loved our chemistry and he hit me up and was like ‘aye let’s work’ and I was like ‘I’m down!’ He was really awesome like I was a broke college student at the time you know so I was like “Hey, I have a snowball 50 dollar mic can we work with that?” And he's like “Easy!” And So we still do the same thing: we record everything on a snowball mic, USB to my computer. He’s an incredible producer and engineer. We do everything over email and text and then like recently in the past year I facetimed him because I was like “I wonder what you look like!” But yeah our chem is definitely there, he works with me very well even though I give him like I need this this this and I don't make any sense but he knows exactly what I want.
There are moments while listening to your music where I want to cry, others I wanna get up and dance, and others where I feel on top of the world. What inspires your creative process?
I think the biggest thing is, I'm extremely extroverted, and the biggest thing with my creative process is I feed off people. I write better when someone’s just in the room with me. They're not even participating with me, they're just sitting there, and creatively, that's where I get my energy from. Originally, when I first started writing music, that creative process was mainly to tell people's stories that don't get to be told. And that's where I started writing music. When I wrote my EP, all that had to do with kids in the foster care system, This Isn't About You, all those songs are other people’s stories that I basically interpreted and put into song form. So these stories that weren't able to be on a higher platform were able to be now. The biggest creative process comes from telling other people's stories and gifting it to them. Like saying ‘hey look I listened to you- I'm such an empath-I hear you, I wrote you a song.’ This can help get that crying out. A lot of my friends don't have a lot of emotions and so it's hard for them sometimes to express that so maybe a song would help them or maybe they're going through a hard time and need to dance it off, and maybe laugh or whatever it may be!
Your voice really lends itself to a variety of sounds and genres. Who are some of your musical influences?
At my local jazz class I was introduced to a lot of artists and that's where I get a lot of my inspiration from. Ella Fitzgerald is my absolute number one, I think she is the goat. I love Billie Holiday! When I first heard her voice it was almost like ‘do I like this voice?’ That's how beautifully unique it was. Older artists are some of my hugest inspirations. More modern, Ari Lennox, I love her sound; she does a great job with creating this funky vibe to all of her music. Really mainstream would be H.E.R. She does an amazing job with doing a trap song, doing an acoustic set, doing a ballad, whatever it may be you still hear her voice coming out of every song and that's huge for me. I want to be able to do different genres but everyone knows ‘that's Reagan’s voice.’
I remember seeing a cover of yours on TikTok and really love all of the ones you do on there. How has the transition to virtual life been when it comes to connecting people with your music?
Definitely been a challenge for sure but I think it's been more of a fun creative challenge to kind of push myself to connect with people in a different space. It’s been fun, TikTok has been such a fun journey. I feel like I'm slowly starting to get more into it. It’s been interesting but with covers, it's been cool to hear people say “I wanna hear you cover this song because you remind me of this artist.” That's been a really cool thing that I don't think I would’ve connected with [prior].
You’ve been on fire all of 2020 from singles to covers to visuals, what can we look forward to from you this year?
I definitely wanna keep doing singles and more music videos, for sure! Sadly we weren't able to drop a ton because of Covid but we have more in the works and definitely excited to drop more original stuff.