RAEGAN, the 23-year-old pop artist—singer, songwriter, producer, actor, dancer, and evidently a one-woman production company—has officially released RAEGAN CORE, the follow-up to her breakout EP FUCK RAEGAN and the project that finally gives her sprawling, glitter-drenched universe a name. Following her viral, millions-liked TikTok debut "TIM BURTON," which cast her as a gothic anti-heroine before most listeners knew her actual name, RAEGAN has spent the time since building out a fuller mythology. RAEGAN CORE is the result: part Broadway, part pop spectacle, part group therapy session.
Ask her where it came from and she doesn't hesitate. "RAEGAN CORE is what I call the world that I live in," she says. "It's a world of camp and whimsy for all the theatre kids, drama queens, cry babies, and queer people to live their truth." It's a mission statement dressed up as a genre—and by her own account, it's less a persona than an excavation. "It is my inner child speaking through me and connecting with who I am now."
That kind of clarity, she says, didn't come free. "The biggest challenge was the personal growth journey that led me here," RAEGAN explains. "Once I reflected on who I am and who I want to be, the creative process was easy." Which tracks with someone who treats every song like a scene in her own one-woman show—you don't get to the performance without doing the work backstage first.
The studio process itself was, in her words, built on "a lot of late nights and a lot of collaboration with incredible musicians." But the moment that stuck with her wasn't a triumphant one, it was a teary one. Recording the string session for "CRYING IS A GIRL'S BEST FRIEND," RAEGAN found herself in tears. "I had such a moment of appreciation for my craft in that moment," she says, "and felt so lucky to follow my dreams." Even her breakdowns, apparently, come with production value.
If there's a thesis running underneath all the theatrical flourish, it's this: everyone who's ever been told they were too much of something now has permission to be exactly that. "I want everyone who felt like they were too much, or too loud, or too emotional, too anything to realize that's their strength," she says. "I'm excited for people to hear this and feel confident in who they are."
Her personal favorite off the record right now is "IT'S SO HARD TO BE ME." And her closing thought doubles as something like a brand philosophy: "Whoever you are is your 'core.' Everyone can choose to be unapologetically themselves and embrace their identity. And it's really fun and freeing hehehe."
The theatrics aren't confined to the studio, either. RAEGAN designs her own visuals and stage concepts, has toured across the U.S., U.K., and Europe, and has made her way onto NYFW runways in collaborations with emerging designers. Her reach extends past music entirely at this point—her collaboration with Step To The Mike alone has racked up more than 19.5 million views across platforms, a number that suggests the "cult following" descriptor might already be underselling things.
Next up: a headline tour hitting Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York this month and early October, where RAEGAN says she's looking forward to meeting her fans—known as Ribbons—in person. "I am so excited to connect with my supporters... and give them a show."
Knowing her, that's not a threat. It's a promise.
RAEGAN CORE is out now, enjoy.
