Ms. Rachel is taking the songs off the screen and onto your speakers this September. The album features 23 songs, 19 vocalists, 42 instrumentalists and one very familiar voice. It arrives Sept. 25.
Toddlers have spent years watching her sing on a screen, and this fall she wants to bring the songs somewhere else. Her husband worked on the project alongside a Grammy winner and several dozen musicians. Parents may want to clear some floor space in the living room.
Ms. Rachel and Aron Accurso call music a wonderful parent-child bonding tool
Ms. Rachel turned her YouTube channel into a hit with toddlers and their parents. Now, she has plans for the family stereo. The beloved Ms. Rachel debut album arrives Sept. 25 under the title “I’m So Happy,” a 23-track collection she made with her husband, Aron Accurso.
Rachel Griffin Accurso, who performs as Ms. Rachel, framed the record around what happens between a parent and a child.
“Music is such a wonderful way for people to bond, for parents to bond. I know from the minute my kids were born, we’re singing to them,” Ms. Rachel said.
The two started the channel together in 2019, and viewers online call him “Mr. Aron.” As a music educator, she said that background shaped what listeners hear on the Ms. Rachel I’m So Happy album.
“I am a music educator, so I get excited about kids hearing a real clarinet on ‘Icky Sticky Bubble Gum’ and kids getting excited about hearing more real instruments,” said Ms. Rachel.
Meanwhile, styles shift from track to track on the 23-track children’s album. The single “I Love a Rainbow” rides a bossa nova rhythm, while “Old McDonald” turns bluegrass. “I Could Be Your Friend” also doubles as a social skills lesson.
“We’re always thinking about all kinds of kids, whether they have disabilities, whether they’re autistic,” she said. “We just want the world to feel like it’s helpful to all children and the musical worlds as well.”
Both YouTubers wanted the songs to reach families away from the channel.
“Music is at the heart of our show,” added Aron Accurso. “And so, we’ve always wanted to release the music and have families experience the music away from the screen.”
Aron Accurso produced the record with Grammy winner Scott Riesett and led the arrangements himself, backed by 19 vocalists and 42 instrumentalists.
“It’s songs that people know from the show, but we decided to expand them and elevate them with new arrangements and reproducing them,” Aron Accurso explained.
Above all, the couple hopes the album inspires “living room dance parties, because that’s what we love with our children,” he said. “We love to put on an album and dance around.”
WILL THIS ALBUM BE ON REPEAT IN YOUR HOUSE, OR ARE YOU ALREADY HIDING THE SPEAKER? TELL US BELOW.
