Emmalee Rainbow celebrated her 21st birthday in Las Vegas, battling a cold. She commemorated this moment in her notes app, which turned into her newest single, “I’ve Had Some Wine.”
Rainbow, who is from Los Angeles, began her career in entertainment as a child actress, appearing in national commercials, films, and popular TV shows such as Modern Family and NCIS. Surprisingly enough, she is also a trained chef, appearing in Lifetime’s cooking competition show Man vs Child: Chef Showdown.
“It instilled work ethic within me,” Rainbow explained of her experiences. “I would be lying to not say that it set me up for success in entertainment. It introduced me to working with adults in a creative way, and I think I’m able to take direction really well because of my experience as a young performer and a young actor.”
At 13 years old, she started playing the drums and entered the world of local bands. Bleached and Best Coast from the Los Angeles scene became two of her favorites. Wanting to be like the women in these bands, such as Bethany Consentino, the singer of Best Coast, Rainbow taught herself how to play the guitar. Being from Los Angeles even further influenced Rainbow’s creative output in her music, film, television, and culinary skills.
“I’m inspired by LA every day,” she said. “There’s an energy here that’s inspiring and makes you want to make stuff. A lot of my work is based around not the superficial movie-making part of it, but on the hardworking people who live here.”
As a teenager, Rainbow wrote songs about herself, but now her writing changes due to the environment she finds herself in, such as seeing the hardworking people in Los Angeles, the mundane moments, and the connection with people in these environments.
U2’s ability to create an atmosphere, Lady Gaga’s versatility as not only a musician but as a performance artist, and Dave Matthew’s as her guilty pleasure serve as inspiration for Rainbow. This all came into play when she independently released her debut EP, Origin, in 2022. This, in and of itself, was a means to learn various lessons, which she applied to her upcoming EP.
“Don’t wait for perfection,” Rainbow emphasized. “If I had continued sitting on this record until I felt like it was perfect, it would never have come out because when you’re working independently, sometimes you have to be okay with the concept of being seen trying and being seen making mistakes.”
After her debut EP, she followed it with a live EP, Origin (Live at the Teragram Ballroom) in 2023. This EP was mixed by Nik Freitas, whom she credits for taking it to the next level. She recounted recently listening to this recording and even taking notes on how she would like to perform in the future, citing this point in her career as an era where she was all about pushing and energy.
“I’ve Had Some Wine” is the first release from her upcoming EP. It’s a confession of an intimate and aching experience that captures the tension between monotony and ambition of everyday life.
“I looked around at all my friends and family who came with me to Vegas for this big celebration,” she recalled of the moment. “I remember just not feeling physically well and feeling like I was wasting this amazing moment. I’ve had this through line throughout my life of feeling like I’m grieving something while I’m living it. And that really inspired the feeling for this song.”
According to Rainbow, this record was more of a collaborative effort than anything she has ever done. For her previous work, she played all the instruments except for drums. Working with other instrumentalists allowed her to take the leap of letting someone help her get her vision across. Although terrifying at first, it served as a rewarding experience for Rainbow, in her opinion.
“I’m not good at sitting down in a session and kind of just letting an idea form,” she admitted. “But it was really gratifying to connect with my friends, Ryan and Drew, and realize that they gain something from this experience as well. It’s not them doing a favor for me, it’s a relationship. I gained so much out of it, and I can’t wait to do it more.”
With her new EP, she feels she has hit a milestone in her career, a moment that, to her, has been in the making since releasing Origin from working independently to collaborating with other creative people who have helped her vision come to life.
“I think that this next record defines who I am as an artist in a way that I’ve been searching for my entire life,” she concluded. “I think I’ve finally found my niche and, more importantly, who I want to be singing to. And it’s not just a collection of songs about a particular relationship; it’s not just about a moment in time. It really captures what I feel is my life’s purpose.”
Photos courtesy of Emmalee Rainbow (featured image by Molly Jackson, second image by Jarred Graham) | Interviewed on January 15, 2026
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