When Rachel Reinert decided to pursue a solo career after eight years of being a part of country group Gloriana, she knew she wanted to return to a sound she'd identified with for over a decade -- a sound she refers to as "California country," which takes broad influence from a variety of genres while keeping a classic country heart. Reinert says that for her solo debut, "Cool," she was inspired by "everything that came out of the '70s era -- Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles, Neil Young -- all of that."

In terms of subject matter, however, "Cool" is deeply personal. Read on to learn the true story behind Reinert's latest release. 

It's a true story; it really is about my first love. I wrote it with Davis Naish and Melissa Fuller, and every time we go in to write together, it's like, "Hey, I wanna write a song about this particular situation in my life." Every song has been very personal, and every song has been kind of about what's in my mind at the moment.

I wanted to write a song about my first love, and what made it special and different, which is the process [that person and I] went through over the span of several years. Being that it was my first love, it was this amazing and exciting thing, but then it turned out we were on different pages in life, and we went through this messy breakup. It turned into hating each other, and then over the years, we were forced to become friends, because he was and still is good friends with my brother, so now we see each other around once or twice a year.

I have a very difficult time being friends with exes and being cool with them. This was a unique situation, where I was pretty proud of the fact that we went from intense love to intense hate to being pretty good friends. It's about the emotional evolution that you go through with age, and it's also about realizing that those experiences stick with you and make you who you are today.

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