Remy Reilly Helps Herself at Half Price Books

Remy Reilly has her last big breakup on her mind as she sits on the floor of the self-help section at Half Price Books.

“One of the main factors of the breakup was how bad my anxiety was,” Reilly says confessionally. “And I was like, ‘Wow. It’s me. It’s my mental health.’”

The pop singer-songwriter broke out at the age of 14 in 2018. She's been a fixture of the Dallas music scene ever since, and we've listened to her come of age in songs such as "Virus" and "Avalanche." In 2020, inspired by a friend, she dove into the subject of domestic abuse through music. Now 20, she's entering a phase of both artistic and personal exploration.

After her breakup, Reilly spent weeks perusing the “stress and anxiety” shelf where she now sits. Running her fingers across the spines and rattling off her personal recommendations (including Don’t Fucking Panic by Kelsey Darragh), she excitedly grabs a workbook off the shelf.

“Look at this,” she says. “Take Time For You: A Book to Inspire Happy, Healthy, Stress-Free Living for Women. There you go. I totally would have picked this up in my ‘moment of grief’ era.”

Reilly’s laying it all out there for us, but it’s not because we’re special. Her upcoming song, appropriately named “Half Price Books,” is a raw account of this time in her life and will be available to the entire world on Aug. 30. She’s also creating a lyric book and music video to go with the song. She's hoping to book a release show inside of a bookstore.

A real encounter with an employee at the Dallas-based chain was the inspiration for the song.

“I thought the best thing to do was just ask one of the workers if they could help me find a book that could fix me,” she says. “I asked this lady — well, I basically ranted to her. Told her the whole story. Gave away too much information she didn’t want to know. I just embarrassed myself, and she had no words for me.”

According to Reilly, the person who's shopping for books is a completely different version of herself than the one who spilled her guts to a Half Price Books employee. The song is meant to dispense the wisdom she gleaned from all of those self-help books and the years she’s spent overcoming anxiety — in four and a half minutes.

After browsing the entire self-help section and opening up about anxiety and heartbreak, she seems fixed enough to peruse the rest of the store.

“I actually am a big reader, but I never find the time to do so because of shows and stuff,” Reilly says as she walks up and down the aisles. “But when I do read …” She cuts herself off. “This is not going to be a shocker, but my favorite section is actually over here.”

She leads us to a shelf marked “Musician Autobiography.”

“If I were to walk in here today, this would be the first place I would come to,” she says. “I really like true stories, especially when it has to do with the actual business I’m in. Not only do I learn from it, but it gives me a good laugh when I relate.”

She recently read Lol Tolhurst’s Cured: The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys, and is currently working on The Singers Talk by Jason Thomas Gordon.

As she wanders over to the history aisle (to recreate a lyric in her song about walking through the history aisle), she breaks down her particular fiction preferences.

“I will buy a book because I like the art on it,” she says. “I’ve read some pretty messed up books that I found that way. I’m also not really into romance books.”

One fiction title she recommends is The Midnight Library, which she found cathartic as someone who struggles with anxiety.

“It’s about this girl who goes through a library and each book is about a different way her life would've turned out,” she says. "I was reading and I was like, ‘Whoa.’ But in the best way.”

As she reaches the history section, she has a confession about that lyric.

“It’s not something I ever actually do,” she says about the line about walking down the history aisle. “I only put that in the song because it rhymed.”

At this point, she spots a display of true crime books. Turns out she’s a big history reader after all. She points out a book called Talking to Psychopaths and Savages as something she’d be into.

“I think this kind of research is critical,” she says. “That’s how you not only find the killer, but keep this stuff under control.”
We recommend checking out the records next, but Reilly prefers CDs. They’re nostalgic for her.

“Usually, the first section I go to is the rap section,” she says. “My mom raised me on it. She’s big into that, and my dad’s a metalhead. But my favorite of all time is indie music.”

The first thing that grabs her eye is a Remy Zero CD. She rolls her eyes.

“Everyone thinks I’m named after this band,” she says. “I’m not. It’s funnier because my brother’s name is Tate and that’s the lead singer’s name."

The DVD section is right next to the CDs, so the conversation begins to drift in that direction. Reilly’s all-time favorite movie is La La Land, but she also relates to Whiplash, another Damien Chazelle film.

“As a musician, I understood him when he was dating that woman and was like, ‘I don’t have the time,’” she says, referring to a widely discussed breakup scene in the movie. “That’s how I am when I’m dating someone. I’m like, ‘Look, man, you’re dating a musician.’”

She’s also a fan of Studio Ghibli movies, citing My Neighbor Totoro as her favorite.

“Even though there’s not much of a storyline, I relate to it,” she says. “One day, I was watching Totoro and I started crying. I was wondering to myself, ‘Why am I crying over this children’s movie?’ And then I thought about it deeper. Mei and her sister? Their mom is sick throughout the movie, and there’s a scene where she doesn’t understand why her mom can’t get better. And I grew up with a sick brother and I never understood why he was sick. It struck a nerve.”

At a nearby table, Reilly begins to reflect on what’s next in her career.

“I’m kind of in the middle of a rebrand,” she says. “I started my music career here in Dallas when I was 14. I was a child. Quite literally a minor. I wasn’t there to make money. I was there to show up and play and meet other musicians and have a great time.

“I’m only 20, about to be 21, and I still have that vibe to myself,” she continues. “But I’m an adult and it’s like, ‘Oh, I have to survive and do this as my job.’”

As part of her effort to tighten up her sound, Reilly is now studying audio engineering at Collin College.

“I’m gonna start making my own music and having more say in what goes on in the production of my music,” she says. “I think it’s going to change a bit and that’s perfectly fine. People evolve. Artistry evolves.”

Songs such as “Half Price Books” and another upcoming single called “Dirty Work,” which touches on fear of intimacy, represent this growth and tackle subjects she would never have been able to approach as a kid. To Reilly, “Half Price Books” is bigger than one song. It represents a new chapter in her life and career.

“I think it’s cool because I’m kind of taking people on this journey with me,” she says. “Seeing how I was then and now.”