A MUSIC student at a York school is hoping her new song will inspire people to speak up and express their views, as well as give an organisation a cash boost.

Rachael Langtree, a sixth form pupil at Huntington School, has released her first single, called ‘Voiceless’, to raise money and awareness for Amnesty International, the world’s largest grassroots human rights organisation.

The 17-year-old, of York Road, Haxby, wrote, recorded and produced the song herself.

It comes after a group of Huntington students, under the supervision of teacher Robin Parmiter, set up a record label called Human Mic Records to raise awareness and funds for Amnesty International.

Rachael’s ‘Voiceless’ is the first single released by the label.

She said: “When researching stories on Amnesty International’s website, a lot of it was about having the freedom of speech and having a voice. I wanted to encourage people to speak up through this song and try to get the message of being strong with your views and opinions no matter what they are.

“When I was slightly younger, during mid-teens, I struggled to speak up for myself and often found other people or even myself stopping me from letting me have my say.

“But now things have taken a change for the better and I have so much more confidence, which led me to writing about it.”

Rachael says she has not set a fundraising target but wants to raise as much as possible.

She added: “I’m more bothered about the awareness made for Amnesty as it isn’t as well-known as expected.”

Mr Parmiter said: “Rachael is an incredibly hardworking, talented and humble artist. She is an amazing songwriter with a very bright future.”

The artwork for the single was designed by another Huntington student, Eleanor Mitchell.

Rachael is currently studying A-level music and music technology at Huntington School but is hoping to go to university to study a performance and production degree in September. She commented: “I think I’ve always wanted to be a singer-songwriter, but never had the confidence to make it my dream job as I never thought it was possible. With the response of this single, I have a lot more hope.” You can listen to Rachael’s song on Spotify. It can also be bought on iTunes, Google Play and Amazon.