Potter began her career as a recording artist at age 16 when she was signed to
contemporary Christian label Narrow Door Records. Potter performed on
CBS New York singing "Hold On To Me". Potter began performing a series of concerts at Joe's Pub to promote
Live the Dream, she performed with Constantine Maroulis, Ricky Martin, Elena Roger, Michael Cerveris, The Vanity Belles, and The Country Band. Potter's single 'The Verdict' was nominated for Best Country Song in the Independent Music Awards, despite not having been officially released at the time. Potter was featured in mashup of
Taylor Swift's "
I Knew You Were Trouble" and
Justin Bieber's "As Long As You Love Me" by VoicePlay, an Orlando-based 5-member a cappella group as well as VoicePlay's cover of "
Chandelier" and "
The Phantom of the Opera". In 2014, Potter launched a crowdfunded campaign using Pledge Music to fund her most recent album,
Not So Black and White. She released the first single, "Boomerang," a duet with Anthem Lights member Joey Stamper, in October 2014. The full album was released on March 3, 2015. CMT featured her music videos for "Boomerang" and "Tail Lights" on their CMT Pure Channel in the "New Artist Spotlight". Continuing her work with Disney, Potter sang the theme song "
Journey to Fantasy Springs" for the opening of
Fantasy Springs, the 8th themed port at
Tokyo DisneySea, in 2024.
The X Factor In 2013 Potter auditioned for the
third season of
The X Factor with "
Somebody to Love". Potter advanced to the top 40 acts in The X Factor's 'Over 25s' category, mentored by
Kelly Rowland. Potter sang "
Irreplaceable" and was placed in chair 4. Since she was not switched out, she made the top four of "Over 25s" category along with
Lillie McCloud, Jeff Gutt and James Kenney. During the first live results show, on October 29, Potter sang "
I Hope You Dance" receiving positive reviews; Kelly described Rachel as a "powerhouse and a delight", Paulina says Rachel has a "beautiful tone" and is original, describing the performance as brilliant from beginning to end and Simon said the song choice was perfect and she was even better than Lillie. She was the first to be chosen to be in the final three along with Jeff Gutt and Lillie McCloud. During week two, Potter sang "
This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)" which received mixed reviews. Demi Lovato praised her energy, while
Simon Cowell criticized aspects of the performance. Due to graphics errors in which incorrect voting numbers were displayed on screen during the performance recap, there was no elimination that week; instead all the acts performed their "Save Me" songs on Thursday night and a public re-vote was conducted after the show. Potter sang "
Anyway" by
Martina McBride. During week 3, Potter sang "
Alone" by
Heart, gaining positive reviews. Potter fell to the bottom two alongside Khaya Cohen, where she was eliminated after only Rowland voted against Cohen. However, Potter received more votes than Cohen meaning if the result went to deadlock, Potter would've been saved. '
Performances on The X Factor''''' Rachel performed the following songs on
The X Factor: ==Artistry==