FEATURE:
Her 21st Century High
about RAYE last year. That came at a time when there was talk of a much-anticipated debut album. Now we know there is one – more on that later -, I wanted to write about her once more. I think that this year is going to be one where RAYE rules and releases one of the most important debut albums of the last couple of decades. Recently, RAYE celebrated getting her first number one single with Escapism:
“Pop star Raye has claimed her first number one single, 18 months after splitting from the record label that refused to release her debut album.
The five-time Brit nominee has topped the chart with the hard-hitting, drink-the-pain-away club anthem Escapism
"As someone who writes for a living, I have no words," she told the BBC on Friday. "I've been crying all day."
"It just shows that you should back yourself, no matter what people tell you."
She added: "And we've done it independently - that's just crazy.
Escapism had already been riding high in the charts, but was held off the number one spot by a succession of Christmas songs over the festive period.
As those tracks dropped away this week, Escapism rose to the top with 5.6 million streams, the Official Charts Company said.
Raye had previously reached number three in the UK Singles Chart twice, first as a guest vocalist on Jax Jones's You Don't Know Me in 2016, then on last year's Joel Corry and David Guetta collaboration Bed.
No. 1 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/Ome4f9VxSc
— RAYE (@raye) January 6, 2023
But after her solo material failed to reach the same heights, she publicly parted ways with record label Polydor in 2021, saying she was being treated as a "rent-a-vocal" dance artist.
"Imagine this pain," she wrote in an open letter in June 2021. "I have been signed to a major label since 2014… and I have had albums on albums of music sat in folders collecting dust, songs I am now giving away to A-list artists because I am still awaiting confirmation that I am good enough to release an album.
"I've done everything [Polydor] asked me, I switched genres, I worked seven days a week. I'm done being a polite pop star."
Vindication came with the release of Escapism late last year. A juddering, powerful song about dulling the pain of a break-up with a night of hedonism, it went viral on TikTok before crossing into the mainstream charts.
"The crazy thing is, you can see the statistics," she said. "One in two people who heard the song on TikTok went and added it [to their library] on a streaming platform.
"Substance abuse isn't a pretty subject for a woman to express so boldly, but maybe it was important to be so visceral because there are clearly a lot of heartbroken people out there, blowing off steam in the wrong way."
The singer, who previously came third in the BBC Sound Of 2017, admitted the song's unusual structure and shifting tempos made it an unlikely hit.
Major labels who heard the song after her split from Polydor were sceptical about it's chances.
"I was reluctant to ever get involved with a major again, but I took some meetings just in case," she said. "And the people who heard the song were like, 'Yeah, this is cool [but] it's just something Raye needs to get out of her system'.
"It's just brilliant when you get to prove people wrong," she added. "This music wasn't about charts or numbers, it was just about passion."
Even so, getting to number one "is the most beautiful affirmation I could ever ask for as a musician", she said.
The 25-year-old will finally release her debut album, My 21st Century Blues, on 3 February”.
I wanted to use this opportunity to put together some interview with RAYE from last year. Looking ahead to this year, it was a time when she was (and is) an independent artist and looking forward to finally being able to release her debut album. My 21st Century Blues is out next month, and it is one that I would advise everyone to get. I wasn’t to start off with an interview from NME, where RAYE discussed the fact she was this ‘rent-a-verse’ songwriter. People knew her lyrics, but they did not know about her music. A hugely respected artist and songwriter, it must have been devastating for RAYE to have her debut held back. Polydor must hang their head for treating one of their best artists so shabbily:
“A year ago, RAYE called out her record label, Polydor, for delaying her debut album. Again. “I’ve done everything they asked me, I switched genres, I worked 7 days a week,” she wrote on Twitter. “Ask anyone in the music game, they know. I’m done being a polite pop star. I want to make my album now, please that is all I want.”
RAYE’s public expression of her intense frustration – “I’m sick of being in pain” – sent shockwaves through the music industry. How could an artist who’d been signed since 2014 and scored nine UK Top 40 singles be feeling so stifled? The situation became even more baffling when you factored in RAYE’s side hustle as an in-demand songwriter who’s written for Beyoncé (‘Bigger’), Mabel (‘Let Them Know’) and Charli XCX (‘After The Afterparty’).
At the time, RAYE was riding high in the charts with ‘Bed’, an inescapable dance collaboration with David Guetta and Joel Corry that has now amassed 350 million Spotify streams. But according to RAYE, this wasn’t enough: her euphoric follow-up single ‘Call On Me’ needed to “do well” for the album to get a green light.
it’s fair to say the shit hit the fan, and three weeks later, RAYE announced that she had and Polydor had parted ways. “Polydor are an incredible infrastructure power house team,” she wrote graciously. “Unfortunately we have had different goals artistically and I am very grateful to them for giving me a graceful smooth exit to start my next chapter as an artist.” After eight years on a major, RAYE found herself navigating unchartered and potentially choppy waters as an independent artist.
“It’s weird,” she tells NME today as we sit in the kitchen of her south London home, a few miles from Croydon, where she grew up. “When you sign with a record label, technically they work for you: you’re signing to a company for them to work for your career and take you to that next level. But as a woman, it just doesn’t feel like that. It feels like you’re working for them. And you know, some of the things I had to put my body through to even be able to that… it’s really quite sad.”
‘Hard Out Here’ isn’t the first song RAYE has released as an independent artist. In March, she teamed up with Disclosure for the catchy, UK garage-flavoured ‘Waterfall’. It added to her already impressive roll call of club-ready collabs that includes 2016’s ‘You Don’t Know Me’ with Jax Jones, 2017’s ‘Decline’ with Mr. Eazi, 2020’s ‘Secrets’ with Regard and last year’s ‘Bed’ with Joel Corry and David Guetta.
But ‘Hard Out Here’ represents a very deliberate change of lane. The lyrics are a world away from “I got a bed, but I’d rather be in yours tonight.” On the final verse, RAYE alludes to suicidal thoughts, addiction issues and a possible experience of abuse. “What you know about systems? / About drugged drinks, fucking nearly dying from addictions,” she sings. “You start to wonder why I’m Christian / Without the Lord I’d take my life.”
RAYE knows what it takes to push through this discomfort and call out deeply toxic behaviour. If ‘Hard Out Here’ is fundamentally cathartic, her next single ‘Black Mascara’ is very much a flex. “Try to understand what you’ve done to me, what you’ve done to me,” she sings over percolating club beats. It’s a song that doesn’t just bring to mind tears on the dance floor, but also rage and retribution aimed at the “selfish man” she refers to in the lyrics.
“The dance community is super male-dominated, super male-led, and a lot of the people in the dance industry don’t even make their shit. It’s wild,” she says. “So I think for me to be releasing a dance song on my own, in a slightly unique way, is super-empowering.” It’s also “a little nod” to fans who love her dance bangers. “I love dance RAYE too, but it’s not the only thing I am,” she says. “And that’s really been the issue.” She goes on to explain the creative compromise of “switching genres” at her label’s behest, something she mentioned in her 2021 tweets”.
One of the great single from My 21st Century Blues, Hard Out Here, was released last summer. It starts with lyrics deeply personal. Ones that reflect RAYE’s frustration and sense of anger at being ignored and pushed aside by her label: “After years and fears and smiling through my tears/All I ask of you is open your ears/'Cause the truth ain't pretty, my dear/It's been dark, been hard out”. DIY spotlight an artist who was grabbing independence and bravely stepping out on her own in order to live and achieve the career goals and autonomy that she needs:
“Though RAYE might have been the one to speak out, she insists her frustrations aren’t unique. “Every woman I’ve crossed paths with has shared experiences in every single sense of the word,” she says. “Not to be dramatic, but there’s this underlying thing when you’re a woman that you’re to be controlled and sculpted and guided. The treatment with male artists is chalk and cheese.”
Coming into the industry as a young teenager, initially RAYE thought it was a lack of experience that was making it hard for her to be heard. “I was 14 when I started doing sessions. I assumed it was because I was a child that every time I would walk into a room, there’d be this huge fight that has to take place in order to prove yourself. That was a daily occurrence,” she recalls. “But I thought, surely once I’ve got some accolades or credits, then that changes? But if anything, it got worse. It was just this uphill battle to be heard and be respected. Sadly every woman I know relates to that. But you know, we move and we keep going!”
This ability to pick herself up and go again is quite astounding considering what the singer has been through. Next single ‘Black Mascara’ - the only electronic track on the album - addresses a particularly dark moment. “The overall theme [of the record] is being a woman in this world and taking a step back to process all of the shit that’s actually been done to me, things that I’ve had to hide behind the scenes,” she explains. “I wrote that song specifically about a time when I got my drink spiked by a man I really liked. I trusted him. I’d got to a good place where I found some sobriety and peace of mind, and then this happened and I immediately went to the darkest place.”
The incident left RAYE broken and, when the label put further delays on her album, she found herself heading down a bad path. Creating ‘Black Mascara’ helped her heal. “I went into the studio and played the weird chords on the piano and said to the guys I was working with, ‘Guys, you need to not argue with me’,” she recalls. After recording “500 different vocal layers,” she was done. “It was perfect. I listened to it a lot and it was real medicine for me. The good thing about music is that you can put your pain somewhere beautiful.”
As for what else we can expect from the album: it’s anyone’s guess. RAYE insists it’s as diverse as she is. “I’m a mixed-race woman. I’m British-Swiss-Ghanaian. I’m a mix up, you know? From my childhood, it’s been a walking identity crisis for me.”
In a system that pressured her to be one thing (“Who are you? Nobody knows who you are. Can’t you just pick a flipping style?” she narrates back of previous questioning voices), RAYE could never deliver. “I was like, ‘What the fuck? That’s not me. That’s not who I am.’ I wish I could be that way so bad, but I wasn’t born that way.”
Now free to experiment, we’re promised a long-awaited debut album that pulls from different genres and moods and reflects the many different facets of her personality: facets that don’t fit comfortably in one box. “The throughline is the stories and the things that I’m talking about,” RAYE says. “I’m a Scorpio. I’m very open - as you can tell from this fucking interview… I can’t lie, which is why I’ve had such a problem in my career. I’ve got so many opinions on things that I’ve been suppressing. But yeah, sonically it’s very fucking exciting. Very liberating. And I think it will shock a lot of people”.
There are a couple of other interviews I want to source, as they lead up to this year and the approaching release of My 21st Century Blues. I think RAYE is one of those artists who effortlessly marries Dance and Pop. There is still sexism in Dance, where men are holding power and women are not being promoted or given platforms. I think that RAYE is going to help to shift the narrative and bring about change. Her upcoming album is going to infuse various sounds and genres, all brought to life by her incredible talent. The Line of Best Fit asked RAYE last year what her nine favourite songs were. I have chosen a few of her selections, as these artists/songs may, in some way, influence the sounds of My 21st Century Blues:
“Gettin’ in the Way” by Jill Scott
I discovered Jill Scott when I was about 10 or 11. My uncle José, my mom's brother, put me on to this and said, ‘You need to listen to Jill Scott.’ I'd started writing songs from the age of about seven, which is ridiculous, but I caught the bug super early. He was like ‘She's a songwriter and you need to listen to her songs and how she writes.’
The first song I heard from her was “A Long Walk”, which is one of her most popular ones. I was so blown away by all the stuff that was on the radio or that you get exposed to as a kid, outside of what your family shows you. Especially at the time, all the music was 'Put your hands up', 'Dance on the floor', or 'I feel in love, I'm in love', but in “A Long Walk” Jill Scott goes “Let's take a long walk around the park” in the chorus. And I'm like, wait, what? This goes against everything I know is a song.
I instantly fell in love with the album, Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1. I know every single word, ad lib, beat from every single song on that whole album, it’s incredible. It is raw, unfiltered stream of consciousness songwriting from the heart. It doesn't feel forced or manipulated, it feels like someone's talking to you about the way they feel, like talking to a friend.
In “Gettin' In the Way”, Jill Scott’s talking to another woman about how she's getting in the way of her and her man's relationship. I just love the sass, I love the energy, I love the colloquialisms. [Raye sings] "Sista girl / I know you don't understand, but you're gonna have to understand / he's my man now." I also thought this was a really cool perspective to hear from a woman at that time. Nowadays you have artists such as SZA coming along and doing songs like “The Weekend” - which was so amazing, getting to hear a new perspective from a woman: "You like nine-to-five, I'm the weekend".
There's this thing, being a woman, that you have to always be this correct, lovely girl - you can't have any flaws, or you can't expose them, you can't do the wrong thing. But I think showing those traits or emotions as women... We have so many colours and sides to us. I've definitely done things in the past that I regret, but at the end of the day it's still honesty. I love that energy and I really felt that from “Gettin' in the Way”, it was a woman saying, ‘Don't come for my man!’, d'you know what I'm saying! Like, obviously the politically correct thing or the right way to be is “Yes, girl power! I love women'', but we've all been in that position where we felt threatened.
It's so refreshing, so beautiful. I love the melodies and the way the song makes me feel; the timbres, the textures of the sounds used. It's so relaxing, but the concept is the opposite. I think it's such a vibe.
“You’re Bigger” by Jekalyn Carr
I was raised in a Christian household and I think I had quite a difficult relationship with it all in the early days. But there was a moment where I really found God, in the time that I really needed it and it saved my life, to put it pretty bluntly.
This is the song that I used to play during the toughest, toughest times to put life into context for myself; to remind myself that God is bigger than any of the problems and any of those feelings that burden me and come my way.
It's so empowering. Almost every time I listen to “You’re Bigger”, I finish the song in a flood of tears, it makes me feel so much better. Gospel music is a big part of where I learnt to sing, I learnt to sing in church. I feel gospel singers and gospel artists have this way of singing. Some of my favourite vocalists grew up in church: Whitney, Mariah, even Britney, even Katy Perry, which is crazy.
There's something about gospel music, I can't explain it, I guess I'd use the word 'anointed'? Where you tap into a power higher than yourself. I really owe my life to my faith, it's kept me going and it's kept me okay, it's given me strength. Whenever I'm having a tough day or I lose perspective, I play this song. I scream it in the mirror at the top of my lungs and I feel better again. Jekalyn Carr's voice is unmatched. She is so flipping incredible. She's an absolute powerhouse, a force of nature, who is very inspiring.
I think it could have been Normani who put me onto this song, I'm not a thousand percent sure, but I think it was her. That's something we discussed a lot when we were writing music together. She's a really lovely girl, she would always send me empowering quotes. It's a tough industry but our faith definitely held us both in. Either way, when I did discover “You're Bigger” it became my favourite gospel song.
“Lay All Your Love On Me” by ABBA
It took me a very long time to understand ABBA. I rejected them in my youth. Despite the big ABBA songs that would come on at the school disco, I was only exposed to the entire ABBA catalogue when I watched Mamma Mia. I don't particularly love musicals, which is going to upset some people, but I don't like overly cheesy things or that style of singing, typically.
I didn't appreciate ABBA until I’d really studied my craft as a songwriter - through experience, through working hard, through travelling around different places, spending a lot of time in Sweden, understanding symmetry. Understanding what makes a big pop song? What makes a big dance song? What makes something stick? You know, learning the craft. It was only maybe five years ago that I discovered ABBA properly and thought ‘How have I missed this genius?!’ Because what ABBA do is soak up their influences from all over the world and pour it into their music, into the most complex, intricate designs of the most perfectly crafted pop songs possible. It's the reason that they connected in the way they did.
“Lay All Your Love On Me” is just a fucking incredible flipping song. They integrated the most insane hooks and musically, every section of the song went to new chords. When the repetition occurred, it was genius, just insane artistry and the way “Lay All Your Love On Me” goes from a minor to a major... it makes me feel something in my heart, so deep. Yo, I will play the song loud in my car and feel it.
I fell in love and studied everything ABBA created. I've even been getting into the new album; it's different, but it's still them and it's really exciting, I've still got more to get into. But Björn and Benny, who write the songs and do all the production, they're geniuses”.
I will finish off with a Glamour interview. With excitement building around the release of My 21st Century Blues, it was a transition period where RAYE was dealing with the dislocation from her label. She was looking ahead to a new and freer stage of her career. Glamour asked the London-born artist whether she got any flack and blow-back from standing up to her label:
“Your album My 21st Century Blues is a long time coming! How do you feel about finally releasing your own music?
So excited! Part of me feels like it's a dream, and someone will wake up tomorrow and be like, 'Oh, we're pushing it two more years, do you know what I mean? I'm so proud of the fact that it's an album I've created where I haven't had to compromise at all on what my vision is. I'm fully in control of my career for the first time in my life, and I'm fully in control of this music, and that has just been the most rewarding feeling. This is my first body of work, and it's just the beginning for me of an amazing journey. I know it, and I'm so excited.
We're so excited for you, too! You've been vocal about your experiences in the industry so far, from being a young woman and a woman of colour. When was the first time you realised that many things were working against you?
I mean, I've been a professional songwriter since I was 14 years old, and I was immediately thrown into rooms with a bunch of usually 30-year-olds. I'm just a little 14-year-old me navigating things, trying to be taken seriously, and earning respect. Then for you to even be able to suggest ideas or take the lead in a room is hard. For a long time, you're like, 'Oh, it's just because I'm young, it's because I'm a child'. And then you become a woman, and you're like, 'Oh, it's not because I'm a child, it's because I'm a woman, this is interesting'. I think I began feeling these things intensely once I'd signed my deal when I was 17, and I realised even though contractually I had control, I did have very little control. Not the control that you would hope to have over your own career.
Did you get any backlash from putting your foot down in the music industry and sticking up for your right?
Recently, I've been speaking out about songwriter rights because it's so wrong and because the general public has zero idea what really happens or how it works, and they don't even realise that songwriting is a career. Songwriters are the most unprotected and disrespected community in the entire music industry - especially for an industry based on songs. It's been something I've been speaking passionately about, and the industry absolutely hates it! I know, through word of mouth, countless people who are condemning and ridiculing me for putting my foot down on behalf of this community, and it's just hilarious. It's just like, 'I will never stop fighting.' It's literally what you hear in my song Hard Out Here. I will never stop fighting for things that I believe are wrong.
What do you want your fans to know about your upcoming album and new music?
Well, I know people are going through some of the things I've gone through, and sometimes, especially for the way that I've written some of these songs is very on the nose, it's very direct. The way I address things... there's no holding back. It's crystal clear, spelt out, this is what the song is, this is what I'm feeling. You just hope that through the music that was my medicine and my therapy, it will provide the same for one person or a few people who have gone through a similar thing and needed a song to just process their emotions.
Finally, what advice would you give to other young females starting out in the business?
What would I tell them? Wow. I would tell them, first of all, to keep people around. Take someone with you if you're going somewhere new for the first time. Don't put yourself in positions of vulnerability unnecessarily. I would also say to have people around you that you trust and people that keep you grounded and humble. If you're ever acting like an idiot, they would bring you back down to Earth. That's really important because it's a weird industry where people fill you up with smoke, and you've got to figure out where to blow that steam, so to speak. Surround yourself with people who keep you human.
I would say make sure you get a brilliant lawyer. If you are going to sign anything, do not rush it! That process before you sign something is like the schmoozing period where everyone is so lovely and feeds you with all flattery in the world, and the second pen to paper hits, reality kicks in. You know what I mean? Don't rush these processes. And as cheesy as it sounds, trust your gut. We have in us an innate feeling that gives us a sense if something isn't right. But it's really tricky. I've had it in the past when I felt a kind of way about a song or a person, and I felt like, 'Oh, this doesn't feel right, but I've just gone against it anyway because everyone around me thought otherwise.' No, you've got to trust your gut, especially if you are an artist”.
I think that this year is going to be RAYE’s. Her debut album will get huge reviews, and there will be new singles, international touring, and maybe new label interest. Her album is coming out through the distribution label, Human Re Sources, on 3rd February. My 21st Century Blues may nod to a period of depression and struggle for the magnificent artist but, after dealing with so much sh*t from her label and being cast aside, the amazing RAYE is going to experience…
A rare and intense high.