Raye on the fight to release debut album My 21st Century Blues: ‘It’s been a real wild journey’ | Ents & Arts News

Raye is regaining her strength. Not only from the industry that made her feel “mediocre” for many years, but also because of past traumas she has been holding back for a long time.

“Some of my best friends don’t even know some of the stuff I’m discussing on my album,” she told Sky News. “It’s probably the most authentic thing I’ve ever experienced. It’s profound and real.”

Raye, real name is Rachel Keen, 25 years old but already a veteran in the music industry; a platinum selling performer and a songwriter with credits to everyone from Charli XCX and small mix arrive Legendary John and Beyoncé.

She was 15 when she released her first song and 17 when all her dreams came true, in the form of a four-album deal with the Polydor record label. But after years of what seemed like a successful career as a singer who mostly collaborated on other artists’ dance hits, in 2021 she posted a string of tweets claiming that the label is preventing her from releasing her own album.

“I’m not a polite pop star anymore,” she wrote, her frustration and anger clearly visible. The singer said that after years of “trying to make it right”, she has reached a point where she has nothing left to lose. “You hit that breaking point, really.”

Shortly after her tweet, it was announced that she and Polydor had split, with the agency saying the decision was “friendly and reciprocal” and wishing her “all the best for the future”.

Fast-forward 18 months or so and Raye is in a very different place; now an independent artist, early January she topped the UK charts for the first time with the viral hit Escapism. In February, the debut album she’s worked so hard to make, My 21st Century Blues, will finally be released. No longer constrained or stuffy, she said, this is the real Raye, and it’s been a while since she’s been around.

“The album is discussing a lot of different topics… the deepest of really ugly stories about attacks and physical disorders and environmental anxiety. I think there’s no such thing. There are no limits to what I have actually said about my views on blues music as a woman in the 21st century.”

‘Those are the things I’ve been silent about for so long’

Always outspoken, Raye is not an artist who just spits out approved PR-speech lines when she’s interviewed, and this frankness is evident in her music. “Being honest and transparent is really important to me, skipping the metaphors and comparisons and getting straight to the point I’m talking about,” she said. “Some of these things I haven’t completely cured either.

“It’s going to be a roller coaster ride for sure, but I’m making the decision to move on. That’s the kind of artist I want to be, transparent, honest. I think that’s who I am in life. Real Life. “

One song, Ice Cream Man, deals with sexual assault. “Those are things I’ve been silent about for too long, devoured for too long, and self-managed for too long in non-constructive ways,” she said.

“I’ve written pretty clearly about sexual violence… a lot of things happen in life that you just bury, bury, hide in a box, don’t tell anyone. And it just festers and turns on its own. into something pretty ugly.”

As with Escapism, a dark electronic track about the use of alcohol, drugs and casual sex as coping mechanisms for dealing with emotional pain, the album is a contrast of lyrics. often melancholy or dark, with rhythms that will fill the dance floor, as well as many genres.

“You have songs with contrasting sonic backgrounds,” she said. “I find it interesting to tell a story and then the music has the opposite feel, so I think there’s a lot of overlap there.”

Irony in its ‘funniest and most ridiculous form’

The success of Escapism made Raye feel ironic. “With the music before, not in a bad way, but it’s more about the song than about the artist. Dance songs or whatever, they don’t necessarily say anything about who I am. I never necessarily wanted to be someone who made huge, huge hits, but didn’t have the depth and content or discuss the things I’m passionate about or break a few rules.

“Establishment is a personal story. It’s a bit dark. It’s incredibly clear, honest, and raw… I actually told myself at the beginning of this next chapter, I don’t make music with the intent or purpose of selling a lot of copies, it’s about integrity and telling nasty stories that I think is really important.

“I’ve had all the preparation in the world to build up a small, steady fanbase bit by bit and don’t expect anything in terms of mainstream reflection. So this feels like irony. tomorrow in its funniest and most ridiculous form, that it’s the biggest song of my entire career.”

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While that wasn’t necessarily the plan, she admits topping the charts feels like vindicated.

“[I feel] like anything is possible and I was right to support myself,” she said. “Never give up on your dreams. for someone [felt] so, like, mediocre and… it’s really been a disappointment for so long to get all the affirmation in the world that I was right to support my music just…”

She doesn’t have to finish the sentence. “For someone who puts words together for a living, I don’t necessarily have the best words to describe how crazy this is.”

‘Fear is the secret motivating factor’

Encouraged, Raye says artists need to be more vocal about the inner workings of the industry. And although moves to improve diversity and equality have made headlines in recent years, she says misogyny is still rife.

“We need to tell these stories more,” she said. “I think things that happen in the dark have a lot more power than when they come to light, you know? Fear is the driving force behind secrets, truths, and stories that are hidden. But there is still that very sad view that women need to be guided and controlled, taught and given instructions to follow and meet these requirements.”

She sighed. “I don’t know… I think maybe all artists are the same, especially with women, especially with all that I’ve seen in my 10 years in the industry. I I think a lot of things need to change, but I don’t think things will really be equal and fair until we have the same number of female CEOs as male CEOs, we have the same number of female employees. video as male staff, the same number of female A&Rs, and the same amount of, you know, of different ethnicities in the same roles.

“Overall balance is very important and until we get to that, there will always be issues and problems when you let men decide what they think is best for women.”

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Raye is looking to the future. She says she has had little contact with her former employers since she left, but wants to make it clear that things are not all bad. She said: “There are some amazing people out there who really believe in me… but it’s clearly happening because the adults make the big decisions.”

I asked her about the artwork for My 21st Century Blues; it depicts a little girl, dressed for work but wearing red high heels, standing on a pile of musical instruments and recording equipment with the names of her songs, holding outstretched hands From inside. It feels poignant.

“It was really my little sister on top of the big structure we built,” Raye said. “But that little girl up there is me, you know, seven years old, with eyes wide open with a dream, not realizing what the next 10 or 15 years of her life will be like.

“All the different lives – in the industry and out of the industry – that I had to navigate, process, understand, learn in my transition to be a woman, to be an artist, to be an artist. It’s been a wild journey indeed.”

Raye’s debut album, My 21st Century Blues, will be out February 3