It's fair to say that Raye has put in the work (and then some).
Starting in the music business at the age of 14, she's spent a decade writing chart-topping songs for some of the most prominent names in the world (think Beyoncé, Ellie Goulding, John Legend, Little Mix, etc.), put out a smash dance hit, You Don't Know Me, with DJ Jax Jones, and also bagged a contract with music label Polydor at 17. Seriously impressive. And a dream come true for any artist, especially one still so young.
But the laser-focused star's dreams dissipated into thin air as she found herself without the platform to do the one thing she originally intended to do: release her own music on her own terms. Furthermore, while being pigeonholed to a genre she couldn't evolve in and sidelined as a performer on other artists' songs, the former BRIT School student was forced to navigate her way through hardships that she didn't expect.
Miki Berenyi from the rock band Lush shares her story.
Things came to a head last year when Raye, real name Rachel Keen, was pressed on the release of her album. "I have been on a 4 ALBUM RECORD DEAL since 2014 !!! And haven't been allowed to put out one album. ALL I CARE ABOUT is the music. I'm sick of being slept on and I'm sick of being in pain about it this is not business to me this so personal," Raye wrote in an impassioned tweet.
Weeks later, she parted ways from her record label, announcing that she was a newly independent artist while also speaking openly about the rampant misogyny, long hours, and exploitation she had experienced in the music industry so far. In response, her record label released the following statement: “Polydor and Raye have made an amicable and mutual decision to part ways. Raye is an incredible artist and we have very much enjoyed working with her over the years, achieving some great things together. We wish her all the very best for the future.”
More than a year later, the tide has finally turned for the South-London-born singer.
Raye, now 25, recently released two incredible new songs, Escapism and The Thrill Is Gone, which, if they are anything to go by, promise fans a diverse catalogue of trip-hop, soul and blues-inspired tunes from her highly-anticipated upcoming debut studio album, My 21st Century Blues. The wait for the album will undoubtedly be worth it, with themes of heartbreak, loneliness, inequality and powering through adversity all taking centre stage and indeed resonating with listeners of all ages at home.
Here, an empowered Raye speaks exclusively to GLAMOUR about gender inequality in the industry, receiving backlash from music professionals about her fight for songwriters to be paid fairly and how taking back the power in her own hands has shaped her new album.
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 see men in a similar position being treated differently?
Oh, 1000%. Oh, goodness me! It is actually funny, and I say this with love because, at this point, I know what it is to be a woman, and although there are struggles and challenges [in the music industry] for my male counterparts as well, they don't have to experience all of it. I'm really good friends with a successful male artist, he was on my old label, and he describes the polar opposite experience of me. And you're just like, 'Oh, okay, nice. Oh really, they wanted you to make albums? Okay, cool.' It's just the reality of it, I'm not bitter or salty anymore. I understand that typically women releasing music are income winners as long as they're making a specific type of music that generates the most money, and I guess that was my role. Luckily I'm in a place now where I am in control of my career, and I can do it how I want to do it, and I can release albums if I want to release albums, and that's exactly what I'm going to bloody do.
Following the past decade of your life, do you feel like your relationship with your mental health has evolved in a way you never thought it would?
Oh, a hundred per cent! A big part of that, to be honest, has been forgiveness. I think if I wasn't able to truly let go of things that had hurt me in the past, I think I would be a really bitter person. I think I am luckier than most in that I've even been able to process and let go of some things that have hurt me. I know some incredible women who are still so shaken by their traumas and fears. I think maybe it's also the beauty of being able to write music and find healing through sound and lyrical expression, and I think releasing some of these songs in this album will be a real healing experience for me too.
Did you have a great support system around you during all of those trying times?
I did! To be honest, I have three younger sisters, and my priority now is just making sure they don't have to go through any of the things that I've been through. Part of that is being protected, always having a chaperone or a friend with you when you go to places where you're new and meet people you don't know. What a journey it's been!
It's happening!
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.
To give you some facts: Whenever a record is released, any song that exists in humanity, whenever it is released, independent or with a label, there are a hundred royalty points on a record, and four will go to the producer, about twelve or fifteen will go to the artist depending on the deal and on a record label, the rest go to a record label, and a songwriter doesn't even get one! It is sickening, and I'm here advocating that if you are going to take a song from a songwriter they have helped create a song, you need to give points to them, and record labels are laughing at my people. Representatives from record labels are like, 'We're never going to let this happen.' It's disgusting. There's no accountability because there's no spotlight because people don't know or care or understand how essential songwriters are to the process. I'm going to be a broken record on this subject until I see change. The system hates people who speak out against and threaten their coin. This is just part of what I believe. Oh, there are just so many injustices and things that have gone behind the scenes and so many big corporations that profit off young, independent, hard-working talent.
That's really upsetting to hear! Now that you're an independent artist, do you feel like the process is much smoother than before?
A hundred per cent, it is. It is a different journey. It is one that I'm in control of and one I can also make sure I do the right thing. Every writer that contributed to my project will get their points and will get their fair split. I get to at least do right by the people who have helped me create this work, and more so, it is just beautiful to be in control of what I release, what my visuals look like, what I want to say, what order I release them, what I'm doing. Being an artist means being unapologetically yourself, and I get to be that now. It's just very exciting. A new chapter for me, I feel like it's a new start.
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Did you feel quite empowered writing some of the more vulnerable songs on your upcoming album?
I mean, a lot of these songs on this album are songs that were really hard to write. This one called, Ice Cream Man, was the hardest song I've ever written. Every time I listen to that song, I literally can't make it through without bursting into tears. It is genuinely like therapy in its fullest form. There are some interesting themes as well on this album. I'm discussing things like body dysmorphia. Things like you keep in the darkness and behind the closed doors of your mind. Things can thrive in the darkness, the second that you bring them out to light, they hold less power.
Even with this songwriter issue, the second these things reach the light, they can't hold the power that they used to, and I think that's what it's about in this music, for me, I've been holding a lot of blues and a lot of sad things and a lot of troubles, and curious thoughts have been eating away at me. I just brought them into the light. Some of my family was even like, 'Are you sure you really want to put it out there?' I'm like, 'I know, but I've got to do it, I've got to be honest no matter what.'
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.
Raye's highly anticipated debut album, My 21st Century Blues, will be released on February 3rd 2023. To pre-order the album, head here.
The countdown has begun…
