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RAYE on Taking the Indie Road to BRITs History: ‘I Don’t Have to Hand It All Away Again’
In her first sit-down interview since her historic BRITs sweep, RAYE recounts her journey as an independent artist and what she has planned next.
Nearly three years ago, RAYE tweeted that her label situation left her not “wanting to get out of bed and feeling so alone.” Polydor, to which she signed in 2014, had blocked her from releasing any music unless her singles reached a certain level of commercial success. Over an expansive sonic palette that includes big band jazz, boom bap, gospel, dance and R&B, RAYE works her way through the trauma of sexual assault, body dysmorphia, drug abuse, her faith journey and general existentialism. At the ceremony, RAYE performed a show-stealing medley of songs, including an orchestral rendition of “Prada” (a viral Cassö-produced rework of her 2021 D-Block Europe collaboration “Ferrari Horses”), U.K. chart-topper “Escapism” and the harrowing “Ice Cream Man,” a track that details her sexual assault at the hands of a music producer.
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