Raye on the fight to release debut album My 21st Century Blues: ‘It’s been a real wild journey’
Raye is gaining her power back. Not just from the industry that made her feel “mediocre” for so many years, but over past traumas she kept bottled up for a long time.
“Some of my closest friends didn’t even know some of the stuff I’m discussing on my album,” she tells Sky News. “It’s probably the most honest I’ve been. It’s deep and it’s real.”
Raye, real name Rachel Keen, is only 25 but already a music industry veteran; a platinum-selling performer and a songwriter with credits for everyone from Charli XCX and Little Mix to John Legend and Beyonce.
She was just 15 when she released her first song and 17 when all her dreams came true, in the form of a four-album contract with record label Polydor. But after years of what seemed to be a successful career as a vocalist collaborating mainly on other artists’ dance hits, in 2021 she posted a string of tweets claiming the label was holding her back from releasing her own album.
“I’m done being a polite pop star,” she wrote, her frustration and anger palpable. The singer says after years of “trying to make it work”, she had reached the point where she had nothing to lose. “You get to that breaking point, really.”
Shortly after her tweets, it was announced she and Polydor were parting ways, with the label saying the decision had been “amicable and mutual” and wishing her “all the very best for the future”.
Raye claimed her first number one with Escapism at the beginning of 2023. Pic: Official Charts
Fast-forward 18 months or so and Raye is in a very different place; now an independent artist, earlier in January she topped the UK charts for the first time with viral hit Escapism. In February, the debut album she fought so hard to make, My 21st Century Blues, will finally be released. No longer pigeonholed or stifled, this is the real Raye, she says, and it’s been a long time coming.
“The album is discussing a lot of different topics… the deepest depths of really ugly stories about assaults and body dysmorphia and environmental anxiety. I think there’s no limit on what I’ve really spoken on in terms of my perspective on my blues as a woman in the 21st Century.”
‘It’s things I’ve been silent about for so long’
Always outspoken, Raye is not an artist who sticks to trotting out lines of approved PR-speak when she’s being interviewed, and this candidness is evident throughout her music. “Being real and transparent is really important to me, to skip out metaphors and similes and cut straight to the point of what I’m talking about,” she says. “Some of these things I haven’t also entirely healed from.
“It’s definitely going to be a rollercoaster for sure, but one that I’m making the decision to go on. That’s kind of the artist I like to be, transparent, honest. I think that’s what I’m like in real life.”
One song, Ice Cream Man, deals with sexual assault. “It’s things I’ve been silent about for so long and swallowed for so long and self-managed for so long in non-constructive ways,” she says.
“I’ve written pretty transparently about sexual violence… multiple things that occur in a life that you just bury, bury down, hide in a box, don’t tell anyone. And it just festers and manipulates itself into something quite ugly.”
As with Escapism, a dark electro banger about using alcohol, drugs and casual sex as coping mechanisms for dealing with emotional pain, the album is a contrast of often melancholy or dark lyrics, with beats that will fill a dance floor, as well as a range of genres.
“You’ve got songs with a contrasting sonic landscape,” she says. “I find it really exciting to tell a story and then the music feel the opposite so I think there’s a lot of juxtaposition there.”
Irony in its ‘most hilarious and ridiculous form’
Escapism’s success feels ironic to Raye. “With the previous music, not in a bad way, but it was more about the song than about the artist. The big dance songs or whatever, they don’t necessarily say anything about me as a person. I never necessarily wanted to be someone who did huge, huge hits, but without depth and substance or discussing things I’m passionate about, or breaking a couple of rules.
“Escapism is such a personal story. It’s kind of dark. It’s extremely explicit and honest and raw… I really told myself on the beginning of this next chapter, I’m not creating music with the intent or purpose to sell loads of copies, it’s about integrity and telling these uncomfortable stories that I think are really important.
“I had all the preparation in the world for building a small, steady fanbase bit by bit, and to not expect anything in terms of mainstream reflection. So this is like irony in its most hilarious and ridiculous form, that this is the biggest song of my entire career.”
Read more on Raye:
‘I was right to back myself’: Raye rises to first number one
Raye speaks out after leaving record label
Despite it not necessarily being the plan, she admits topping the charts does feel like vindication.
“[I feel] like anything is possible and I was right to back myself,” she says. “Never give up on your dreams. For someone who [felt] so, like, mediocre and… such a disappointment, actually, for so long, to just receive all the affirmation in the world that I was right to back my music is just…”
She doesn’t need to finish the sentence. “For someone who puts words together for a living, I don’t necessarily really have the best words to describe how crazy this is.”
‘Fear is the driving factor of secrets’
Emboldened, Raye says artists need to speak out more about the inner workings of the industry. And despite moves to improve diversity and equality making headlines in recent years, she says misogyny is still rife.
“We do need to be telling these stories more,” she says. “I think things that happen in the darkness have so much more power than they do when they’re brought out to the light, you know? Fear is the driving factor of secrets, and truths and stories being withheld. But there is still that very sad view that women need to be guided and controlled and taught and given instructions to follow and meet these requirements.”
She sighs. “I don’t know… I think it’s probably the same for all artists but especially for women, especially for everything I’ve witnessed in 10 years in the industry. I think a lot needs to change, but I don’t think anything will truly be equal and fair until we’ve got the same amount of female CEOs as we do male CEOs, we’ve got the same amount of female staff working a video shoot as male staff, the same amount of female A&Rs, and the same amount of, you know, different ethnicities in these same roles.
“Balance overall is so important, and until we have that, there’s always going to be issues and problems when you have men deciding what they think is best for women.”
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‘Seven years old, wide-eyed with a dream’: The album cover for My 21st Century Blues
Raye is looking to the future. She says she has had little communication with her former label bosses since she left, but wants to make it clear it wasn’t all bad. There were “some great people there who really believed in me… but obviously it came down to the big people making big decisions”, she says.
I ask her about the artwork for My 21st Century Blues; it features a little girl, dressed for the workplace but teetering in red stilettos hanging off her heels, standing atop a pile of instruments and recording equipment bearing the names of her songs, grabbing hands reaching out from inside. It feels poignant.
“That’s actually my baby sister on top of that big structure we built,” says Raye. “But that little girl up there is me, you know, seven years old, wide-eyed with a dream, not realising what the next 10 or 15 years of my life would be like.
“All the different life – in the industry and out of the industry – that I’ve had to navigate, process, understand, learn in my transition to being a woman, to being an artist, to being an independent artist. It’s been a real wild journey.”
Raye’s debut album, My 21st Century Blues, is out from 3 February
UK
The King, Prince William and Kate attend Duchess of Kent’s funeral – as Buckingham Palace says Queen withdrew due to illness
The King, Prince William and the Princess of Wales have attended the funeral of the Duchess of Kent.
The trio were joined by other royals at Westminster Cathedral for the requiem mass – a Catholic funeral – the first to be held for a member of the Royal Family in modern British history.
Pic: Reuters
Pic: PA
Pic: Reuters
Katharine, Duchess of Kent, who became the oldest living member of the Royal Family on the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, died at the age of 92 on 4 September.
The Duchess of Kent at the Wimbledon tennis Championships in 2012. File pic: PA
It emerged earlier that the Queen had withdrawn from attending while she recovers from illness.
Buckingham Palace said on Tuesday that Camilla, 78, is recovering from acute sinusitis, with the withdrawal raising questions over her attendance for US President Donald Trump‘s state visit, which begins at Windsor on Wednesday.
The King and Queen were due to attend the funeral together. Pic: PA
That visit is being hosted by the King, but the Queen is understood to be hopeful she will recover in time to attend all royal elements of Mr Trump’s trip, which includes a lavish state banquet.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: “With great regret, Her Majesty the Queen has withdrawn from attendance at this afternoon’s requiem mass for the Duchess of Kent as she is recovering from acute sinusitis.”
The Duke of Kent was informed and was said to fully understand the decision, wishing her a speedy recovery.
The Queen had travelled down from Scotland this morning and is currently travelling to Windsor, where she will rest.
“Her thoughts and prayers will be with the Duke of Kent and all the family,” the spokesperson added.
During the service, Pope Leo XIV paid a personal tribute to the Duchess of Kent, praising her “legacy of Christian goodness” in a message delivered during her funeral.
In words read out by Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendia, the pontiff highlighted her “dedication to official duties”.
Pics: PA
Prince Andrew and Sarah, Duchess of York, were seen approaching Westminster Cathedral for the service.
Pic: Reuters
Former Formula 1 world champion Sir Jackie Stewart and actresses Rula Lenska and Dame Maureen Lipman were also among the mourners.
UK
Southport killer’s parents took delivery of machetes and knives and tried to hide them from him, inquiry told
The parents of the Southport killer took delivery of a number of machetes and knives, which they tried to hide from him, the inquiry into the stabbings has been told.
Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Stancombe, seven, were murdered at a Taylor Swift-themed class on 29 July last year by Axel Rudakubana, who was jailed for a minimum of 52 years.
He seriously injured eight more girls and two adults who had tried to stop him.
Nicholas Moss KC, counsel to the inquiry into the killings, said the purchase of weapons by Rudakubana – referred to by the inquiry throughout as AR – is “important because it will highlight vulnerabilities in the law against the purchase of knives, crossbows and machetes”.
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Southport: Parents of victims speak
Killer ‘used dad’s details to order knife’
On the purchase of weapons, Mr Moss said it is “also important because it is one significant factor in the questions which we need to explore with his family, particularly his parents”, asking “What did they know of the weapons purchases?”
The inquiry was told that his father or mother appeared to have taken delivery of the knife that was used in the attack, and that it was ordered via Amazon under an IP address suggesting the use of a Virtual Private Network.
Rudakubana used his father’s details instead of his own when ordering the knife, which was approved by Amazon because the name and address provided were those of an adult and matched up with credit check agency information.
A knife identical to the one Rudakubana used in the Southport attack. Pic: Merseyside Police
Mr Moss said the package was shipped to an “Ax Rud” at his home address near Southport, arriving at around 5.40pm on 15 July 2024.
Ring camera footage from the property of Rudakubana’s next-door neighbour showed the delivery, but the recipient could not be seen.
The driver entered the recipient’s year of birth as 1978 and confirmed that they appeared to be over the age of 25.
Rudakubana’s father’s date of birth is in 1975, and his mother’s is in 1972, Mr Moss told the hearing.
‘Parents accepted – and hid – weapon deliveries from son’
Mr Moss then said Rudakubana’s parents had accepted deliveries of weapons and hidden them from him on multiple occasions.
A machete taken by police after the attacks. Pic: Merseyside Police
A June 2023 delivery of a 22-inch machete – ordered using the driving licence of a woman named Alice born in 1991 and living in Sunderland – was found on top of the wardrobe in Rudakubana’s parents’ bedroom in sealed packaging.
In his statement to Merseyside Police after the attack, Rudakubana’s father said he had signed for a parcel containing knives that was addressed to someone with a British-sounding name, and he hid the parcel on top of his wardrobe despite his son asking for it.
An October 2023 order of a machete with a 16.5-inch blade – ordered using a driving licence for Samuel, a black man born in Nigeria in 1961, living in Uxbridge – was found by the police after Rudakubana’s prosecution, still in its packaging and unopened.
Rudakubana ordered a third machete that month, called a Kukri Congo 488 JKR with a blade length of 30.5cm from Huntingandknives.co.uk, again using Samuel’s driving licence.
That machete was found in the search of Rudakubana’s home in a black holdall under the bunk beds in his bedroom.
The inquiry is taking place at Liverpool Town Hall. File pic: PA
‘Parents scared of Rudakubana’s behaviour’
The inquiry heard that Rudakubana’s parents had a “fear” of their son’s response if they asked him questions about packages or attempted to tidy his room.
Mr Moss said they were scared that he may be violent towards them, towards his older brother or cause damage to the house, and that they had noticed a “marked deterioration” in his behaviour after being excluded from the Range School for possessing a knife in 2019.
“However, it may be said to be apparent that AR’s parents were aware of other aspects of AR’s conduct that might have been expected to give rise to a concern,” he added.
The inquiry has asked Rudakubana’s parents about any steps that they took to recover knives from their son, and whether they considered reporting the incident to the police or any other agency.
The inquiry continues.
UK
Labour peer Lord Glasman got a ‘discreet suggestion to shut up’ after warning No 10 about Mandelson
A Labour peer has claimed he was “discreetly” told to “shut up” by Number 10 after issuing warnings about the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador.
Maurice Glasman, who was the only Labour figure to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration, said he was shown “photos of Peter Mandelson blowing out birthday candles with Jeffrey Epstein” while in the US in January.
The peer told Sophy Ridge on the Politics Hub that he reported this back to Downing Street, and was given a “discreet suggestion to basically shut up about that”.
Lord Mandelson was sacked as the UK’s ambassador to the US last Thursday after details of his close relationship with disgraced financier Mr Epstein emerged in the media.
Politics Live: Speaker grants emergency debate on Mandelson
He had always admitted to having known Epstein, but emails between Lord Mandelson and the convicted paedophile showed the diplomat had sent messages of support even as the financier faced jail for sex offences in 2008.
Lord Glasman, who founded the Blue Labour movement in 2009 as a counter to New Labour, told Sophy that he “held the line” on Lord Mandelson even as he was presented with photographs of the ambassador and Epstein together.
Peter Mandelson was sacked as the UK’s ambassador to Washington on Thursday. Pic: PA
He said he “reported back to No 10, that really I would think again about this appointment because really [his dismissal] was bound to happen”.
“It was not out of the clear blue sky, was it?”
The peer said he was asked to send back a report on the matter, which he did, and “that was that”.
“I did say when I got back, I’d think again about this publicly. And then I did get a discreet suggestion to basically shut up about that. And I did.”
Sir Keir Starmer said on Monday he would have “never appointed” Lord Mandelson as US ambassador if he knew then what he knows now.
The prime minister said Lord Mandelson went through a proper due diligence process before his appointment.
But, he added: “Had I known then what I know now, I’d have never appointed him.”
Sir Keir said he knew before Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday that Lord Mandelson had not yet answered questions from government officials, but was unaware of the contents of the messages that led to his sacking.
He said Lord Mandelson did not provide answers until “very late” on Wednesday, which was when he decided he had to be “removed”.
Lord Mandelson has said he regrets his relationship with Epstein, claiming repeatedly he wishes they had never met.
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