Raye on the fight to release debut album My 21st Century Blues: ‘It’s been a real wild journey’
In 2021, Raye parted ways with her label after claiming on social media that she had been held back from releasing an album. Now, she is a record-breaking Brits nominee with a number one single and MOBO and Ivor Novello awards under her belt. Here is our interview with the star from January 2023, in which she spoke candidly about the fight to make music on her own terms.
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 to now and Raye is in a very different place; making music as an independent artist, in January 2023 she topped the UK charts for the first time with viral hit Escapism. The following month, the debut album she fought so hard to make, My 21st Century Blues, charted at number two. 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.”
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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 now
Entertainment
‘An enigma’ to the end: John le Carré’s son on his father – and how his legacy lives on
Writing 26 books and a memoir in his lifetime, John le Carré is widely considered to be one of the best spy novelists of all time.
His son, Simon Cornwell, told Sky News: “I think there was only one thing that was more important to him than his family and that was his writing.”
Rory Keenand and Mat Betteridge in The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. Pic: Johan Persson
Tom Hiddleston returns in season two of The Night Manager. Pic: BBC/Ink Factory/Des Willie
First gaining attention in 1963 with his breakout novel, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, cementing his reputation 10 years later with Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, his work is now enjoying a resurgence.
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold has been adapted for the stage for the first time, with confirmation of a TV series to follow, while another of his works, The Night Manager, premieres its second season starring Tom Hiddleston in the new year.
There are further productions waiting in the wings, plus an unfinished le Carré play with the potential to be developed.
And archives of le Carré’s work – containing over 1,200 boxes of material – have gone on display at the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford.
Writing under a pen name, le Carré, who was born David Cornwell, died in December 2020.
His elder sons, Simon and Stephen, now manage the film, TV and stage rights of his work through their studio The Ink Factory, while his youngest son, Nick, expands the George Smiley universe.
(R-L) Nick Harkaway, John Le Carré, and Simon, Stephen and Tim Cornwell. Pic: Clare Cornwell
Smiley’s continuation ‘could have gone horribly wrong’
One of le Carré’s most well-known creations, Smiley was the antidote to James Bond – bespectacled, balding and a little out of shape – and a recurring character in le Carré’s books.
Simon says Nick, who has two more Smiley books in the pipeline, was “taking on a big risk” developing the character, but insists, “he is the only person who could have done it and done it that well”.
He goes on: “He could find my father’s voice… he grew up talking every day to my dad, as we did, and he just knows at an instinctive level what’s important…
“There are so many ways in which it could have gone horribly wrong, and it went brilliantly right.”
Nick Harkaway with his first Smiley continuation novel, Karla’s Choice. Pic: AP
‘A family enterprise’
Explaining how they all work together – calling it a “family enterprise in the best of ways” – Simon explains: “A lot of authors, when they die, they leave very strict instructions to their children, their estate as to how things should be managed and lots of rules and restrictions and everything else. My dad didn’t do that.”
Le Carré’s fourth son, Tim, sadly died aged 59 in 2022, shortly after editing a collection of his father’s letters, titled A Private Spy.
Le Carré is by no means the only author whose legacy lives on via others.
Announcing a staggered retirement, Lee Child passed his hit creation Jack Reacher on to his younger brother Andrew in 2020.
PG Wodehouse’s much-loved Jeeves and Wooster stories have been rewritten this Christmas by celebrity fans including Frank Skinner and Alan Titchmarsh, half a century after his death.
Daniel Craig at the No Time To Die world premiere in 2021. Pic: Reuters
Staying part of the conversation is key
While Ian Fleming’s James Bond has been continued by 15 authors so far, and spilling into the young adult genre, capturing a whole new generation of readers.
Mark Edlitz, intellectual expert and author of The Many Lives Of James Bond, told Sky News such continuations are essential to the survival of the work.
Author Mark Edlitz has written about the Bond continuation novels
“We have seen all these detectives and spies who don’t have a movie series or a TV series to bolster their eyeballs, and then they fade from public view.
“These books and movies help keep the author’s work present and viable and part of the public conversation.”
Sarah Baxter, senior contracts advisor for The Society of Authors, says remaining relevant and visible has another big benefit too.
“That kind of partnership can go on to give a whole new lease of life to works that may have been written many, many years ago, and it can go on to generate a lot of income for a literary estate.”
Le Carré – an enigma, even to his family, to the end. Pic: AP
‘An enigma’
More than 60 million copies of Le Carré’s books have been sold worldwide, with new adaptations likely to boost those sales further.
But Simon Cornwell says the investment in his father’s work is about more than just profits.
“We became very, very close as a family because he was very keen to be a proper dad and we were working with him and his material as well, so it was particularly towards the end of his life. It was a beautiful, thrilling thing.”
A master storyteller, the moral ambiguity of the fictional world he constructed reflected back on to its creator.
Simon says: “He remained an enigma. I think in some ways he was probably an enigma to himself…
“He was an extraordinary man to be close with, but do you ever understand somebody like that? Probably not.”
His work more widespread than ever, but the man himself – still a mystery.
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold is at @sohoplace in London’s West End to 21 February before embarking on a UK Tour.
John le Carré: Tradecraft is at the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford until 6 April.
Entertainment
Primal Scream says video with alleged antisemitic imagery shown at gig was meant to provoke debate
Primal Scream have said a video containing alleged antisemitic imagery was a “piece of art” and was intended to “provoke debate, not hate”.
Warning: This article contains alleged antisemitic imagery.
The Scottish rock band have been reported to the Metropolitan Police for showing a film at their Roundhouse concert in Camden, London on Monday which appeared to include imagery of the Star of David entwined with a swastika.
The force is now assessing the report.
‘Film is a piece of art’
Primal Scream said in a statement on Instagram: “The film is a piece of art. It clearly draws from history to question where the actions of current world governments sit in that context. It is meant to provoke debate, not hate.
“In a free, pluralistic and liberal society freedom of expression is a right which we choose to exercise.”
Primal Scream, founded by frontman Bobby Gillespie in 1982, were playing a 25-year anniversary show for their album XTRMNTR.
As the group performed Swastika Eyes, pictures of political figures including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared behind them, showing what appeared to be the Star of David combined with a swastika in their eyes.
The video from the gig that sparked the report to police
Venue ‘appalled’
The Roundhouse has apologised, saying it was “appalled” that “antisemitic imagery was displayed”, adding it was done entirely without its knowledge.
It said in a statement: “We deeply regret that these highly offensive images were presented on our stage and unequivocally apologise to anyone who attended the gig and to the wider Jewish community.”
It added: “Our organisation absolutely condemns antisemitism in every form.”
Call for ‘urgent investigation’
The Community Security Trust (CST), which provides protection for Jewish communities in the UK, said it had reported the band to police and called on the venue to carry out an “urgent investigation”.
In a statement, a CST spokesperson said: “CST is appalled by the grossly antisemitic image displayed at Primal Scream. Entwining a Star of David with a swastika implies that Jews are Nazis and risks encouraging hatred of Jews.
“There needs to be an urgent investigation by the venue and the promoter about how this happened, and we have reported this to the police.”
What have police said?
Responding to that report, a Met Police spokesperson said: “On Wednesday, 10 December, we received a report in relation to a video shown on stage during a concert at the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm Road, Camden on Monday, 8 December.
“It is being assessed by officers.”
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‘Unadulterated hatred’
The charity Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The Nazi swastika represents the ideology that inspired people to industrially slaughter six million innocent Jewish men, women and children by bullet, gas and any other means available.
“To visually combine that with the Star of David – the pre-eminent symbol of Judaism – is absolutely sickening and totally inexcusable.
“This isn’t art. This isn’t edgy. This isn’t political statement. It is unadulterated hatred and a clear breach of the international definition of antisemitism.
“We will be writing to the Camden Roundhouse and our legal team is examining the footage to consider further steps.”
Author Joanna Trollope has died aged 82, her family has said.
Trollope was one of the nation’s most widely read authors, having published more than 30 novels during a career that began in the 1970s.
Her novels include “Aga sagas” The Rector’s Wife, Marrying The Mistress and Daughters-in-Law.
In a statement, Trollope’s daughters Antonia and Louise said: “Our beloved and inspirational mother Joanna Trollope has died peacefully at her Oxfordshire home, on December 11, aged 82.”
Trollope with Queen Elizabeth II in 2001. Pic: PA
Her literary agent James Gill said: “It is with great sadness that we learn of the passing of Joanna Trollope, one of our most cherished, acclaimed and widely enjoyed novelists.
“Joanna will be mourned by her children, grandchildren, family, her countless friends and – of course – her readers.”
Trollope was born in Gloucestershire in 1943. She won a scholarship to study at the University of Oxford in the 1960s.
After graduating, she joined the Foreign Office before training as a teacher and then turning to writing full-time in 1980.
The author was best known for her novels set in rural middle England and centred around domestic life and relationships.
Her early historical romances were written under the pseudonym Caroline Harvey, before she turned to contemporary fiction.
Her work tackled a range of topics from affairs, blended families and adoption, to parenting and marital breakdown.
Trollope with shortlisted novels for the Orange Prize for Fiction. Pic: PA
Trollope also took part in The Austen Project, which saw six of Jane Austen’s novels retold by contemporary writers.
She wrote the first book in the series, Sense & Sensibility, published in 2013.
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In 1996, Trollope was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to literature and later made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2019.
She won the Romantic Novel of the Year in 1980 for the book Parson Harding’s Daughter and in 2010 was given a lifetime achievement award from the Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA) for her services to romance.
She went on to chair a number of award ceremonies, including the Costa Book Awards, formerly the Whitbread Prize, as well as the BBC National Short Story Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction.
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