Singer-songwriter Raye's smash hit "Where Is My Husband!" has sold 1.2 million copies in the U.K.
asserted
Husband → sell → U.K.
"That's cool, isn't it?" she said.
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she → say → ?
Asked why she felt the song has resonated to such a degree, she replied, "The bit that connected first was that funny, tongue-twistery bridge":
I would like a ring, I would like a ring
I would like a diamond ring on my wedding finger
I would like a big and shiny diamond
That I could wave around and talk and talk about it
To watch Raye perform "Where Is My Husband!" click on the video player below:
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Husband → ask → player
She may not have a ring yet, but "Where Is My Husband!" has more than a billion streams on Spotify.
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Husband → have → Spotify
"Now, it's like the wedding song, which is so hilarious, because it's actually a song about how single I am!" she laughed.
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she → laugh → song
That song is on Raye's second album, "This Music May Contain Hope," which Rolling Stone called "a hugely ambitious swing for the fences."
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Stone → contain → fences
She gravitates toward maximalism on stage, and at home, where her songwriting can start quite organically.
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songwriting → gravitate → home
"I just, I don't know, play around something until I like it, and then it makes me feel something," she said.
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she → know → something
"I do take notes, always jotting stuff down.
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I → take → stuff
"Meaning I poured out so much in this last album, I really, really, really went for it, and I think I'm in a place where I don't want to write about certain things anymore.
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I → mean → things
I'm just over that, and expressing songs with, like, negative or frustrated connotations about la la la la la, this guy sucked and this was rubbish.
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this → express → la
I'm just done with that!"
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I → do → that
The 28-year-old artist, born Rachel Keen, grew up in London, and has been making music since she was a teen.
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she → bear → music
"I, at 14, had started my songwriting career.
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I → start → career
I was like, I want to work, let's do the work," she said.
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she → want → work
"I don't know why!" she said.
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she → know → ?
"I was like, 'Dad, I want to be a musician, I want to be a singer, I want to be a writer.'
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I → want → ?
My uncle got me a laptop for my 13th birthday, and I was making demos.
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I → get → demos
Asked to define what "distinctly me" means, Raye replied, "Something I've always enjoyed doing was syncopate my words, and maybe sometimes do more words than I should in a certain section."
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I → ask → section
Remembering her lyrics, she says, can be hard.
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she → remember → lyrics
"I started forgetting my lyrics and I'm like, This is not good."
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This → start → lyrics
That's when a mic-to-audience gesture comes in handy.
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gesture → come → audience
Send the call out, send the call out
Calling all my baddest women, it's about to go down
Click click click clack symphony, I need that
Click click click clack symphony, I love the sound of it
Who let the girls out?
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Who → send → girls
I did, I did, darling
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I → do → ?
She's empowered by the sound of us marching
Her legs are hurting, but her back is still arching
And this sound reminds me that it's going to be alright
From "Click Clack Symphony"
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it → empower → Symphony
At just 17, Raye got a record deal.
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Raye → get → deal
But after seven years, she says her music sat collecting dust, while the label had her writing and singing for others.
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her → say → others
"I learnt what I don't want: to share art of any form that I'm not proud of, to put my name on something that I don't like," she said.
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she → learn → that
"I had no control over what I sounded like, what I was supposed to sing.
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I → have → what
I didn't feel like I had a choice."
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I → feel → choice
Ultimately, Raye took her personal battle with the label Polydor public.
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Raye → take → Polydor
"My tweets and my messaging got a lot of attention, and actually, I think, allowed me for the first time some leverage and some power and a voice that had to be listened to," she said.
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she → get → leverage
Polydor let her out of the contract.
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Polydor → let → contract
She had no label to back her – or hold her back.
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She → have → her
As an independent artist, she faces a lot of risk, a lot of cost.
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she → face → cost
"Yes, yes, a lot of cost, but to me, an amazing reward," she said.
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she → say → me
"I can choose what to invest, for instance.
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I → choose → instance
I love to put on the most amazing show, and I love to fill the stage with musicians, and that is not cheap.
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that → love → musicians
That's not necessarily cost-effective, or the smartest way to do things if my focus is profit.
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focus → do → things
Raye performs "Five Star Hotels" at London's Royal Albert Hall:
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Raye → perform → Hall
…and 22 more, not listed.
The Aporia
