Fresh off the release of her latest album, THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE, RAYE is pulling back the curtain on what it took to get here, and it wasn’t easy.
In a new sit-down with Zane Lowe for The Zane Lowe Show, the seven-time BRIT Award-winning artist gets candid about exhaustion, creative control, and the long road to independence. The conversation arrives at a pivotal moment in her career, just days after the album’s release, offering fans a deeper understanding of the work behind the music.
“It’s Taken Every Blood Cell”
RAYE doesn’t sugarcoat the process behind THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE. The album, she explains, demanded everything.
“It took so long to make… It’s a lifetime’s worth of work that’s gone into this album. It’s taken every blood cell. I’m honestly exhausted, both mentally and physically. Not in a bad way, just in the way of if I’ve not been on a stage, I’ve been pouring into this body of work in some way, shape, or form.”
Rather than handing off responsibilities, she leaned in. Writing, producing, and collaborating with large ensembles became part of her day-to-day life.
“I also took on the task of wanting to executive producer, write all of it lyrically and melodically from the top-line perspective and work with a plethora of just incredible musicians and big bands and string sections and orchestras and there’s just been a labour of absolute passion and love.”
The result is a record that feels expansive without losing its emotional center, a reflection of years spent sharpening her voice both on and off the stage.
A Quiet Rebellion Against the Industry
Before stepping into her own spotlight, RAYE spent years writing for other artists. That experience shaped her, but it also pushed her to break away.
“I think probably subconsciously, there’s a kind of rebellion in there of the former model of which I existed for so many years of, you know, everything being so simple and so minimal…”
She describes the routine of studio sessions built around strict formulas, where creativity often came second to timelines and metrics.
“And… it being like to brief, it needs to be this long, it needs to be this BPM, it needs to be this and that, you know, and that was a lot of my life. A miserable existence for me.”
That tension helped fuel the direction of the album. Instead of chasing a single sound, she let herself explore.
“I’m not just one thing. I’ve grown up with many different cultures… my identity is not one thing. So how can you ask me to choose one thing? I think in this record I’ve embraced maximalism… exploring any genre I felt I wanted to. What even are genres nowadays?”
Walking Away and Taking Control
One of the most defining moments in RAYE’s journey came when she cut ties with her label. It wasn’t a simple exit, but it marked a shift in power.
“Well, you know what, it was the best-case scenario that could have happened in that moment… after doing that for ten or no, seven years in that specific label system that I was in, it for me it was a breaking point of I’ll just be a songwriter for the rest of my life, like I can’t do this.”
She recalls leveraging newfound attention to advocate for herself in a way she hadn’t before.
“And I was able to kind of pretty explicitly say, you know, you know, I’m going to really go on… I’m going to take every interview and I’m going to tell every gory detail. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Total leverage. How does it feel now I’ve got some? I f****** love it.”
The departure didn’t just change her career, it changed her mindset.
Healing, Then Rebuilding
Independence brought freedom, but it also required recovery. RAYE is open about the emotional work that followed.
“It was a really good feeling… But also therapy had to occur. You know what I mean? Like a lot of healing had to occur, it’s not… it wasn’t a simple, you know, it wasn’t a simple time.”
From there, the album came together in pieces, old ideas, new insights, and songs that had been waiting for their moment.
“A lot of songs from a lot of years past and new thoughts from therapy and new realizations and things like that… Like ‘Oscar Winning Tears’ is an eight-year-old song. Like it was and I was like please, I love this.”
Building It From the Ground Up
Without the backing of a major label, RAYE had to rethink everything, from distribution to release strategy.
“It was literally me, my dad, and we found a distribution company, the one, literally the only place that would take and… and it would take my album as it was and like support me on this journey.”
What started as uncertainty became a defining strength. By the time the album arrived, it wasn’t just a collection of songs, it was proof of concept.
And for RAYE, that shift matters just as much as the music itself.
Watch the full episode HERE or anytime on demand with an Apple Music subscription HERE.
