Should you watched Raye belt out her hit track “Oscar Profitable Tears” through the Feb. 2 Grammys broadcast, she regarded like a younger girl on prime of the the world. The British-Ghanaian singer-songwriter, who was nominated for three Grammys, together with Greatest New Artist and Songwriter of the 12 months, Non-Classical, was the topic of loads of on-line chatter after her soulful efficiency.
However Raye – whose mom is of Ghanaian-Swiss heritage and whose father is British – has struggled with each her musical and her racial id in an business that tends to favor racially ambiguous artists. In a September 2024 interview, she opened up concerning the stress she’s felt to cover her Blackness from the remainder of the world.
“As a result of I visually don’t look Black, I can disguise it. And I’ve been hiding it subconsciously,” she stated. “When individuals know me now and lookup my songs now, I make dance music. However once I signed my file deal, I used to be an R&B artist. I used to make beats. I used to sing four-part harmonies. I grew up in church. I used to be so so related to my Black tradition and my heritage.”
She added that she’s struggled to battle second ideas about her sound, believing she wanted to suppress a number of the soul and “embrace the white” in her.
“It’s a tough factor to even say out loud as a result of I’m grateful for that chance, however the reality is I felt like I didn’t have a selection,” she stated.
Raye has let a few of her frustration with play out in public, posting a June 2021 rant towards her former label Polydor on X, writing partially, “ALL I CARE ABOUT is the music. I’m sick of being slept on and I’m sick of being in ache about it; this isn’t enterprise to me, this so private.”
This time round, Raye says she couldn’t be prouder of her music, calling “My twenty first Century Blues” an impartial chapter of her profession. Launched on impartial label Human Assets, it’s a artistic mixture of dance music, pop and dancehall, one thing she informed the Recording Academy had particular that means to her as a result of she was in full artistic management – a aim she’s had because the starting.
“My objective isn’t to be the primary artist. It’s to be probably the most sincere and genuine I may be,” she informed The Impartial in a 2022 interview. “To honor all these totally different sides of me.”