You should know Raye's story by now, and if not, we'll give you a little summary: we can say she went from being a behind-the-scenes hitmaker to an artist blocked by a major label that didn't allow her to release an album. Then it happens that she denounced everything publicly, left her old label, became independent and released a record that changed her life: My 21st Century Blues.
A disco that transformed his personal story into a huge success, in which he talks about abuse, successes and failures. Only a few months ago we saw her in concert in Bologna and found ourselves in front of an incredible artist. Voice, stage presence, 21-piece band, a show that flirts between jazz club and Broadway.
It comes out today This Music May Contain Hopehis new album, which perfectly continues what we saw a few weeks ago. Let's start by saying that at first listening it is not a simple work. It's not, let's say, a pop star's album that you listen to in half an hour and maybe think about which choruses you can use in your next reels (sob). Above all, it is not a record that frames the most famous single, the hit of recent months Where Is My Husband!.
It's a 70-minute roller coaster, between big band, rnb, jazz, swing, present and past. That past with which the English flirt so well, from Amy Winehouse down, through Duffy and up to the 'new' Sienna Spiro and Olivia Dean.
But in this album talking about the past is reductive. Why This Music May Contain Hope it is first of all a real concept album, ready to be performed on a smoky club stage but also in the theater. A personal Odyssey, in which Ulysses is this London girl who has understood the strength of telling everything she feels. While listening to this album in its entirety, the word playlist is forbidden here, it really feels like you're seeing what the artist is singing and talking about. The love stories, the foggy city, the fatigue, the depression, the rebirth, the life.
We read around that the album is divided into seasons: it starts with the dark parts, and ends with spring and summer. The first track is all spoken word, and it's not called by chance Girl Under The Gray Cloud. Here Raye explains the context. Then comes the wonderful one I Will OvercomeI will get through it, with the choirs saying “yes, he will make it, he will make it”. Group therapy and musicals together.
Then we change register, Winter Woman it's almost rap. Prayin' for warmer days to come. And those days come. But first we still have to go through Click Clack Symphonyfeat. none other than the master of soundtracks Hans Zimmer. In this song we talk about depression (“I eat, I sleep, I work, but there must be something more than just existence”) until an outro in which Zimmer's work transforms the track into something epic.
All gutted, shouted when needed, thrown onto the plate. With the voice of those who master their instrument in every register. Again at first listen one would say that this album is a rarity of our times, especially if we are talking about mainstream. And we would also say that if you are only a fan of the atmosphere of Where Is My Husband!this album could use a lot more effort. To appreciate it you need to arm yourself with good intentions, understand the lyrics, create visual images of what Raye sings. I say we still know how to do it if we try. Perhaps the thing we can say most about Raye is this: managing to be pop despite not having given up making stuff that isn't really pop.
This is a record full of stuff: there's gospel, jazz, R&B, swing, there's the 50s and there's something tribal and something that also sounds vaguely dance (Life Boat). A long soundtrack that could range from a James Bond 3.0 to the revisitation of a classic, a bit like Charli XCX did with Wuthering Heights Elordi version, or as we hope Nolan does with theOdyssey (on trust).
A lot of stuff to swallow and digest, it must be said, in one go. At the staging, the scenography is changed a hundred times, yet there is always something that ties everything together: a narrative approach that makes you want to know how it ends. Inside the album there is Al Green (!), there is Hans Zimmer (!!), there are his incredible sisters Amma and Absolutely.
But above all, this album is everything that most of the albums coming out now are not: free from market dynamics and above all from those horrible social trends. Raye has understood that her strength is to be different from what surrounds her, releasing records that are rich, very rich, sometimes even too rich, but records that are aimed at people who can't wait to wear a red sequin sheath dress and get lost in the harmonies of the choirs or, alternatively, simply sit down with a good pair of headphones and listen to them all in a row. As it is done with books or films, and as it should also be done with records. But you know it's 2026, right? So today do something revolutionary for these times (I feel bad just writing this): take an hour of time and enjoy the journey.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
