RAYE

RAYE, born Rachel Agatha Keen in Tooting in 1997, spent years writing songs for other artists and singing on dance records before the world got the album she'd been trying to make all along. She signed to Polydor in 2014, broke through as the voice on Jonas Blue's "By Your Side" and Jax Jones's "You Don't Know Me", and kept the dance-floor collaborations coming with "Secrets" and "Bed". In 2021 she walked away from Polydor, saying the label wouldn't release her debut album.

So she put it out herself. After signing with Human Re Sources in 2022, she released My 21st Century Blues in 2023, and it was a revelation: jazz, soul, R&B, pop and dance all tangled together, with lyrics that deal head-on with her own life and the world around her. "Escapism" became her first UK chart-topper, and "Worth It" showed off her silkier side. At the Brit Awards in 2024 she won six, more than any artist had ever taken home in a single year, and she became the first woman to be named the Brits' Songwriter of the Year.

This Music May Contain Hope followed in 2026 and gave her a first UK number-one album, while its lead single "Where Is My Husband!" became her second chart-topper at home and her highest showing yet on Billboard's global chart. She also has three Grammy nominations to her name.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.