“Escapism” by RAYE featuring 070 Shake

RAYE dropped "Escapism" in October 2022, a team-up with the American rapper 070 Shake and the third single from her debut album, My 21st Century Blues, which followed in 2023. She put it out independently, paired with "The Thrill Is Gone", and it became her solo breakout: a TikTok groundswell, her first UK number one, and the first Billboard Hot 100 entry for both her and 070 Shake.

The two wrote it with producer Mike Sabath, who also handles drums, synth and mellotron, while Jacob Braun's cello and Paul Cartwright's violin add strings. It's an uptempo tangle of R&B, electropop and hip-hop about running from reality and nursing a broken heart, and the video RAYE co-directed with Otis Dominique follows her into partying, drinking and drugs after a breakup. It later won Song of the Year at the 2024 Brit Awards.

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