RAYE is one of the World’s most streamed artists and revered songwriters. The multi-platinum independent pop star is gearing up for the release of her debut album, My 21st Century Blues. It’s due out on February 3, 2023, and is available to pre-order now HERE via Human Re Sources / The Orchard.
RAYE reveals the tracklist for the hugely anticipated record set to include her current smash hit single, Escapism, plus already released tracks like Hard Out Here, Black Mascara and The Thrill Is Gone. My 21st Century Blues includes new standouts Ice Cream Man, Buss It Down, and Five Star Hotels with UK alt-R&B vocalist Mahalia. My 21st Century Blues is a profoundly personal body of work. The 13 songs touch on RAYE’s painful experiences in the music industry, sexual abuse, rape, addiction, body dysmorphia, misogyny and climate change.
The success surrounding RAYE’s 2022 comeback has been exponential. Giving an emotional, adrenaline-rushing performance, the London native continues to manifest herself as a powerhouse star performer with the massive global success of Escapism, which catapulted to viral TikTok fame last month and has since surpassed 5.65 billion views and 4 million creations on the platform in addition to more than 150 million cumulative streams and 24 million monthly Spotify listeners. The song amassed 14 million streams last week alone and continues its meteoric rise across the globe again this week where it’s on course to become RAYE’s first-ever UK #1 single and has achieved new peaks on the Billboard Hot 100 (#72) and across Spotify’s Top 50 Global (#19) and US Daily Viral 100 (#2) charts. Escapism officially impacts US Top 40 and Rhythmic Radio next week on Monday, January 9.
RAYE has also announced this week that she will be joining Lewis Capaldi as a special guest on his Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Spent tour in January, which has sold out, before embarking on her headline My 21st Century Blues World Tour. The tour kicks off in Europe before playing five sold-out North American cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City in March. For more details on ticketing, visit RAYE’s official website HERE.
It’s been a year since RAYE, the mononym for South Londoner Rachel Keen, blew up her career to rebuild it. Frustrated at the fact she’d been continually denied the chance to release her debut album by her then major label — despite more than 25 million monthly Spotify listeners, 7 top 20 UK singles, and 4 Brit Awards nominations to her name, plus songwriting credits that have clocked more than 3.5 billion global streams for other chart-topping acts like Beyoncé, John Legend, Little Mix and Charli XCX to name only a few— she posted a series of viral tweets that shed light not only on her struggles but on the plight of female artists caught in an endless loop of faceless dance features and broken promises.
A straight shooter, RAYE has always relished being a maverick. Brought up in a musical household (her dad and grandad were both songwriters), RAYE knew from an early age that she would carry on this songwriting lineage. At 14 years old, RAYE decided she wanted to attend the Brit School, the creative hothouse that had helped shape the likes of Adele and Amy Winehouse but left two years later to jump-start her career. That same year she released the independently-funded, blissed-out Welcome To Winter EP on Soundcloud.
In between penning hit records, such as Bigger for Beyoncé’s The Lion King: The Gift album and Bed with Joel Corry (read Joel Corry on being an LGBTQ ally and his friendship with RAYE) and David Guetta, RAYE released a series of projects, including Second EP in 2016, Side Tape mixtape in 2018 and Euphoric Sad Songs mixtape in 2020. Her solo catalogue alone has over three billion cumulative streams. She garnered early support from BBC Radio, The Guardian and Vogue and continues to be championed by global names, including Bulgari, Christopher Kane and JW Anderson. Furthermore, she’s toured with Halsey, Khalid, Rita Ora, Years & Years and Jess Glynne.
Over the summer, RAYE made her comeback as an independent artist with Hard Out Here, a no-holds-barred anthem that quickly earned widespread support from critics at The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Billboard, PAPER, and more. She followed up with Black Mascara in August. In October, her double release of Escapism and The Thrill Is Gone coincided with her performance of the singles on the critically acclaimed British show Later… with Jools Holland. With My 21st Century Blues completed and proper infrastructure in place to capitalize on her extensive experience as a hit-maker, RAYE is ready to launch stage two of her career and build out her discography.
You can pre-order RAYE’s debut album, My 21st Century Blues, available on February 3, 2023.
My 21st Century Blues Tracklist
1. “Introduction.”
2. “Oscar Winning Tears.”
5. “Escapism.” (feat. 070 Shake)
6. “Mary Jane.”
8. “Ice Cream Man.”
9. “Flip A Switch.”
10. “Body Dysmorphia.”
11. “Environmental Anxiety.”
12. “Five Star Hotels.” (feat. Mahalia)
13. “Worth It.”
14. “Buss It Down.”
15. “Fin.”
My 21st Century Blues 2023 World Tour Dates
2/25/23 – Amsterdam, NL – Melkweg
2/26/23 – Berlin, DEU – Frannz
2/27/23 – Copenhagen, DK – Lilie Vega
3/1/23 – Stockholm, SE – Debaser Strand
3/2/23 – Paris, FR – La Maroquinerie
3/4/23 – Dublin, IE – Olympia Theatre
3/5/23 – Belfast, UK – Limelight
3/7/23 – Manchester, UK – O2 Ritz
3/8/23 – London, UK – Roundhouse
3/14/23 – San Francisco, CA – Popscene @ Rickshaw Stop
3/15/23 – Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour
3/17/23 – Toronto, ON – Velvet Underground
3/19/23 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall
3/21/23 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall Of Williamsburg
Connect with RAYE:
INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK / TWITTER / YOUTUBE / TIK TOK / RAYE
