Raye

Balancing pop, R&B and electronic textures, Raye has, since the mid-2010s, built a singer-songwriter career rooted in the London scene. Born Rachel Agatha Keen in 1997 in Tooting, South London, to a Ghanaian-Swiss mother and an English father, she grew up in Croydon and attended the BRIT School for a time before leaving to focus on her own songs. After a self-released debut EP, Welcome to the Winter (2014), Raye worked closely with producers from the UK dance scene and lent her voice to singles by Jax Jones or Jonas Blue, positioning herself at the crossroads of radio pop, house and melodic R&B. Signed to Polydor, she followed with EPs and mini-projects such as Second (2016), Side Tape (2018) and Euphoric Sad Songs (2020), while also writing for international pop artists, notably Beyoncé and Little Mix. From 2021 onward, Raye pursued her career as an independent artist and steered her music toward a more album-focused format, more narrative and personal. This shift crystallized on My 21st Century Blues, released in 2023, where Raye weaves soul, piano ballads and darker electronic productions, with a marked emphasis on storytelling and meticulous vocal arrangements.