RAYE pushed herself to her “limit” with new album and recent touring

RAYE has said she pushed herself to her “limit” while working on her new album ‘This Music May Contain Hope’.

The South London singer’s second record – the follow-up to the multi-BRIT-winning 2023 debut ‘My 21st Century Blues’ – was recorded over an intensely busy period of three years and was released in March.

In a new interview with Billboard, she has spoken about how she came to realise that her work-life balance had become out of control during the runaway success that followed the release of ‘My 21st Century Blues’.

“There just comes a time in your life where, like, you have to, or you choose to, prioritise something over another, so I think in my case, like, work has really been my life for the last year, two years, three years,” she said.

“But I think this last year with this album, and the amount of touring, and just the vibe in general, I’ve really definitely pushed myself to, like, my limit.”

She added that she now hopes that things will be more stable now that her second album is out. “I’ve worked really, really hard and I’m really happy to, like, finally let this album go and, you know, be able to just have a little bit more balance. So I think now it can just be shows and rest time. Whereas before, it was shows, and then the studio and writing, and editing, and production.”

“By the way, like, I was the one who chose to make an album like this, and I was the one who had all these ambitious goals and ideas for it, and things I wanted to do and achieve,” she added.

In a five-star review of the album, NME wrote: “‘This Music May Contain Hope’ is RAYE firing on all cylinders – and then some. It’s showstopping musical maximalism at its grandest, while still being grounded in relatable experiences and unbridled emotions. Again, it’s admittedly a lot to take in – but that’s also why it’s so glorious, every theatrical flourish and stylistic detour a declaration from RAYE that she is finally making music for herself.”

RAYE will be headlining Reading and Leeds in August, as well as at Brighton’s Pride on the Park, and in August she will begin an extensive run of dates supporting Bruno Mars in North America – see those dates here and find any remaining tickets here.

She is also set to make her acting debut in Lineage, a new film by Top Boy director Yann Demange.