Raye on 'Escapism', working with Stormzy and beating record label struggles | Mercury Prize 2023 - video Dailymotion

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Watch Raye on 'Escapism', working with Stormzy and beating record label struggles | Mercury Prize 2023 - NME on Dailymotion

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00:00 Good afternoon, Ray.

00:01 Good afternoon.

00:01 How are you today?

00:03 I'm very well. How are you?

00:04 I'm absolutely fine. It's nice to be out, isn't it?

00:06 Yeah, it's nice to be out. Yes.

00:08 Well, I feel like we've been talking about this record for a while now.

00:11 How does it feel for the journey of this debut to to bring you here to the Mercury Prize?

00:15 Oh, it feels amazing, you know, and I think, first of all,

00:20 to be recognized for, you know, for a body of work, it's just

00:24 something that I've I've really wanted for a really long time.

00:28 And it really feels like it's happening.

00:29 It just really feels that people have taken the time to dig into this album.

00:33 And and I know that this shortlist hopefully will bring even more ears

00:37 to people who've never heard it or heard of me or whatever.

00:39 So it's just exciting.

00:42 It's growth is stepping stones, but it's also just kind of ridiculously

00:47 unexpected and

00:51 really all the positive words in the dictionary listed here.

00:55 Do you have a message for your former label?

00:57 Ha ha ha. No.

01:00 No. So, well, all of the records in the shortlist

01:05 tend to kind of say something about music, about life over the last 12 months or so.

01:08 I mean, what can you tell us about the character of this album

01:10 and what you were trying to say and what you're trying to capture?

01:12 Um, you know, I think I was a little bit worried when I put it out

01:15 that there'd be too much.

01:16 And I don't think there's like a necessarily a cohesive sound

01:21 or any sort of kind of.

01:25 Do you know what I mean? It's a little bit all over the place,

01:27 but maybe that's a little bit like what I'm like.

01:29 I think in life, there's a lot of different colors and textures

01:34 to what we we experience and what we go through.

01:36 And, you know, it's not happy all the time.

01:38 It's not sad all the time.

01:40 It's waves and stages.

01:41 And I really just try to be as honest as possible, really.

01:44 Yeah. Yeah.

01:47 And you just dropped that massive Stormzy collab.

01:49 I mean, I understand you guys have known each other for a while.

01:50 How can you tell us about what you tell us about how this song came together?

01:52 Yes.

01:54 Do you know what?

01:55 I was back in London for literally a day and I just got back from America

01:59 and the next day I was headed somewhere else.

02:01 So jet, so jet lag and Stormzy called me out of the blue and he's like,

02:05 "Rae, what are you doing?"

02:07 I was like, "I just got back to London.

02:10 I'm in the studio. Do you want to come?"

02:11 And I was like, "OK."

02:13 So I came to the studio and then we did it, you know?

02:17 Yeah. And then after we'd finished making the song, we really loved it.

02:22 Any other dream bucket list collabs you're working towards?

02:25 Quincy Jones, Hans Zimmer,

02:27 or two to name a few. Yeah.

02:32 Sweet. Yeah.

02:33 And I'm guessing your whole life's been leading up to this record,

02:35 so it feels selfish to ask.

02:37 Am I blooper reel now? Fucking hell.

02:39 Bloopers. OK, we can make an edit that we can drop in a year's time.

02:44 Don't say fuck or bugger. Right, OK. OK, here we go again.

02:46 So obviously, you've spent your whole life working towards this record.

02:49 Yeah. It feels selfish to ask.

02:50 But have you had any thoughts about the next album?

02:54 Do you know what? Not quite yet.

02:56 It's 133 shows this year.

02:57 I had no time to not be doing shows.

03:01 Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah.

03:02 So hopefully when I've got some time, I'm going to start writing again.

03:05 I miss writing. Yeah.

03:07 And do you have any advice for,

03:08 because obviously with everything you've been through in the music industry,

03:10 do you have any advice for anyone who's sort of contemplating it,

03:12 but feels it's just this like big, insurmountable beast?

03:15 Do I have any advice?

03:18 People afraid of the music industry.

03:20 I mean, it is a scary thing. I get it.

03:22 You know, I think it's really important to find people you can trust and

03:25 people who also allow you to be the artist you want to be,

03:29 which I know sounds obvious, but it's actually not.

03:31 You know, it's crazy when you're an artist, you're so vulnerable

03:33 and susceptible to every opinion that comes in.

03:36 It's going to affect

03:37 maybe even how you feel about something you once loved.

03:39 You'll be like, oh, well, so many people are saying this.

03:42 And maybe, you know what I mean?

03:43 You just got to get that noise out, trust your instincts and,

03:46 you know, keep good people around you, I'd say.

03:49 Yeah. I saw that Escapism is one of the biggest songs of last year.

03:52 Officially, numerically, statistically.

03:54 Of last year? Of this year.

03:55 Of this year? Bloody hell.

03:57 How's that feel?

03:58 Yeah, that's nuts, isn't it?

04:00 Wow. I'll take that.

04:03 How do you feel when you do a song like that and it goes on to have like a life

04:07 of its own and become this kind of runaway machine?

04:10 I mean, you know, that's kind of the goal.

04:12 My goal is before I die, I want to create things that stand the test of time

04:16 and live on maybe once I'm not here anymore.

04:18 And maybe that's the little taste of that.

04:20 I don't know. Maybe that's a bit big headed to say.

04:23 But at the end of the day, having music that people are listening to,

04:28 that's the goal, you know, and I'm just really grateful that

04:31 that's happened. Also with a song that I love so much and

04:34 didn't even intend for that to be the case of the song.

04:38 I was just trying to make something I loved and I was honest.

04:40 So I'm very, very, very grateful.

04:42 Sweet. And back to the Mercury Prize.

04:44 If you were a betting woman, who would your money be on?

04:45 Other than yourself, of course.

04:46 Oh, I would say

04:51 I feel like Fred again's album is so brilliant.

04:54 So maybe him.

05:00 I think Ezra Collective should take it.

05:03 I think they're so top tier, brilliant.

05:05 And also Olivia Deen, she ate.

05:08 And I love her. Also, Shy Girls so far.

05:13 Maybe everyone should win. And me.

05:16 And me.

05:17 Sweet. Right. Congratulations.

05:20 Thank you very much.

05:21 Thank you.

05:22 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Raye on 'Escapism', working with Stormzy and beating record label struggles | Mercury Prize 2023

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