- 2022-08-25
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MUSIC
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Donate to support families affected by the crisis in Ukraine ➔ RAYE Premieres New Song “Black Mascara” on BBC Radio 1
British singer-songwriter RAYE premiered a new song “Black Mascara” on BBC Radio 1's Future Sounds with Clara Amfo.
The song is the second single off of her upcoming debut album, following “Hard Out Here”.
After she left major label Polydor, she signed to Human Re Sources. She said, “I am both empowered and supported and I can not wait for this journey we will embark on together, in finally getting to release my debut album, 7 years in the making.”
It was written by Rachel Keen, Will Lansley and John Morgan. Produced by Will Lansley and John Morgan.
RAYE said of the song in a press release, “This song is about another story that has contributed to my 'blues'. I used the juxtaposition of an upbeat dance track to tell this awful story of being misled by someone I really loved and trusted. While it was a dark low moment, it was also cathartic for me. The lyric 'once you see my black mascara run from me to my mother's hands' is me saying, 'if only you could actually see the damage that's been done.'”
She continued, “But I don't want the story to end there, it's meant to be empowering, to lend a voice to women like me who may have experienced their own blues in this 21st century. That's what my album is about really– tackling all of those blues that we experience as a generation. Ironically, this is the only upbeat dance track on the album, but I used my voice this time to tell a raw unfiltered story.”- UaAqk2XK4V0
- UaAqk2XK4V0
RAYE told Clara Amfo about the song, “Black Mascara is kind of second story I wanted to share. I remember the time I went through what happened and it's pretty dark story I'm gonna be quite honest. I was spending a little time with someone I really trusted and it was it was during the time where I was going through whatever I was going through the label and then I basically everything done. My drink was by I went through a night in hell I got off all night. Oh, really traumatizing event. And, you know, like, again, I feel like this is one of the things women it's like when you go through something. You feel like shame you feel embarrassed, you feel like don't talk about it, hide it, bury it, keep it going.”
She continued, “I'm part of this new journey for me as I was telling you the last time we spoke was like, It's not about that for me anymore for me. It's about like, I want to name these things. I want to talk about these things. And I don't want other women out there who go through the same things or who have been through the same thing to feel the shame and then this embarrassment that you're burdened by the worst of times, so I made this song as medicine when I'm broken or really going through something tough. I can't listen to sad music because I just think it would just take me too far. So for me, it was about just needing some sort of place to put my pain, and I listened to this song like a broken record. And it really was a huge part of my healing process. So, just another chapter in the book.”-
“The overall theme [of the record] is being a woman in this world and taking a step back to process all of the shit that's actually been done to me, things that I've had to hide behind the scenes,” she explained to DIY. “I wrote that song specifically about a time when I got my drink spiked by a man I really liked. I trusted him. I'd got to a good place where I found some sobriety and peace of mind, and then this happened and I immediately went to the darkest place.”
She continued, “I went into the studio and played the weird chords on the piano and said to the guys I was working with, 'Guys, you need to not argue with me',” she recalls. After recording “500 different vocal layers,” she was done. “It was perfect. I listened to it a lot and it was real medicine for me. The good thing about music is that you can put your pain somewhere beautiful.”
Photo by Sebastian Kapfhammer - source : BBC Radio 1
