- 2023-04-13
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MUSIC
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Donate to support families affected by the crisis in Ukraine ➔ RAYE Performs at NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert
British singer-songwriter Rachel Keen, aka RAYE appeared on NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert to perform “Worth It.”, “Five Star Hotels.”, “Mary Jane.”, and “Buss It Down.”.
The original version of “Five Star Hotels.” features Mahalia. But this time, RAYE played the song as solo version.
Four songs are included on her debut album “My 21st Century Blues”, which was released back in February.
Her debut album was 7 years in the making after being stuck in a major label deal. Her previous label Polydor Records had been withholding her debut album for several years.
So, she left Polydor Records and released the album as an independing artist. The album reached No. 2 on the UK Albums chart.
RAYE told the audience, “I'm a songwriter for a living, okay. I usually have all the words but I'm genuinely speechless. All I've wanted is to be seen and respected as a musician.”- When she released the album, she told Apple Music about four songs.
“Worth It.”
“I wanted to release this a long time ago. Sometimes there are moments where it's like, 'Here comes someone—let's make all of the shit things feel really cool. And all this work that I'm supposed to be doing on myself, I might pause for a section and start putting some work into this other thing because it feels really nice.' I wanted to have this near the end of the album—a warm hug as you are leaving some of those darker earlier things. The irony is in putting it just before 'Buss It Down.' because it didn't fucking work out!”
“Five Star Hotels.”
“This song existed for a long time, and I always loved it. It was just a way of feeling sexy. We sent it to Mahalia, and when she sent me her verse, it was like, 'Yes!' We're two girls who have dreams and have worked really hard from young ages. She just felt like the right person. Creating music to feel [sexy] has been empowering for me.” -
“Mary Jane.”
“I'm an all-or-nothing person in every aspect of my life. So, when something dangerous is introduced [substances], it can get really bad—really, really bad. The lyrics in this song are dark, but substance abuse can really, really take you there. It's a love song married with a slightly uneasy feeling behind the music. I wanted it to feel uncomfortable.”
“Buss It Down.”
“It's the juxtaposition between gospel feelings and a song about getting down. The choice to be single is empowering, and I think this is something for the single girls. It's all right to be single and be joyous about it. It can be a good thing.” - source : NPR
