RAYE

Raye signed with Human Re Sources in 2022 and independently released her debut studio album, My 21st Century Blues (2023), to critical acclaim. Its third single, "Escapism", became her first UK number-one single and her first top-ten entry on the Billboard Global 200. She also collaborated with Cassö and D-Block Europe on the UK top-two single "Prada". Raye's second studio album, This Music May Contain Hope (2026), received critical acclaim and became her first number-one album on the UK Albums Chart. Its lead single, "Where Is My Husband!", became her second UK number-one single and her highest-charting release on the Billboard Global 200.

Outside of her own discography, Raye has also co-written songs for other musicians, including Beyoncé, Charli XCX, Ellie Goulding, and Little Mix. The first female recipient of the Brit Award for Songwriter of the Year, Raye has won seven Brit Awards, four Global Awards, and two Ivor Novello Awards, in addition to nominations for a Mercury Prize and three Grammy Awards.

Rachel Agatha Keen was born on 24 October 1997 in Tooting, London, to a Ghanaian-Swiss mother who is a mental health worker, and an English father from Yorkshire. She has three younger sisters: singer and songwriter Abby-Lynn, singer Lauren (known professionally as Amma), and Katelyn. As a child, Raye frequently attended church where her mother sang in the choir and her father was the musical director. Raye and her family later moved to Croydon, where she grew up and studied at Woodcote High School.

Surrounded by music, Raye first showed interest in becoming a recording artist at the age of eight. She wrote her first song for a concert in Year 6 and performed it at the Southwark Cathedral, after her father taught her how to play the piano. At age 14, Raye was chosen to enter the BRIT School, where she studied for two years before dropping out due to feeling "confined". She spent most of her teenage years learning how to write songs professionally in studio sessions on the weekends.

In November 2014, at the age of 17, Raye independently uploaded her debut extended play (EP), Welcome to the Winter, to the audio streaming service SoundCloud. She wrote, recorded, and co-produced the seven tracks on the track listing. Olly Alexander, then the lead singer of the band Years & Years, discovered the EP's single "Hotbox" through the music website Hype Machine and sent it to the record label he was signed to, Polydor Records. Raye signed a contract with them thereafter. In 2015, she released the single "Alien" featuring Avelino and covered the Years & Years song "Shine", later opening for the band's show at Shepherd's Bush Empire.