English singer songwriter, Rachel Agatha Keen, or more commonly known by her stage name, Raye, has stepped back onto the scene releasing her newest single,“Hard Out Here”. The single is from her forthcoming debut album, and marks her first solo outing as an independent artist since parting ways with Polydor Records.
Raye posted a statement today about her new song, stating, “I wrote this song a week after I took to Twitter to protest my freedom. I was angry, scared and desperate and I set up a microphone in my living room barefaced and puffy eyed, just me and my dear engineer Felly sat there, silence speaking louder than words, I took a deep breath and vented my sand little heart out. The original beat for this song was created years ago by the INCREDIBLE talent that is my dear Mike with an entirely different song on top of it , a song I was itching to share a long time ago. I took this instrumental, deleted the top line and wrote an entirely new story.”
Raye then added, “This song marks the first step of my unapologetic truth and my desire to exist and speak fearlessly. I want to build a fan base who doesn’t care what genre I share with the world, but is just excited to hear my next story. I have been through a lot in the darkness. I am just so grateful for you all, this both a scary but insanely empowering time. For the first time I am in control entirely of my career and that alone has given me more life and purpose than I have ever felt before.”
Raye left Polydor Records almost a year ago after feeling like she was being somewhat controlled, as she explained in a statement: “Since I joined the label, the message was: you need to choose your sound otherwise you’re confusing people. I got it into my head that I wasn’t a real artist because I didn’t have one sound. It was, as she puts it, a real mindf**k. “When you’re told enough times that having different styles is a weakness, you start to talk down to yourself. I was looking at everyone else on the label asking myself, ‘Raye… everyone else has a clear identity; who are you?’”
Raye has articulated the liberation she feels having left the label. When speaking about her new single, she said, “It’s super angry. I was both crying and red with rage, just writing these lyrics, and capturing how I really felt in that moment. I didn’t want anything to influence what I want to express. I’m trying to tell my story, and that’s what matters. I don’t want to cater to an audience – I want the audience to love me for what I’m saying and what I want to express. “Hard Out Here” is my story, it’s not going for the charts.”
You can pre-save Raye’s new single here. The official video will be premiering tonight at 6.00pm – the link for this can be found here.
