{"id":399443,"date":"2026-03-23T09:02:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T09:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/399443\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T09:02:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T09:02:19","slug":"adrian-thrills-a-performer-in-her-prime-raye-makes-her-pitch-to-sing-the-next-bond-theme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/399443\/","title":{"rendered":"ADRIAN THRILLS: A performer in her prime, Raye makes her pitch to sing the next Bond theme"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Raye: This Music May Contain Hope\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rating:<\/p>\n

Verdict: Pop-soul extravaganza\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0Having seen her artistic ambitions thwarted when she was signed to a major record label for seven years without releasing an album,\u00a0Raye<\/a> has been making up for lost time since her debut LP (My 21st Century Blues) finally emerged as an independent release in 2023.<\/p>\n

The former BRIT School student, born Rachel Keen, has become one of the leading figures in British pop.<\/p>\n

She swept the board at the BRITs in 2024, becoming the first artist to win six awards in a single night, and turned My 21st Century Blues into an orchestral epic with a concert at the Royal Albert Hall.<\/p>\n

With that level of success giving her a more generous recording budget, she leaves nothing to chance on her second album, This Music May Contain Hope.<\/p>\n

Out on Friday, it’s a 17-track extravaganza \u2013 essentially a double LP \u2013 on which her soul-baring lyrics are backed by the London Symphony Orchestra, a choir, spoken-word narrations and samples from classic songs by James Brown and Aretha Franklin<\/a>… understated it isn’t.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old south Londoner’s supple, versatile voice takes centre stage, but there are cameos from two significant guests, too, with film composer Hans Zimmer supplying the album’s most dramatic orchestrations on Click Clack Symphony and American soul legend Al Green duetting with her on Goodbye Henry. As she skips between snappy pop-soul and torch songs that sound like they belong in a musical, there are moments when her bold visions get the better of her.<\/p>\n

\"Raye, <\/p>\n

Raye, a former BRIT School student, born Rachel Keen, has become one of the leading figures in British pop<\/p>\n

The arrangements are occasionally over-the-top, and the gushing, four-minute monologue that closes the album with a list of thank-yous and production credits is a bit much. But there’s no doubting the fizzing energy and passion she brings to the table.<\/p>\n

As its title suggests, this is generally a brighter record than My 21st Century Blues, despite a lingering sense of bruised romance and unrequited love.<\/p>\n

She’s a singer-songwriter now confident enough to trust her instincts and push herself creatively. The record opens in Paris, with Girl Under The Grey Cloud finding a heartbroken Raye drowning her sorrows on the rainswept streets of the French capital in the wee hours.<\/p>\n

Still in France, she channels her inner Edith Piaf on I Will Overcome, hitting the big notes as if she’s starring in her own James Bond theme. That’s a role that will surely come her way at some point. Her gaze then switches to her hometown on Beware.. The South London Lover Boy, a swinging soul number and the kind of thing she excels at.<\/p>\n

Her focus also stays close to home on Nightingale Lane, a power ballad that pinpoints the exact location (Clapham) of an early romantic disappointment (‘the greatest heartbreak I have ever known’).<\/p>\n

There are echoes of another theatrical south London singer, Florence Welch of Florence + The Machine, on piano ballad I Know You’re Hurting, before we graduate from heartache to healing on Life Boat, a throwback to the dance music Raye made before she became famous, and Where Is My Husband!, a strident stomper of a tune that makes the search for a long-term partner actually sound like fun.<\/p>\n

\"Raye <\/p>\n

Raye poses on the red carpet during the Oscars arrivals on March 15<\/p>\n

In keeping with the melodramatic mood, the album features two show-stopping finales in Joy, on which Raye is joined on vocals by her sisters Amma and Abby-Lynn Keen, and Happier Times Ahead.<\/p>\n

The end-credits then roll against a backdrop of Hollywood strings on Fin.<\/p>\n

These songs might ultimately belong on a West End stage rather than at the concert hall, but they are the work of a performer in her prime.<\/p>\n

This Music May Contain Hope is out on Friday. Raye plays The O2, London, on May 19 and 20.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0Raye: This Music May Contain Hope\u00a0 Rating: Verdict: Pop-soul extravaganza\u00a0 \u00a0Having seen her artistic ambitions thwarted when she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[264],"tags":[118,18,117,19,17,337,135563,438],"class_list":["post-399443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-dailymail","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music","tag-raye","tag-tvshowbiz"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116277683590265615","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}