25-year-old South Londoner RAYE is an artist in hot demand. And the temperature dial is only going up. Her rise to the top of the cultural zeitgeist may seem like it came out of nowhere, but RAYE has been on a journey. The highly anticipated release of her debut album My 21st Century Blues in February, following an exit from her record label, heralded RAYE’s arrival as an independent artist making music on her own terms. She refused to be pigeonholed into a single genre; and with the release of her debut album RAYE unknowingly shared the song that has become synonymous with 2023 – the viral, chart-topping smash hit ‘Escapism.’ ft. 070Shake. With more than 540 million streams on that single alone, her international achievements and accolades are now too long to list. To top it all off, her newest track ‘The Weekend’ features fellow South Londoner and Laneway ‘24 lineup headliner, Stormzy. RAYE bet on herself, and she won.