Raye shares “deeply personal” new single ‘Genesis’: “It is a prayer, a plea and a cry for help”

nme.com:

Raye has shared an expansive and “deeply personal” new single, ‘Genesis’ – you can listen to it below.The multi-BRIT Award-winning singer-songwriter previewed the track live at a special pop-up exhibition in New York City earlier this week, saying she was “so proud” of how it had turned out.Today (June 7) Raye released the studio version of the ambitious, seven-minute song – which marks her first material since her critically acclaimed, Mercury Prize-nominated debut album ‘My 21st Century Blues’ (2023).“There is a Nina Simone quote, ‘It is an artist’s duty to reflect the times’.

This quote is everything to me and I believe the best way I can try to do this is through my art and my music,” she said in a statement.“There is so much darkness and pain in this world we live in, and I wanted to create something both as deeply personal and as raw as I could find myself to be about my own mind and the world I see around me.”Raye continued: “The song is a seven-minute piece that I have crafted and scrutinised over the last year and a half, experimenting with different genres and sonic expressions, beneath all the layers and the lyrics, the underlying message is ‘Let There Be Light’.“It is a prayer and a plea and a cry for help, and I really hope this song will be able to bring some hope, the way this music does for me, to those who need it most.”In the gospel-tinged first part, Raye sings about how she’s “been sober for some months“. “But I can feel the demons waiting on my downfall/ Since I’m so ugly and irrelevant/ I’ve been losing friends as if I’m tryna get rid of them,” she adds.The single goes on to incorporate elements of jazz, hip-hop and R&B, with the dramatic second part boasting a dark brass section. “Bang-bang, that’s.