RAYE shares powerful speech on label troubles and sexual assault during Glastonbury 2023 set

nme.com:

RAYE gave a powerful speech on sexual assault and her label troubles during her Pyramid Stage set at Glastonbury 2023 yesterday (June 24).The singer, who went independent after a high-profile label dispute last year and recently released debut album ‘My 21st Century Blues’, hit the festival’s main stage on Saturday afternoon.During the nine-song set, she took time to address her public issues around her former label, saying: “I can’t quite express how much it’s taken me to get to this moment right now.

I’ve been a musician since I can remember. When I was eight years old, I had a dream: ‘I want to be a musician, I want to be a singer, I want to be a writer.’“I haven’t had the simplest of journeys,” she added.

I was signed to a record label for seven years,” going on to allege that she “wasn’t allowed to put an album out.”RAYE added: “I went through creative messes and nasty things behind the scenes, heavy things…I was told that I would never have a fan base big enough for anyone to care about an album.

And now Glastonbury, in front of the Pyramid Stage, I’m performing my debut album.“There’s a lot of stories that I held in silence and I dealt with a lot of things alone, a lot of tough things…I’m gonna bring the mood down a bit”, she said, adding: “This next song is about sexual abuse and rape and sexual violence.“I know that’s heavy, but I also know that one in four women and men will experience that in their lifetime so I know that I’m not alone when I sing this today…,” she added.“I don’t sing this song because it’s fun to sing, because it’s not fun to sing but I sing it’s honest and it makes me feel powerful in a time where I was silent.