Raye Returns With Deep Cut 'Hard Out Here' To Get A Few Things Off Her Chest

Raye returns with an unflinching self-testimony regarding her experiences within the music industry, dealing with her old record label Polydor, toxic masculinity and being in a male dominated world.

Newly independent, with ‘Hard Out Here’ the South East Londoner is literally going for people’s necks and applying pressure. It’s full of tension held in Raye’s voice admist the scattergun beats and string syths. Throughout the song Raye refrences earlier moments in her career such as ‘Bet You Wish’ so we can fully appreciate the growth.

She covers explores topics ranging from artistic frustion to addiction, religion and being a woman in the industry flowing over the beat in the R&Drill style showcasing her range stylistically. We feel her honesty and pain bleed through the music, as well as her grit and greaziness there is something so effortlessly gangster about her that adds to her appeal and sexiness.

"RAYE addressed topics that most of us don't dare to mention,” shares RAYE’s creative director Mikey Robbins. “This visual is about taking back what's yours— your image, your music, your art. The wigs, the presence of men in suits, the movement of RAYE's body, her impossible poses— these are all metaphors that are rooted in real life experiences for artists of today. The team at Field Trip (production company), Paletta (choreographer), Mariel Gomerez (A/R), Paul Keen and Tia Ferguson (management), and the team at Human Re Sources brought this vision to life. I'm incredibly proud to work with an artist and a team who is willing to address sensitive topics through art. It's time to talk about it.

On the inspiration behind her new single, RAYE shares, "I was very angry and in a lot of pain when the bones of ‘Hard Out Here’ were solidified. I wrote this song because I needed this song. ‘Hard Out Here’ is about the bounce back, a rant reflecting on the last 8 years of my career, and me preparing to take control of my narrative, my art and my life truly for the first time.”

The “You Don’t Know Me” singer adds, “The initial version of this song was created years ago, when I was 19 years old, I wasn’t given permission to release this song, so it sat in a folder collecting dust. However the instrumental represented something so important to me, I think it felt like freedom. No less than a week after I parted ways with Polydor, I got on the microphone with rage in my chest and vented it all out in one sitting. This isn’t about chasing chart hits anymore, this is about finally being allowed to articulate my truth, and express myself fearlessly.”