Effort is Cool Again: On RAYE’s Latest Album, by Becca Blanco

Trying is so in again. Nonchalance is out. Didn’t you hear? 

Following her hit single “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!” earlier this year, RAYE blessed the masses with her sophomore album THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE. And if you’re keen on the theatrics imbued in that sentence, then you’re going to love her latest release. 

This album is big and utterly unapologetic. It’s full of jazz ensembles, operatic riffs, orchestral movements, brass, and strings for days. And whether or not that sounds like your cup of tea, one thing is certain: This album is a production. The last song even serves as a curtain call, with almost five complete minutes of RAYE literally reading a list of names to thank every single person who played a hand in bringing the album to life. 

In a generation struggling with apathy and loneliness, RAYE demonstrates the antithesis of detachment. She makes caring about things cool and admirable. She presents heartbreak not as an annoyance or an opportunity for payback, but as what it so often is: deep and crushing. 

The feelings laid out are big and dramatic. She cares about a number of things and would like you as a listener to know all about it. As a matter of fact, she would like to bring you there with her to feel exactly what she feels, filling every nook and cranny of each song with a unique and layered sound.

When discussing the album with friends, I’ve described it as movie-like. No, not every song is a catchy earworm to replay obsessively, but in its entirety, each song links with the preceding one and builds both thematically and sonically. RAYE writes a narrative for you to sit through and experience rather than churning out catchy hits. Don’t mistake me for a snob; I also love mindless repetitive pop. It’s what sells for a reason, after all. Which is what makes this album that much more impressive to me. 

RAYE and her team have created a piece of art that may not top every chart, but is worth listening to in its entirety. Let’s dramatically say, then, that RAYE is a part of a larger ongoing movement to revive the album as a form of expression and art, as opposed to simply another piece in the economic model of music making. Albums have the power to take listeners on a complex journey that singles just cannot.

I love this album so much because it reminds me to try things, feel things, and outwardly care rather than mask my emotions in the event of a letdown or a “cringe” accusation. Social media often creates this panopticon effect, where many of us feel the constant need to subconsciously perform no matter where we are or who we’re with. When one can be recorded and relentlessly mocked online at any given moment, everyone stays vigilant and a little on edge, often without realizing it. Liking the wrong thing or even making the wrong facial expression (remember Kelsey Plum eating popcorn?) can invite a unique wave of cruelty. So why put yourself out there?

But to be cringe is to be free, right? Because isn’t it better to be unabashedly oneself, regardless of the public’s perception, than to just be palatable? A person who is palatable to all is also palatable to none. By which I mean, if you spend your entire life focused on perception and ridicule, then you are depriving yourself of being interesting and unique. 

And that’s what real human experiences and connections are built upon: hobbies and interests and passions.

Haven’t you noticed that the people who are so focused on despising things and ridiculing tend to be the unhappiest? Not liking something and taking every preventative measure possible to avoid being made fun of is not a character trait. It’s called insecurity.

Which is why this article is and isn’t about RAYE’s new album, THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE. If you listen to the album and hate it? Great! You opened yourself up to a new experience and it genuinely wasn’t for you. I hope that exercise in welcoming the idea of being touched by a piece of art was rewarding. Keep making yourself vulnerable and you will inevitably find something that will resonate in a profound way. But it can never happen if you don’t allow it to.

And if you listen to the album and you love it? Then I hope you felt something deeply and unapologetically,  and that you continue to practice that in other areas of your life.