RAYE, who shed light on her journey as an independent artist in her Billboard cover story, attended Billboard’s Indie Power Players event on Tuesday (June 9th) in New York City and delivered a stunning victory lap.
After accepting the Indie Spirit Award from Billboard Co-Chief Content Officer Jason Lipshutz, the British singer-songwriter took to the stage at The Cutting Room in Manhattan to give a moving speech chronicling her journey as an artist. Touching on many of the points highlighted in Billboard’s Indie Power Players cover story, she talked about wanting to be a musician since she was 10 years old, signing with her former label, Polydor Records, and the frustration she experienced throughout her contract dealing with “people who thought they knew best and who would look them in the eye and say, ‘This is your ceiling,’ sometimes in suits.”
“I just want to encourage you to ignore those lies,” she continued, going on to shout out J. Irving, who was in attendance, for believing in her music and signing a distribution deal with Orchard’s Human Resources, even though all the other labels and companies she met with thought her “music was too complicated and weird.”
The gala night also included awards honoring Ruben Blades and Orchard founder Richard Gotterer. Rae was also able to sign a poster for her first Billboard cover, released in May, which also saw her reflecting on her mental health, trauma, and dating experiences.
RAYE finished his headlining tour for “This Tour May Contain New Music” in late May and is currently preparing for the opening tour of Bruno Mars’ series of stadium tours. But first, she’ll be playing a much smaller venue than she’s used to these days, playing an intimate set at New York’s Blue Note Jazz Club on Wednesday night (June 10) at Billboard’s Indie Live event.
Read RAYE’s full speech below. You can see it above.
First of all, I would like to thank you for this honor. I’ve been eating a lot of hamburgers lately, so I’m trying to look elegant while eating them. If you hear a sound like you’re gasping for breath, that’s the cause.
Look, this is not a simple business. This is not a simple industry. This has not been a simple journey, and in fact, perhaps sitting here now, nothing would be different.
I’ve always made a strong point about spending seven years at a major record label. When I was little, at the age of 10, I said to my father in the school playground, “Dad, I’m going to be a recording artist.” That’s what I said. I was 10 years old. Father looked at me. He was like, “Okay.” I said, “Dad, there’s no plan B. This is it.”
I’m from a place called Croydon in south London. We had no connection. There was no way for us to get in either. She’s an ordinary girl from an ordinary family, living in an ordinary place in an ordinary town. But for some reason, what I had, and I think that’s something that all of us artists must have in common, is the audacity to dream boldly. I don’t know why I believed I could pursue music. I just fell in love with the craft of songwriting and dedicated every waking moment of my life to figuring out how to make it happen.
When I was a kid, I would have thought, “Yeah, the step I need to take is to sign with a record label.” Then you say, “This is what I need to do.” But when I actually signed with a record label, sadly it turned out to not be everything I had hoped. In fact, that was a lot of what I want to call out right now…I want to encourage all of us artists, or everyone in this industry, that there are people out there who think they know best and who can look you in the eye and tell you, “This is your ceiling,” and sometimes they’re wearing a suit. Who can look you in the eye and say, “This is all you’re ever going to achieve. This is all you’re ever going to achieve.” And I just want to encourage us to ignore those lies. Shake those things off and give yourself a pep talk. And I’m very grateful. My father is my manager, my best friend, and the kindest person in the world. And my dad says, “Rachel, you can’t let this get you down. You have to work hard.” He gave me some soccer analogies and then we’ll talk again. This tenacity to boldly continue to dream.
So I am so grateful that I found Human Re Sources and J Erving of Human Re Sources when I was looking for a home on my own. Sorry, I said it twice. I’m not writing a speech, I’m just speaking from the heart right now. But yeah, J was the only one who liked my album. I went everywhere. So, every major label, every indie space, anyone who comes to the meetings for my first album, My 21st Century Blues. Everyone thought the music was too complicated, too weird, etc., but J loved it, and I’m so grateful he did.
J believed and it was such a beautiful moment, I will never forget it. After sharing my first two single releases, “Hard Out Here” and “Black Mascara,” everyone was whispering that my career was over and laughing at me. You could feel it too, you know? But this is what I thought. My father encouraged me in my ear. “It doesn’t matter. It’s about making art, good art, because that’s the only thing we can control. As writers and creators, that’s the only thing we can control. You can’t control anything but your art. So I’ll never forget the day ‘Escapism’ came out. And three weeks later, it just started happening like this. From then on, my life just changed.”
All those labels were listening to those songs. They said, “These songs aren’t going to go far. People won’t understand this. People won’t relate to it.” If I had listened to them, I probably would have believed it. So I want to encourage you to ignore the lies and ignore the people who don’t need to have an opinion on who you are, who you can be, and what you’re going to do. You decide that. So let’s stay determined to make art that inspires us. It’s probably about 7 minutes long, but I don’t care. I love it, I believe in it, and that’s what I want to do with my life. I’m so grateful, I’m so grateful, it’s been 14 years in this industry since I started as a songwriter when I was 14 years old, and it really feels like I’m finally doing it now. A huge thank you to J, Human Re Sources, The Orchard and independent artists. Let’s go! Thank you!
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