The recent release of award-winning singer-songwriter RAYE’s new album THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE stands as a testament of the modern-day yearning for emotional connection in music. Branching across the disciplines of pop, jazz, orchestral and spoken word music, RAYE’s ambitious work flourishes with a narrative and rhetorical purpose as much as it glitters as a timeless musical pageant of skill.

From the very start of the album, there’s a prominent theatrical flair that distinguishes this album from its contemporaries. With the first and last song characterised as ‘Intro.’ and ‘Fin.’, put alongside her narratorial spoken word indents – “allow me to set the scene” – RAYE creates an inspired concept of progression that reinforces the collectivisation of her songs into this album. The use of drums, orchestra and even the vocal chorus supply an upbeat element to the album that confirms it as both contemplative think-piece and joyful celebration of life.

“RAYE, however, isn’t afraid to let pop, blues and jazz coexist”

What distinguishes RAYE from many artists of this generation is this wide breadth of musical genres that she taps into. And yet, remaining just shy of virtuosic fabulation, RAYE’s song-writing and fluctuating tone ensures that listening to the album feels like a true journey through personal emotions. This genius shines in her upbeat exploration of the complications of love in ‘Beware. The South London Lover Boy.’ as RAYE builds a comedy into her phrasing of “beware” through a striking fourth interval that combines a jazz foundation with excellently-architectured musical theatre irony.

RAYE’s lilting jazz vocals declaring “I hate the way I look today.” alongside her scat singing in the song named after this phrase shows off not only extremely impressive vocal control but a clever light-heartedness between text and the emotions that a blues style creates. The album’s bluesy feel only furthers the emotional depth her lyrics can reach: the use of a saxophone indentation in the same song fosters a feeling of relaxed contemplation that allows the listener to further focus on the potency of lyrical statements such as “I realise the destructive state of my mind”. RAYE, however, isn’t afraid to let pop, blues and jazz coexist. Even in songs where a pop element predominates, such as ‘Joy.’ featuring Amma and Absolutely, the strong bass accompaniment to “joy” in the refrain utilises the sweet voices of Raye’s sisters. This among her dulcet, striking, deep tones create a merging of tonality that reinforces, through both optimistic pop and jazz, smoothness that “light comes in the morning”.

“This release aims to be an artwork as much as an album”

Raye’s album has gathered much acclaim recently due to the featuring of Hanz Zimmer in her song ‘Click Clack Symphony.’, an uplifting song that combines a pop-style catchy verse with the use of powerfully placed instrumentation performed by the Nashville Music Scoring Orchestra. The use of grand orchestral crescendos in moments of intense emotion creates a strong cohesion between musical meaning and the lyrics affirming that “everything is going to be alright”. RAYE’s choice to use orchestral music continues to break down the boundaries between genres, only further encapsulating that this release aims to be an artwork as much as an album, always striving to give greater meanings for a listener.

From the striking chords following the heart-wrenching spoken line “it is the wall between hope and despair, she exists behind it” in ‘I Will Overcome.’ to the strong rhythmic instrumentation in the trending ‘WHERE IS MY HUSBAND! ’ and soft chorus in ‘Nightingale Lane.’, when exploring heartbreak, RAYE really has captured the versatility of music to strike a chord across any listener’s heartstrings. Whether suffering from loneliness, heartbreak, or general confusion about what’s next in life (or why Easter exams have crept upon us so quickly), this album manages to manipulate musical conventions to create a practically universal work.

“Her touching lyrics challenge many poets in strong symbolism and witty word play”

Beyond musical genius, this album also boasts RAYE’s strong ability as a lyricist in which her touching lyrics challenge many poets in strong symbolism and witty word play. The use of classical imagery in ‘The WhatsApp Shakespeare.’ is a great example of this, in which the focus on Eve and the Fall is related to modern day heartbreak. The long lyric “She took a bite from that apple and the story ain’t this dissimilar many, many, many, many moons later” is backdropped by a haunting key change on the word “dissimilar” to stress the interchangeability of female interaction with temptation – presenting RAYE’s immense success in tying larger allegories up in her songwriting.

Every detail of the album seems to have been philosophically orchestrated, particularly in the moments of silence that collect around the more personally influenced moments in RAYE’s work. The vulnerability of the a capella “I can see you’re standing on the edge” in ‘I Know You’re Hurting.’ bridges any boundaries between RAYE and the listener through the personal pronoun, much like the verbatim style spoken proverbial wisdoms in ‘Life Boat.’ such as “whether you’re going through darkness there is a future” amid the sung refrain “I’m not giving up yet”. In RAYE’s very personal choice to feature her grandfather’s voice in the song ‘Fields.’ stating “you asked me if I ever get lonely, but you can feel lonely in a crowded room”, the listener realises that spoken word embodies the personal momentum fuelling her album.

Throughout the album, RAYE’s artistic mindset shines through in the heightened stylisation that enhances the magic of many genres. The album’s use of multiple musical genres and styles mimics the ups and downs of life, utilising a range of musical realisations to create a universal testament to human experience. In ‘Fin.’, Raye claims her “last metaphor” will be “unapologetically dramatic and powerful”, but she’s already done this with the album as a whole. Raye’s ultimate message that “we’ve got one little life” really does contain hope for each and every listener’s future.