UK singer Raye, born Rachel Agatha Keen, is on a meteoric rise to fame. With that fame, however, can come a lot of criticism and attacks, particularly through social media. “I’m terrified of people picking me apart and eating me alive. At the end of the day not everyone’s going to love it but I know somebody out there will,” she told The Times. Her solution has been to focus less on what’s on Instagram and more on what’s on her Bible app. “I think since I’ve come offline it’s been much better. Ignorance is bliss. If someone said I look awful in a dress, it’d make me sad. If I don’t know someone said I look awful in a dress …So I’m really [big] on being offline. It’s taken me so long to get here, I’d be terrified to jeopardize all of that by giving someone a bad impression of me,” she said.

The 28-year-old South Londoner has been in the business since 2014, but her career started in the shadows. Despite signing a four-record deal with record label Polydor at the age of 17, by 2021 the brand hadn’t released a single album for her, having her write hits for other artists like Beyoncé and Charlie XCX. She left Polydor and went independent, with her song “Escapism,” shooting her into fame. Now her career is a family affair, with two of her sisters, Abby and Lauren, providing vocals under the stage names Absolutely and Amma. Her parents, Sarah and Paul, serve on her management team.

Raye’s appeal comes from her raw songs that deal with her own insecurities about her body, being sexually assaulted, and seeking comfort in meaningless sex. Raised in a Christian home (her parents met at church and led worship), Raye found herself somewhat disconnected from the faith her family surrounded her with. “Escapism” deals with how she sought answer through drugs and sex. “I was raised in a Christian household and I think I had quite a difficult relationship with it all in the early days. But there was a moment where I really found God, in the time that I really needed it and it saved my life…I really owe my life to my faith, it’s kept me going and it’s kept me okay, it’s given me strength,” she said in an earlier interview with The Line of Best Fit.

She has slowly found her way back, claiming her faith has literally saved her life. Her song “21^st Century Blues” includes the line “You start to wonder why I’m Christian / without the Lord I’d take my life.” “There’s a world in which, if I didn’t find faith again, I might not even be here,” she once told the BBC. “There’s a lot of demons trying to claw at you and drag you to somewhere you don’t belong, so I’m really grateful I have this faith,” she added. “It’s honestly pulled me out of a really dark place.”