My 21st Century- An Album Review Article

 My 21st Century Blues

Hasti Amiri

 

Going from singing gospel in churches and working with other famous musicians such as David Guetta, Stormzy, Jonas Blues & Jax Jones is the path that Raye followed. The 25 year old British female born in Tooting London, England has released her debut album with “Human Re Source” record label, called “My 21st Century Blues” in February 2023.  The album has 15 tracks. The intro making you feel like you’re entering the airport and tunnels of Rachel Keen’s -aka Raye- feelings and experiences. An album that from my point of view, deserves a 3 star rate. The monotony of the album might be pleasant to some and boring to others.

The most successful single from this album is “Escapism” which showed off her name in Billboard Hot 100 US Charts and becoming number 1 in UK Singles Chart. The single is the 5th track of the album, heavily explaining how she deals with hard times in her life, by trying to runaway from the problem. “Escapism” was released alongside her other single from the album, “The Thrill Is Gone.”

Introduction, Oscar Winning Tears, Hard Out Here, Black Mascara, Escapism, Mary Jane, The Thrill Is gone, Ice Cream man, Flip A Switch, Body Dysmorphia, Environmental Anxiety, Five Star Hotels (Feat. Mahalia), Worth It, Buss It Down and Fin, are all the included tracks in My 21st Century Blues, making the album 46 minutes and 52 seconds long.

The upbeat rhythm and the lyrics of her first official album mostly speaks to women. Talking about struggles with “body dysmorphia”(same song title), addiction(being pointed out in different songs), eating disorder, anxiety(“Environmental anxiety”), getting her heart broken and being assaulted by a record producer (“Ice cream man”) early on her music career are things that most girls in the 21st century deal with and makes us believe that it’s “Hard Out Here”. Although she tries to get back to the feeling of being powerful and controlling herself without letting other people effect her.

Specially now days, a lot of artists try to have features and work with other singers to attract more listeners, which influences their songs. Not letting people hear their own raw emotions and perspective because it’s clouded by someone else’s, but given the professional experiences that Raye already has with other people, she decided to have only 1 feature in her album. Meaning we have 14 other songs to listen to that are purely her own story only.

Raye started her career in December 2014, releasing singles and Eps but she reveals in her debut album that she’s been waiting 7 years for speaking her mind by releasing this album. Also considering her split with her other record deal Polydor Records because of the way they mistreated her, which she also got supported by other artists such as Charli XCX,  MNEK, and Rina Sawayama. Confirming that the label had been withholding her debut album for several years, she became an independent artist and now with the seeing her concert tickets being sold and her songs streaming, she made the right decision by leaving and starting a new chapter of her life.