RAYE has lifted the lid on the gruelling, years‑long process behind her new album .0, admitting she poured “a lifetime’s worth of work” into the record and pushed herself to the brink in the process.
The Where Is My Husband! singer said the project demanded everything she had.
She confessed on The Zane Lowe Show on Apple Music: “It’s taken every blood cell.
“If I wasn’t on a stage, I was pouring into this body of work. I’m honestly exhausted — mentally and physically — but in a good way.”
She explained that she took full creative control, acting as executive producer and writing every lyric and melody while working with orchestras, big bands and a huge cast of musicians.
“It’s been a labour of absolute passion and love.”
RAYE also revealed that the album became a quiet act of rebellion after years spent writing to order for other artists.
She said: “There’s a subconscious rebellion in there,” she said. “For so long everything had to be simple, minimal, to brief — this BPM, this length, this vibe. It was a miserable existence for me.”
She added that being told she “didn’t know who she was” only fuelled the fire: “How can I define myself when you keep sending me into rooms with strangers to write top lines in a day?”
The star said she refused to shrink herself to fit the industry’s expectations.
She insisted: “I’m not just one thing.
“I’ve grown up with many cultures — my identity isn’t one thing. So how can you ask me to choose one thing? On this record I embraced maximalism… any genre I wanted to explore, I did.”
A major turning point came when she cut ties with her label after seven draining years.
RAYE described it as both terrifying and liberating.
She said: “You’ve got to hustle, knock on doors, sleep on couches.
“But I hit a breaking point. I thought, I’ll just be a songwriter forever — I can’t do this.”
RAYE admitted she used the sudden media attention around her situation as leverage: “I took every interview and told every gory detail. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Total leverage. How does it feel now I’ve got some? I f****** love it.”
Going independent brought freedom — but also forced her to confront years of emotional damage.
She said: “Therapy had to occur.
“A lot of healing had to happen. It wasn’t simple.”
Building the album from scratch as an independent artist meant starting almost from zero.
She said: “It was literally me and my dad.
“We found the one distribution company willing to take the album as it was and support me. Every label I approached said no. I didn’t even know what being independent meant at first.”
Watch the full interview anytime on demand with an Apple Music subscription.