RAYE insists she could “never, ever attempt to replace or imitate” the late Amy Winehouse after being compared to the music legend.
The Oscar Winning Tears singer has recorded two songs with the Rehab hitmaker’s producer, Mark Ronson, and has admitted she was “quite nervous” hitting the studio with the studio wizard behind Amy’s biggest hits.
She told People: “Honestly, I’m not gonna lie, I actually was quite nervous and scared to work with him.
“I just do want to say that I know I can never, ever, ever, ever, ever attempt to replace or imitate Amy. I’m in awe of her. We all are, and we miss her.”
The first track from the pair is Suzanne, out on June 13, followed by Grandma Calls the Boy Bad News from this month’s F1 movie.
RAYE, 27, had wanted to work with Mark, 49, since she was “a little girl”.
She continued: “It’s quite a tough thing to even allow myself to create so freely with him.
“But I really just wanted to be like, ‘Do you know what? I just need to forget what anyone else is gonna say about this.’ I absolutely love this producer. I’ve always wanted to work with this producer since I was a little girl.”
And the Escapism hitmaker couldn’t be prouder of the music they’ve created together.
She gushed: “We’ve made music together that I’m so proud of, and I love.
“I play it, and it makes me happy and joyful, so I’m proud.”
RAYE also provided an update on her follow-up to 2023’s My 21st Century Blues LP – which won British Album of the Year at the 2024 BRIT Awards – after she suffered a setback when her car was stolen with both the original songbooks from her debut record and her only copy of notes and ideas for the new record inside.
She said: “I don’t have an album title.
“I’m like, ‘What is it gonna be called?’ It’s stressing me out right now, I can’t lie, because I’ve got the music starting to really come there.
“I just don’t know what this album’s gonna be called.
“In my humble opinion, My 21st Century Blues is such a fire album title, and I can’t hand in an album title that’s less good than that.”